José has a lot of facial hair, and he doesn’t want to remove it. in Tetun
José nia hasan rahun barak loos no nia lakohi hamoos.
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.
Intensifiers
Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)
loosPosition matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.
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
- Ana lakohi hariis.Ana doesn't want to bathe.
- Atai lakohi bá eskola.Atai doesn't want to go to school.
- Tiu Marito lakohi hemu wiski.Tiu Marito doesn't want to drink whisky.
- Ha'u hakarak aparu tiha ha'u nia fuuk, tanba boot loos.I want to trim my hair, as it is very long (and wild).
- Labarik ne'e maledukadu liu, ema ko'alia nia la rona.This child is very rude. He doesn’t want to listen to people.
- Tiu Carlito sai mane faluk durante tinan sanulu ona, no nia lakohi atu kaben fali.Uncle Carlito has been as a widower for ten years and doesn’t want to remarry.