When we eat elephant foot yam, it can make our mouth itchy until it swells up. in Tetun
Ita han maek, bele halo ita nia ibun katar to'o bubu.
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.
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
- 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.
- Tuir ami nia lisan, ami la bele han na'an asu.According to our traditional law, we can't eat dog meat.
- Ita presiza uma provizóriu ida atu hela to'o ita bele harii ita nia uma rasik.We need a temporary house to stay in until we can build our own house.
- Se ami hamriik tonka de'it kanotak to'o tuku lima mós, di'ak mak ne'e!Even if we have to just stand with our hands on our hips until 5 o’clock, then it's going to suck.
- Iha ami nia servisu fatin, só Sesta de'it mak bele uza kalsa jíns.In our work place we can only wear jeans on Fridays.
- Iha ami nia aldeia ami uza jeradór bainhira presiza karega telefone.In our village, we use a generator to charge our phones.