You can't tell other people, because this is just within the family. in Tetun
Ó la bele konta sai ba ema seluk tanba ida ne'e buat uma laran nian.
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
nian'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
- Kolega Jinha ko'alia aat ha'u iha ema seluk nia oin tanba de'it nia laran moras ha'u.My friend Jinha bad-mouthed me in front of other people just because she is jealous of me.
- Se ita nia lider iha kompleksu dé inferioridade maka'as, sei susar tebes defende interese povu nian, tanba la brani kontra ema hosi grupu seluk.If our leaders have a strong inferiority complex, it is difficult for them to defend the interests of the people, because they don't have the courage to oppose people from other groups.
- Tuur duka mai, para ema seluk mós bele tuur.Move over closer to me, so that other people can sit too.
- La bele du'un matak ema karik ita la iha evidénsia ne'ebé forte.You can’t just accuse people if you don’t have strong evidence.
- Ema tama mate nabanaban, to'o uma laran ema nakonu.People just kept coming in, until the house was full of people.
- Ita hakerek regulamentu, la bele copy-paste de'it hosi regulamentu instituisaun seluk nian!When you write rules, you can't just blindly copy them from the rules of other institutions!