Lots of children don’t like playing with Pedro because his behaviour isn’t good. in Tetun
Labarik barak la gosta halimar ho Pedro tanba nia atitude la di'ak.
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.
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.
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
- Istória ne'ebé nia hakerek ne'e, ha'u gosta nia tópiku, maibé la gosta nia maneira narasaun.This story that he's written, I like the topic, but don't like his style of story-telling.
- Mateus agora de'ut hela nia matan, tanba ai-luruk mak tama.Mateus is rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands, because a prickle has gotten into his eye.
- Ha'u la gosta du'ut ne'e, tanba iha tarak barak.I don’t like this grass/shrub, as it has lots of thorns.
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Maromak lia tuun ba nia oan sira dehan, “Keta ta'uk tan ha'u la'o ho imi.”God said to his children, “Don’t be afraid, as I am with you.”
- Mestre Mario dada an hosi nia servisu tanba la gosta nia xefe.Teacher Mario resigned from his work as he didn’t like his boss.