If I don’t see my child, that’s OK, so long as I can hear her voice (e.g. over the telephone). in Tetun
Ha'u la haree ha'u nia oan nia oin, la buat ida, naran katak bele rona nia lian.
English → Tetun phrasebook
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.
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.
Possibility & probability
bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility
beleTetun hedges less than English, but has a cluster of markers. 'bele' before the verb = can / may. 'parese' at the start = 'seems'. 'dala ruma' at the start of a clause = 'perhaps, sometimes'. 'kala / kal' before a number = 'approximately'.
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.
- Maria grava nia avoo nia lian uza telefone, para aban-bainrua bele rona fali.Maria recorded her grandmother’s voice using a telephone, so that in future she can listen to it again.
- Labarik ida tanis hakilar maka'as loos tanba nia mamá baku.A child cried very loudly because her mother hit her.
- Labarik ne'e moras oraoras. Ha'u la hatene nia moras ne'e saida.The child is sick on and off. I don’t know what her illness is.
- Nia namoradu ne'e hais nia to'o lima sén mós la iha nia isin!Her boyfriend bled her dry till she didn't even have five cents left on her!
- Ko'us labarik keta doko demais, se lae nia bele mura tanba nia foin han bosu loos.When cuddling this infant don't shake her too much, else she might burp up her milk, because she's just had a big feed.