No candidate won an absolute majority in the first round of the presidential elections, so there will be a second round of elections in May. in Tetun
La iha kandidatu ida manán absoluta iha primeira ronda eleisaun prezidensiál nian, nune'e sei iha segunda ronda iha fulan Maiu.
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
nian'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
- Se la iha kandidatu ida mak manán iha primeiru ronde eleisaun prezidensiál, entaun na'in rua ne'ebé mak votus barak liu kontinua ba iha segundu ronde.If no one candidate wins in the first round of a presidential election, then the two with the most votes continue on to the second round.
- Prosesu sorteiu ba eleisaun prezidensiál define kandidatu ne'ebé mak primeiru iha boletín du votu.The candidate whose name appears first on the ballot paper for the presidential elections is determined by drawing lots.
- Ha'u sei bá kaza dé banhu lai, depois mak ita la'o hamutuk.I will go to the bathroom first, then we can go walking together.
- Sira sei halo kordenasaun ho sira nia xefe depois mak fó desizaun.They will coordinate with their boss, then they will make a decision.
- Ha'u kabidu hela Ob para ema mai fihir.I hang second hand clothes on hangers so that people will come and view them.
- Ita sei liu iha imigrasaun hodi revista ita nia sasán hotu mak foin ita bele sai ba li'ur.We will go through immigration where they will inspect our goods before we can go outside.