Perhaps he'll come, perhaps he won't. in Tetun
Di'ak ida nia mai, di'ak ida la mai.
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
- Mai sedu, é!Come early, won't you.
- Nia sei la mai, só ema obriga mak nia mai.He won't come unless he is forced to.
- Ohin Maria la mai servisu. Dala ruma nia moras.Today Maria didn’t come to work. Perhaps she is sick.
- Atu simu osan, tama ida-ida; la bele tama hamutuk.To receive (your) money, come in one at a time; you can’t come in together.
- Mai lalais!Come quickly!
- Ita mai hosi ne'ebé?Where did you come from?