Hey! Don't touch that! in Tetun
Hei! La bele book!
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
Possibility & probability
bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility
beleTetun hedges less than English, but has a cluster of markers. 'bele' before the verb = can / may. 'parese' at the start = 'seems'. 'dala ruma' at the start of a clause = 'perhaps, sometimes'. 'kala / kal' before a number = 'approximately'.
Prohibition & permission
keta / lalika / la bele — prohibition
la beleThree strengths of 'don't': 'lalika(n)' is softest — 'no need to, don't bother'. 'keta' is a direct prohibitive command. 'la bele' = 'not allowed, must not'.
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
- Keta book. Ne'e ema nian.Don't touch it. It's someone else's.
- Manu inan ne'e luut hela nia oan, keta book.The hen is brooding. Don't touch it.
- Motór nia sira nian, la bele book.This motorbike is theirs. Don’t touch it.
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Keta naran du'un ema karik ita la hatene problema ne'e nia lala'ok.Don’t arbitrarily accuse people if you don’t know the problem in-depth.
- Ó keta kaer ha'u nia kabun tanba makili, se lae ita rua bele monu ho motór.Don’t touch my belly because it’s ticklish, otherwise, we crash the motorbike.