You’re a man, and should act like a man, not like a woman. in Tetun
Ó ne'e mane, tenke hatudu ó nia hahalok nu'udar mane, la bele hanesan fali feto.
English → Tetun phrasebook
Grammar in this phrase
Aspect markers
fali — 'again' / 'back' / 'instead'
faliPlaced after the verb. Can mean 'again / back' or mark an unexpected reversal ('instead'). Context decides which.
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
- Feto karak-teen hola loos mane ida di'ak hanesan Melki ne'e!How come a greedy woman ends up marrying a good man like Melki!
- Iha família laran, la'ós feto atu sai inferiór no mane atu sai hanesan komandante hodi manda de'it.Within a family, it's not the case that the woman is inferior and the man is like a commander who just gives orders.
- Ó ne'e besi tuan tiha ona, hahalok hanesan labarik ki'ikoan!You're older but act like a little child!
- Mane ne'e hanoin aat ba menina ne'e hodi halo aat hasoru nia.This man had evil intentions towards the young woman, to do bad to her.
- Ita ema kriatura keta halo an hanesan liu fali Maromak!We are created beings, so don’t act like we are higher than God himself!
- 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.