If we don't know how to cook bitter beans, they can poison and kill us. in Tetun
Koto moruk, ita te'in la hatene bele lanu mate ita.
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.
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
- Mestre ho mestra sira nia devér mak lori estudante atu hatene saida mak sira seidauk hatene.It is the duty of teachers to help their students to know things that they don’t yet know.
- Sira hatene Portugés.They can speak ('know') Portuguese.
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Kobra ne'e samea ne'ebé perigozu loos. Nia veneno bele halo mate ema.The cobra is a very dangerous snake. Its poison can kill people.
- Keta naran du'un ema karik ita la hatene problema ne'e nia lala'ok.Don’t arbitrarily accuse people if you don’t know the problem in-depth.
- Sira hotu han to'o bosu. Han tiha, sira mós fahe malu.They all ate until they were satisfied. Having eaten, they went their separate ways.