My daughter Joana is very spoiled. If we don’t give her any money, she refuses to go to school. in Tetun
Ha'u nia oan feto Joana ne'e maña liu. se ita la fó osan nia lakohi bá eskola.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
Comparison
liu — comparison 'more / most'
liuTetun comparison uses 'X liu Y' not 'mais X' — the adjective stays put and 'liu' follows. With a focus 'mak' it becomes superlative. Avoid Portuguese-style 'melhor' or 'mais boot'.
Conditionals
se / karik — conditionals
se'se' opens a definite conditional ('if X, then Y'). 'karik' sits at the end of a clause and hedges it ('perhaps'); it can also mark an uncertain conditional.
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
- Delia moras atan. La bele husu nia kaer servisu todan.Delia is sickly. Don’t give her any heavy work.
- Maria sateia hela de'it nia amá tanba osan.Maria keeps hassling her mother (to give her) money.
- Labarik ida tanis hakilar maka'as loos tanba nia mamá baku.A child cried very loudly because her mother hit her.
- Tia ne'e haluha dór. Ne'ebé lalika fó sasán ba nia hodi lori ba uma.Auntie is forgetful. So don’t give her things to take home.
- Katuas lanu-teen mai atu husu tua. Lalika fó!The old drunkard man came asking for booze. Don’t give him any!
- Mestre ne'e matan osan; ita fó osan mak nia fó valór di'ak.This teacher is greedy. Only if we give money does he give us good marks.