Her boyfriend bled her dry till she didn't even have five cents left on her! in Tetun
Nia namoradu ne'e hais nia to'o lima sén mós la iha nia isin!
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.
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
- Habai na'an, la bele maran liu. Haree mar-maran de'it, foti ona.When you dry meat, it mustn't be too dry. When you see it is nearly dry, get it (inside).
- Tia sikat ulsuku iha fuuk.Auntie stuck her hairpin through her hair.
- Nia tanis to'o matan bubu.She cried and cried till her eyes were swollen.
- Maria sateia hela de'it nia amá tanba osan.Maria keeps hassling her mother (to give her) money.
- Labarik ida tanis hakilar maka'as loos tanba nia mamá baku.A child cried very loudly because her mother hit her.
- Labarik ne'e fó ulun eskola, di'ak liu ita suporta nia.This kid really works at her schooling, we should support her.