Untie the goat’s rope and go and tie it up again somewhere near where the grassy area so the goat can eat. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Aspect markers

  fali — 'again' / 'back' / 'instead'

  fali

  Placed after the verb. Can mean 'again / back' or mark an unexpected reversal ('instead'). Context decides which.

• 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.

Related phrases

• La bele han ai-fuan ne'e lai, tanba sei tara hela horok. Aban liurai sei hasai horok mak bele han.You can't eat the fruit yet, because it is still under the horok taboo. You can only eat the fruit once the king removes the horok.
• Ha'u espera katak ha'u bele hasoru fali sira iha kondisaun ne'ebé saudavel.I hope I can again meet them in good health.
• Tuir ami nia lisan, ami la bele han na'an asu.According to our traditional law, we can't eat dog meat.
• Habosok labarik toba tiha lai mak ó han.Distract the child into sleeping first, and then you can eat.
• Karik labarik han rebusadu barak, bele halo nia nehan kuak tiha.If children eat a lot of lollies, this can give them cavities.
• 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.