Perhaps he was the one who told that story. I didn’t. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Focus

  mak — focus marker

  mak

  'mak' focuses the preceding constituent — used when English would bold or cleft ('it was X who...'). Also forms the superlative with 'liu'.

• 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.

• Possibility & probability

  bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility

  kala

  Tetun hedges less than English, but has a cluster of markers. 'bele' before the verb = can / may. 'parese' at the start = 'seems'. 'dala ruma' at the start of a clause = 'perhaps, sometimes'. 'kala / kal' before a number = 'approximately'.

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

Related phrases

• Di'ak ida nia mai, di'ak ida la mai.Perhaps he'll come, perhaps he won't.
• Ohin Maria la mai servisu. Dala ruma nia moras.Today Maria didn’t come to work. Perhaps she is sick.
• Maun Castelo konta tuir nia istória uluk nia sei hela iha Inglatera.Brother Castelo told the story of when he used to live in England.
• Totál estudante iha eskola ne'e sentu í ún pesoas.The total number of students in this school is one hundred and one.
• Marcos ema ne'ebé hamnasa dór, nia kontente istória, nia mak hamnasa uluk.Marcos is a giggler. When he tells a story, he’s the one who laughs first.
• Pregu ne'e toos liu atu losu ho martelu, karik bele losu ho ai-suak bibi ain.This nail is too tight to loosen with a hammer, perhaps you can use a long-handled one.