Paulo did not pass the national exam because he didn’t prepare. in Tetun
Paulo la liu ezame nasionál tanba nia la prepara.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
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'.
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
- Paulo laran moras tanba nia kolega lohi nia.Paulo is upset because his friend deceived him.
- Estela hetan notas di'ak iha ezame tanba nia estuda maka'as.Estela got good marks in the exam because she studied hard.
- Horiseik ha'u nia inan baku ami dasa tanba ami la estuda.Yesterday my mother beat each of us because we didn't study.
- Ha'u seidauk foti kartaun rejistu ezame tanba sei dauk selu osan semester nian.I have not taken my registration card for exam because I have not paid the semester fee.
- Maria hirus harahun nia telefone tanba telefone loke la lakan.Maria was angry and smashed her telephone, because when she turned it on it didn’t light up.
- Sira hotu mogok servisu tanba patraun selu sira la tuir tuir estandar ne'ebé governu fó sai.They are all on strike because the boss didn’t pay them according to the standards put out by the government.