Last night a group of unknown people attached the director’s house, then fled. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Aspect markers

  fali — 'again' / 'back' / 'instead'

  fali

  Placed after the verb. Can mean 'again / back' or mark an unexpected reversal ('instead'). Context decides which.

• 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.

• Time expressions

  Temporal connectors

  depois

  Common 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.

Related phrases

• Ema tama mate nabanaban, to'o uma laran ema nakonu.People just kept coming in, until the house was full of people.
• Ohin polísia hadame joven na'in rua ne'ebé baku malu hori kalan.The police reconciled the two young people who had a fight last night.
• Hori kalan joven barak hafuhu festa iha Salaun Esperansa.Last night lots of young people spied on the party at Esperansa Reception Hall.
• Visi diretór la iha kompeténsia atu hasai ema hosi servisu; só diretór de'it mak bele.The deputy director does not have the authority to sack people; only the director can do this.
• Ha'u nia viziñu halo moru aas hale'u uma tanba ta'uk ema tuda.My neighbour build a high wall around the house out of fear that people would throw rocks (at the house).
• Hori kalan rai nakdoko, ami hotu halai saruntu malu ba li'ur, to'o avoo monu hanehan tan ha'u nia alin.Last night there was an earthquake, and we all stampeded out of the house, so much so that grandma fell on top of my younger brother.