My country Timor, I will never leave you. in Tetun
Ha'u nia rain Timor, ha'u sei la soe ó.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
sei — 'will' or 'still'
seiTetun has no verb conjugation. Aspect and tense are marked by particles. 'sei' sits immediately before the verb — marking a definite future ('will') or a continuative ('still'). Combine with 'hela' after the verb for ongoing action. Negation is 'sei la' = 'will not'.
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 nia nasaun Timor-Leste.My country is Timor-Leste.
- Ita nia nasaun ne'e repúblika la'ós monárkia.Our country is republic country not monarchy.
- Rai ida ne'e sei la iha pás se ita la iha unidade.This country will not have peace if we are not united.
- La bele rai bisikleta iha li'ur tanba ferujen lalais.Don’t leave the bicycle outside, as it will rust quickly.
- Na'an la bele rai iha li'ur, se lae lalar hobur barak tan de'it.Don’t leave meat out, or lots of flies will gather around it.
- Timor nunka komunista! Ne'e só propaganda hosi Austrália de'it.Timor was never communist! That’s just propaganda from Australia.