He’s a liar! I won’t put my trust in him. in Tetun
Nia bosok-teen! Ha'u sei la tau konfiansa ba nia.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Possession
nia / nian — possession
nia'nia' goes BEFORE the thing possessed; 'nian' goes AFTER. Both function the same way; position decides which form. 'nia' is also the 3rd-person pronoun (he / she / it) — disambiguate by position.
Aspect markers
sei — 'will' or 'still'
seiTetun has no verb conjugation. Aspect and tense are marked by particles. 'sei' sits immediately before the verb — marking a definite future ('will') or a continuative ('still'). Combine with 'hela' after the verb for ongoing action. Negation is 'sei la' = 'will not'.
Negation
la — 'not' (general negation)
laPlaced before verbs and adjectives to negate them. For contrastive 'not X but Y' use 'laós'; for 'not yet' use 'seidauk'; for 'no longer' wrap 'la ... ona' around the verb.
More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- Atoy ema ida ne'ebé bosok-teen. Keta fiar nia!Atoy is a liar. Don’t believe him!
- Ema balu taka bebé nia baboton ho kamii para malirin la bele tama.Some people put candlenut on the baby's fontanel so that cold won't get in.
- Atu hatama Cv ba servisu nian karik, presiza tau iha map laran, se lae diretór la simu.If you submit your CV for a job, you need to put it in a folder, otherwise the director won’t accept it.
- Horiseik ha'u telefone nia.Yesterday I rang him..
- Mai sedu, é!Come early, won't you.
- Sira nia ekipa manán kuatru - zero.Their team won four - zero.