I have a lot of dandruff, with the result that I can’t sleep well just because it’s so itchy. in Tetun
Ha'u nia kaspa barak loos, halo ha'u toba la di'ak tan de'it katar.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Intensifiers
Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)
loosPosition matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.
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
- Kalan ami toba la dukur, tanba hanoin barak.At night we can’t sleep, because we are worried.
- Tina nia kakorok laran katar tan de'it nia hemu bee torneira.Tina’s throat is very itchy just because she drank tap water.
- Ó la bele konta sai ba ema seluk tanba ida ne'e buat uma laran nian.You can't tell other people, because this is just within the family.
- 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.
- Ha'u nervozu tanba nia servisu la di'ak.I’m irritated because he don’t work well.
- Agora ita bele lori kareta halai maka'as tanba rai tetuk.We can drive fast because the road is flat now.