There was a landslide on the road, so we couldn’t go past by car. in Tetun
Rai monu iha estrada, halo ita liu ho kareta la di'ak.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Comparison
liu — comparison 'more / most'
liuTetun comparison uses 'X liu Y' not 'mais X' — the adjective stays put and 'liu' follows. With a focus 'mak' it becomes superlative. Avoid Portuguese-style 'melhor' or 'mais boot'.
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.
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
- Kareta ne'e ha'u nian privadu, la'ós estadu nian.This car is my private car, not a government one.
- Se ema ida la'o liu iha estrada, ami nia asu sempre hatenu.If someone walks past on the road, our dog always barks.
- Kareta nakdoko tanba dalan aat.The car shakes/bounces around because the road is rough.
- Uluk rai halai iha Tutuala halo ema na'in rua mate.Once there was a landslide in Tutuala which killed two people.
- Ha'u buka fatin atu para ha'u nia kareta, maibé la iha espasu.I’m looking for a place to park my car, but there are no (free) spaces.
- Iha Lospalos fatuk kuak barak loos. Tempu uluk ema hela iha laran.In Lospalos there are very many caves. In the past people used to live in them.