With your eyes focused on the television, you don't even hear if someone calls. in Tetun
Ó nia matan fai ba televizaun ne'e, bolu mós la rona.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
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.
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.
Translate your own text with the free English ↔ Tetun translator or look up individual words in the Tetun dictionary.
Related phrases
- Ha'u lakohi haree televizaun.I don't want to watch television.
- Ami la gosta haree televizaun.We don’t like watching television.
- Keta book. Ne'e ema nian.Don't touch it. It's someone else's.
- Ita nein komprende musan ida.We don't even understand a single word.
- La bele hanaruk tan sira nia kontratu, tanba sira servisu la di'ak!Don't extend their contract, because they don't work well!
- Keta halimar iskeiru! Ahi lakan bele kona ó nia matan!Don't play with the lighter! The flame could burn your eyes!