Our law does not permit anyone to buy or sell drugs in this country. in Tetun

Ita nia lei la permiti ema ida atu sosa droga ka fa'an droga iha rai laran.

English → Tetun phrasebook

Grammar in this phrase

  • Negation

    la — 'not' (general negation)

    la

    Placed 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.

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