I keep trying to kick-start this motorbike, but it won't start. in Tetun
Motór ne'e, ha'u tebe tebe nia starta, la moris.
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.
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
- Se ó falta eskola beibeik, to'o ezame ó la hatene buat ida!If you keep wagging school, you won’t know anything when it comes to the exam!
- Ha'u nia motór aat ona.My motorbike is broken
- Mai sedu, é!Come early, won't you.
- Sira nia ekipa manán kuatru - zero.Their team won four - zero.
- Di'ak ida nia mai, di'ak ida la mai.Perhaps he'll come, perhaps he won't.
- Nia sei la mai, só ema obriga mak nia mai.He won't come unless he is forced to.