Whose rooster was crowing in the middle of the night like this? It means something is not right. in Tetun

Grammar in this phrase

• Aspect markers

  ona — 'already' (perfective)

  ona

  Placed after the verb (or after the object), 'ona' marks that something has already happened. Cannot stand alone — must belong to a sentence. See also 'tiha ona' for a stronger completed aspect.

• 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'.

• Intensifiers

  Intensifiers (loos, tebes, demais, laduun)

  loos

  Position matters. 'loos' / 'tebes' / 'demais' follow the adjective ('barak loos' = very many). 'laduun' PRECEDES the adjective ('laduun diak' = not very good). 'liu tan' = even more.

More patterns like these in the Tetun grammar guide.

Related phrases

• Ó ne'e mane, tenke hatudu ó nia hahalok nu'udar mane, la bele hanesan fali feto.You’re a man, and should act like a man, not like a woman.
• Ida ne'e ha'u nia kusta, ha'u iha direitu atu uza ba seda de'it.This one's mine! I have the right to use it for whatever I like.
• Ami fila kalan boot tanba sei asiste kolega nia festa.We came back in the middle of the night as we were at a friend’s party.
• Istória ne'ebé nia hakerek ne'e, ha'u gosta nia tópiku, maibé la gosta nia maneira narasaun.This story that he's written, I like the topic, but don't like his style of story-telling.
• Rai loron mak ita la'o. Sei kalan hela ne'e, buat aat barak.We'll go when it's daytime. While it's still night like this, there are lots of bad things around.
• Xá ne'e sé nian?Whose is this tea?