She's wearing a striped top but a flowery skirt. It doesn't look very good! in Tetun
Nia tau faru risku-risku maibé saia funan-funan, haree ba la di'ak!
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
- Dose bolus ne'e mamar loos, ita han mós gostu loos.This cake is very soft and taste good.
- Ha'u foti matan ba foho leten hodi haree foho nia furak.I look up at the mountain top and see its beauty.
- Menina ne'e hatais saia badak to'o kelen huun.The young woman is wearing an indecently short skirt.
- Timor Telecom nia rede iha distritu ladún di'ak.Timor Telecom’s network in the districts is not very good.
- Labarik ne'e maledukadu liu, ema ko'alia nia la rona.This child is very rude. He doesn’t want to listen to people.
- Se ita kuda ai-fariña iha rai metan, nia isin di'ak loos.If we plant cassava in black soil, it produces very good tubers.