He stayed there forty days. in Tetun
Nia hela iha ne'ebá loron haatnulu.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
hela — 'currently' or 'reside'
helaAfter a verb, 'hela' marks continuous aspect ('is ...-ing'). As a standalone verb it means 'live, reside'. Often paired with 'sei' for 'is still ...-ing'.
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.
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
- Ami hotu hela iha ne'ebá.We all stayed there.
- Nia hela iha ne'ebá loron ida-rua de'it.He stayed there only a day or two.
- Ita halo funu durante 24 anus, la'ós insusesu de'it, susesu mós iha.During those 24 years that we fought, there weren't just failures, there were also successes.
- Semana liu ba udan boot. To'o agora bee nalihun iha uma oin, halo susuk barak tan de'it.Last week there was heavy rain. Even now there is water pooled in front of the house, leading to an increase in mosquitoes.
- Parlamentu debate orsamentu jerál estadu iha jeneralidade loron tolu, iha espesialidade loron sanulu.The parliament will debate the general state budget in generality (comparable to a first reading in Westminster parliaments) for three days, then in specifics for ten days.
- loron lima liubáfive days ago