Maria doesn’t like to wear grey dresses, but she likes red. in Tetun
Maria la gosta hatais vestidu kór malahuk, maibé nia gosta kór mean.
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
- Ó ne'e mane, tenke hatudu ó nia hahalok nu'udar mane, la bele hanesan fali feto.You’re a man, and should act like a man, not like a woman.
- Faru ne'e haree hanesan bosan tiha ona, la bele uza ba festa.This top looks like it’s worn out. You can’t wear it to a party.
- Tia Carla han paun sempre kose manteiga, nia la gosta uza marmelada.Aunty Carla always eats bread with butter, she doesn’t like to use jam.
- Ohin dadeer Joana rakut Maria nia fuuk tanba Maria tolok nia.Joana yanked on Maria’s hair this morning because of Maria swore at her.
- Tia ne'ebá ne'e ferik ona moos, sei uza kalsa badak de'it para la'o livre.That lady is already old, however she likes to wear shorts so she can walk freely.
- Ohin mane ida na'ok Maria nia karteira. Agora nia la iha osan atu selu mikrolét ba uma.A man stole Maria’s wallet today. Now she doesn’t have money to pay the minibus home.