I don’t like drinking lime juice as it’s too sour. in Tetun
Ha'u la gosta hemu derok been tanba siin liu.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Comparison
liu — comparison 'more / most'
liuTetun comparison uses 'X liu Y' not 'mais X' — the adjective stays put and 'liu' follows. With a focus 'mak' it becomes superlative. Avoid Portuguese-style 'melhor' or 'mais boot'.
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
- Ha'u gosta hemu xá midar maibé tenke hamenus masin midar hodi la bele moras.I like drinking sweet tea but have to reduce the sugar so I don’t get sick.
- Istória ne'ebé nia hakerek ne'e, ha'u gosta nia tópiku, maibé la gosta nia maneira narasaun.This story that he's written, I like the topic, but don't like his style of story-telling.
- La bele ko'alia nune'e!Don’t talk like that!
- Keta tanis resik tanba ha'u!Don't cry too much for me!
- Ha'u ladún gosta ida ne'e.I don’t like this one very much.
- Ami la gosta haree televizaun.We don’t like watching television.