The motorbike saddle has broken, you can’t sit on it properly. in Tetun
Selín motór nian aat ona, ita tuur la di'ak.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
ona — 'already' (perfective)
onaPlaced after the verb (or after the object), 'ona' marks that something has already happened. Cannot stand alone — must belong to a sentence. See also 'tiha ona' for a stronger completed aspect.
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
nian'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
- Ha'u nia motór aat ona.My motorbike is broken
- Ha'u hamoris hela motór atu bá serbisu.I’m turning on the motorbike so I can go to work.
- Ha'u tuur rabat liu ba didin para bele sadere.I sit right next to the wall so I can lean against it.
- Tuur duka mai, para ema seluk mós bele tuur.Move over closer to me, so that other people can sit too.
- 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.
- Rai foun, ita fera lai mak foin bele fila halo rahun.New land has to be broken up roughly first before it can be ploughed.