The deputy director does not have the authority to sack people; only the director can do this. in Tetun
Visi diretór la iha kompeténsia atu hasai ema hosi servisu; só diretór de'it mak bele.
English → Tetun phrasebook
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'.
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.
Possibility & probability
bele / parese / dala ruma / kala — possibility
beleTetun 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.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- La bele han ai-fuan ne'e lai, tanba sei tara hela horok. Aban liurai sei hasai horok mak bele han.You can't eat the fruit yet, because it is still under the horok taboo. You can only eat the fruit once the king removes the horok.
- Ita nia diretór foin rezigna an atu sai fali ministru. Nune'e ita presiza foti fali ema seluk sai diretór definitivu, la bele foti reitór interinu de'it.Our director has just resigned to become a government minister. So we must appoint someone else as permanent director, not just as an acting director.
- 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.
- Ema uitoan de'it mak mai.Only a few people came.
- Timor oan minoria de'it ,mak musulmanu.Only a minority of Timorese people are Muslims.
- Ema sira ne'e akuza diretór dehan nia halo korupsaun.These people accused the director of corruption.