I can see that João didn’t bathe properly, there are still soap suds in his ears. in Tetun
Ha'u haree João hariis la moos, sabaun furin sei iha nia tilun laran.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
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
- Ha'u nia matan hateke dook la moos, maibé se ha'u uza okulu haree moos loos.I can’t see clearly in the distance. But if I put a glasses, I can see clearly.
- Mestre Mario dada an hosi nia servisu tanba la gosta nia xefe.Teacher Mario resigned from his work as he didn’t like his boss.
- Mateus agora de'ut hela nia matan, tanba ai-luruk mak tama.Mateus is rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands, because a prickle has gotten into his eye.
- To'o iha loja Elimloi nia oin, iha dalan sanak ida, ita tama bele haree hetan ona ami nia uma.When you get to the front of Elimloi shop, there is a turnoff, when you go down that road you can see our house.
- Problema ne'e nia fukun iha ne'ebé? - Nia fukun tanba nia apá uluk la husu deskulpa ba nia avoo sira.Where does this problem derive from? - Its roots are that his father didn't ask forgiveness of his grandparents.
- La bele han ai-fuan ne'e lai, tanba sei tara hela horok. Aban liurai sei hasai horok mak bele han.You can't eat the fruit yet, because it is still under the horok taboo. You can only eat the fruit once the king removes the horok.