Many regimes hide behind confidentiality, making decisions that aren't transparent. in Tetun
Rejime barak subar iha konfidensialidade nia okos hodi hola desizaun la transparante.
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
- Ha'u kili kolega Lila hosi kotuk halo nia haksoit.I tickled my friend Lila from behind making her jump.
- Nusaa mak ó tenke inventa liafuan bar-barak hodi halo sira la gosta fali ha'u?Why did you have to make up so many stories, making them dislike me?
- Ohin loron ita la servisu.Today we aren't working.
- Semana ida ne'e ami la servisu.This week we aren't working.
- Manu avestrús ne'e, nia subar nia ulun de'it.Ostriches just hide their heads.
- Juiz tenke hatuun desizaun ne'ebé justu.Judges must make just decisions.