It hasn’t rained for a long time, so the corn has wilted. in Tetun
Kleur ona la udan, nune'e batar namlaik tiha ona.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
ona — 'already' (perfective)
onaPlaced after the verb (or after the object), 'ona' marks that something has already happened. Cannot stand alone — must belong to a sentence. See also 'tiha ona' for a stronger completed aspect.
Aspect markers
tiha ona — completed perfect
tiha onaStronger than 'ona' alone. Marks a completed action with ongoing relevance — closer to the English present perfect.
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.
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
- Imi kuda batar oin hira? - Ami kuda oin rua: batar lais ho batar boot.How many types of corn did you plant? - We planted two types: ‘quick’ corn and ‘big’ corn.
- Mestre hanorin full-time ka part-time?Does the teacher teach full-time or part-time?
- Apá moras kleur, agora bá ona mundu seluk.Dad was sick for a long time, now he has gone to the next world.
- Hean bisikleta kleur halo ita nia kidun moras demais.Riding a bicycle for a long time makes our backsides overly sore.
- Di'ak liu haruus para lalais duké hariis kleur.You’d better just freshen up quickly rather than taking a long time to bathe.
- Ha'u lakon tempu barak bá kursu, maibé la aprende buat ida.I have wasted time so much time attending a course, but didn’t learn anything.