My grandfather has blurred vision. He no longer sees us clearly. in Tetun
Ha'u nia avoo mane nia matan malahuk, haree ita la moos ona.
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.
Aspect markers
ona — 'already' (perfective)
onaPlaced after the verb (or after the object), 'ona' marks that something has already happened. Cannot stand alone — must belong to a sentence. See also 'tiha ona' for a stronger completed aspect.
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.
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 matan hateke dook la moos, maibé se ha'u uza okulu haree moos loos.I can’t see clearly in the distance. But if I put a glasses, I can see clearly.
- Sara ferik ona, la bele ko'us ona.Sara is old, and can no longer fall pregnant.
- Nia saláriu hakerek klaru iha kontratu laran.His salary is clearly written in his contract.
- Ha'u nia avoo mane uluk fuma tabaku uza kaixumba.My grandfather used to smoke tobacco in a pipe.
- Balde ne'e la bele uza ona tanba nakfera tiha ona.The bucket can no longer be used as it has split.
- Ha'u kadi hela tudik tanba la kro'at tiha ona.I am sharpening a knife because it is no longer sharp.