He's had kidney disease for a long time, now he has to go to the hospital for dialysis twice a week. in Tetun
Nia moras riins kleur ona, agora tenke bá ospitál fasi raan semana ida dala rua.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
ona — 'already' (perfective)
onaPlaced after the verb (or after the object), 'ona' marks that something has already happened. Cannot stand alone — must belong to a sentence. See also 'tiha ona' for a stronger completed aspect.
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.
Time expressions
Temporal connectors
kleurCommon time words: 'bainhira / kuandu' = when; 'molok / antes' = before; 'depois' and 'liu tiha' = after; 'kedas' = immediately; 'foin' = only just, very recently; 'kleur' = a long time.
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
- Amá moras rins, agora baixa hela iha ospitál.Mum has kidney disease, and is currently in hospital.
- Apá moras kleur, agora bá ona mundu seluk.Dad was sick for a long time, now he has gone to the next world.
- Mestre hanorin full-time ka part-time?Does the teacher teach full-time or part-time?
- Kleur ona la udan, nune'e batar namlaik tiha ona.It hasn’t rained for a long time, so the corn has wilted.
- Ospitál nasionál mak Ospitál Guido Valadares iha Dili.The national hospital is the Guido Valadares Hospital in Dili.
- Ami la iha tempu atu te'in, nune'e ami ruun matak de'it ai-fariña maran.We had no time to cook, so just chewed uncooked dried cassava.