Pedro is an atheist. He doesn't believe in God, but all his children are Christians. in Tetun
Pedro ateu ida, la fiar ba Maromak, maibé nia oan sarani hotu.
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.
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
- Maromak lia tuun ba nia oan sira dehan, “Keta ta'uk tan ha'u la'o ho imi.”God said to his children, “Don’t be afraid, as I am with you.”
- Kinta-feira Santa, sarani sira halo adorasaun iha igreja durante loron tomak.On Maundy Thursday, Christians worship God all day in the church.
- Tiu Domingos sempre rei nia oan ho nia kaben molok nia bá servisu.Uncle Domingos always kisses his children and his wife before leaving for work.
- Labarik barak la gosta halimar ho Pedro tanba nia atitude la di'ak.Lots of children don’t like playing with Pedro because his behaviour isn’t good.
- Mateus agora de'ut hela nia matan, tanba ai-luruk mak tama.Mateus is rubbing his eyes with the back of his hands, because a prickle has gotten into his eye.
- Mai ita hahi'i Na'i Maromak, tanba Nia laran di'ak teb-tebes.Let's praise God for his great kindness.