The child choked on a fishbone and had trouble drawing breath. in Tetun
Labarik nesik tiha ikan ruin halo nia dada iis 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
- Ema fó sala ba nia dehan nia mak oho labarik ne'e.People accused him saying it was he who had killed the child.
- Madalena huu nia liman ida ohin bee manas kona.Madalena blew on her hand which had just had hot water touch it.
- Hori-kalan ha'u atu estuda, maibé la iha livru, entaun ha'u deskansa de'it.Last night I intended to study, but had no books, so I just had a rest.
- STAE hasai esteitmentu katak eleisaun ne'e iha sala maibé la iha manipulasaun.STAE released a statement that the election had involved errors but that there had been no manipulation.
- Ó ne'e ha'u nia oan doben.You are my beloved child.
- Lalikan fadigadu!No need to trouble yourself!