She has a bad habit of gossiping about people. in Tetun
Nia moras aat ida mak konta ema nia vida.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
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'.
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
- Kuandu ema hala'o edukasaun sívika, sira hanorin povu kona ba lia polítiku nian, no mós kona ba direitu no responsabilidade reinu nian, atu foti povu nia konsiénsia polítiku.When people conduct civic education, they teach the people about political affairs, and also about the rights and responsibilities of the people, to raise their political awareness.
- Ha'u la moe atu hatete ba ema seluk kona ba Na'i Jesus nia di'ak.I’m not ashamed to tell people about the Lord Jesus
- Populasaun agora dadaun iha korajen atu ko'alia kona ba korupsaun.The people now have the courage to talk about corruption.
- Ema Atauro bahat ai sai estátua ema ne'ebé furak loos.Atauro people carve wood into beautiful statues of people.
- Ema tama mate nabanaban, to'o uma laran ema nakonu.People just kept coming in, until the house was full of people.
- Ema boot servisu iha parlamentu, balu han matak povu nia osan.Some senior people who work in the parliament swindle the people of their money.