When eating salak, peel off the shell and only eat the flesh. in Tetun
Se han ai-fuan salak karik, loke nia kulit mak han de'it nia isin.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Conditionals
se / karik — conditionals
sekarik'se' opens a definite conditional ('if X, then Y'). 'karik' sits at the end of a clause and hedges it ('perhaps'); it can also mark an uncertain conditional.
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.
Focus
mak — focus marker
mak'mak' focuses the preceding constituent — used when English would bold or cleft ('it was X who...'). Also forms the superlative with 'liu'.
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
- 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.
- Tusan ne'e ha'u selu neineik-neineik, to'o tinan ida foin selu kotu.I paid off this debt slowly. It took me a year to pay it off completely.
- Kolega ne'e oin osan; ita sosa buat ruma fó ba nia mak nia di'ak ho ita.This friend is happy only if given money or presents. Only if we buy something for her does she get on with us.
- Mai ita han ona.Let’s eat now.
- Han tan!Eat some more!
- Atoi hakarak han batar.Atoi wants to eat corn.