The kiosk owner is not here. When she/he returns we can go and buy shampoo. in Tetun
Kios na'in la iha. Nia mai mak ita bá hola xampó.
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.
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
- La bele fuma sigaru iha ne'e!You can’t smoke here!
- Iha Tasi Tolu nenee, ema la bele hariis, tanba tasi ne'e lulik.Here in Tasi Tolu, people can’t bathe, as it taboo.
- Tansá mak imi mai iha ne'e? Tanba ami hakarak sosa koto.Why did you come here? Because we want to buy red beans.
- Nasaun seluk la bele lori sira nia lei mai aplika iha Timor.Other nations can't take their laws here and apply them in Timor.
- Sosa foos saka para ita han to'o fulan ida.Buy a sack of rice so that (it can be enough) to eat for a month.
- Mina rai bele sai bénsaun ba nasaun, maibé bele mós sai malisan.Petroleum can be a blessing to a nation, but can also become a curse.