Uncle is blind, he is not able to see the beauty of the world. in Tetun
Tiu ne'e matan aat, nia la bele haree mundu nia furak.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
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
- Ha'u foti matan ba foho leten hodi haree foho nia furak.I look up at the mountain top and see its beauty.
- Ha'u nia matan hateke dook la moos, maibé se ha'u uza okulu haree moos loos.I can’t see clearly in the distance. But if I put a glasses, I can see clearly.
- Ita uza ita nia matan hodi haree.we use our eyes to see.
- Tiu hamlaha ka?Are you ('uncle') hungry?
- Tiu Atoi hosi ne'ebé?Where is Uncle Atoi from?
- Tiu ne'e nia isin fulun mahar loos.Uncle has very thick body hair.