This child is very rude. He doesn’t want to listen to people. in Tetun
Labarik ne'e maledukadu liu, ema ko'alia nia la rona.
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.
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
- Labarik ne'e moe dór, haree ema barak iha uma oin, nia la brani tama.This child is very shy. When he sees many people at in front of the house, he doesn’t dare to go in.
- 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.
- Ana lakohi hariis.Ana doesn't want to bathe.
- Atai lakohi bá eskola.Atai doesn't want to go to school.
- Tiu Marito lakohi hemu wiski.Tiu Marito doesn't want to drink whisky.
- Ami nu'udar povu lakohi tan krize iha Timor.We the people don’t want another crisis in Timor.