I have to submit to the director, because he is my boss. in Tetun

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.

• Focus

  mak — focus marker

  mak

  'mak' focuses the preceding constituent — used when English would bold or cleft ('it was X who...'). Also forms the superlative with 'liu'.

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

Related phrases

• Ita nia diretór foin rezigna an atu sai fali ministru. Nune'e ita presiza foti fali ema seluk sai diretór definitivu, la bele foti reitór interinu de'it.Our director has just resigned to become a government minister. So we must appoint someone else as permanent director, not just as an acting director.
• Atu rezigna an hosi ita nia knaar, ita presiza hatama karta rezignasaun ba diretór.To resign from your job, you must submit a letter of resignation to the director.
• Visi diretór la iha kompeténsia atu hasai ema hosi servisu; só diretór de'it mak bele.The deputy director does not have the authority to sack people; only the director can do this.
• Atu hatama Cv ba servisu nian karik, presiza tau iha map laran, se lae diretór la simu.If you submit your CV for a job, you need to put it in a folder, otherwise the director won’t accept it.
• Sira hotu mogok servisu tanba patraun selu sira la tuir tuir estandar ne'ebé governu fó sai.They are all on strike because the boss didn’t pay them according to the standards put out by the government.
• Uluk ema respeitu ó tanba ó servisu ho onestu, maibé agora ó nia naran aat ona tanba ó na'ok.People used to respect of you because you worked honestly, but now you have a bad reputation because you stole.