In our suburb, when there is a rock fight, we always bang metal (as a warning). in Tetun
Iha ami nia bairu kuandu ema tuda malu, ami sempre dere besi.
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.
Reciprocal
malu — 'each other'
malu'malu' follows the verb to mark reciprocal action. Common in political / news idioms: 'haree malu diak' (get on well), 'diskuti malu' (argue), 'haan malu' (oppose one another), '(liafuan) la haan malu' (testimonies don't match).
Time expressions
Temporal connectors
kuanduCommon time words: 'bainhira / kuandu' = when; 'molok / antes' = before; 'depois' and 'liu tiha' = after; 'kedas' = immediately; 'foin' = only just, very recently; 'kleur' = a long time.
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 ema ida la'o liu iha estrada, ami nia asu sempre hatenu.If someone walks past on the road, our dog always barks.
- Iha ami nia aldeia ami uza jeradór bainhira presiza karega telefone.In our village, we use a generator to charge our phones.
- Partisipante iha ami nia kursu Inglés kuaze atus rua.There are almost two hundred participants in our English course.
- Ha'u nia kompadre ajuda ami halo ami nia uma foun iha bairu Golgota.My godfather has helped us build our new house in Golgota suburb.
- Treinu fíziku ajuda ita nia isin, treinu espirituál ajuda ita nia klamar.Physical training helps our bodies, spiritual training helps our souls.
- Loron Domingu ami nia grupu hala'o karidade iha Bebora bá vizita ferik ida.On Sunday our group went to Bebora to visit an old lady as our act of charity.