Our neighbour had a party using a big loudspeaker, making it so noisy it was hard to sleep. in Tetun
Ami nia viziñu halo festa uza koluna, barullu demais toba la di'ak.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Intensifiers
Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)
demaisPosition matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.
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
- Busa inan iha ami nia viziñu, nia oan barak loos.Our neighbour’s she-cat has lots of kittens.
- Ha'u sente matan dukur loos, di'ak liu toba lai.I’m feeling very sleepy, and had better sleep.
- Ami nia orsamentu la to'o atu halo uma di'ak.Our budget is not big enough to build a good house.
- Iha ami nia aldeia ami uza jeradór bainhira presiza karega telefone.In our village, we use a generator to charge our phones.
- Ami nia partidu foti Jacinta hanesan kandidatu ba eleisaun ne'e.Our party chose Jacinta as the candidate for this election.
- Ha'u nia ruin siin loos, halo ha'u toba mós la di'ak.I have got terrible arthritis, making me unable to sleep well.