Tetun language

Vocabulary

Indigenous

The Tetun name for Timor-Leste is Timór Lorosa'e, which means 'Timor of the rising sun', or, more directly, 'East Timor'; lorosa'e comes from loro 'sun' and sa'e 'to rise, to go up'. The noun for 'word' is liafuan, from lia 'voice' and fuan 'fruit'. Some more words in Tetun:

• aas – 'high'
• aat – 'bad'
• ai – 'tree'
• ai-fuan – 'fruit'
• ai-manas – 'spice'
• bee – 'water'
• belun – 'friend'
• boot – 'big'
• di'ak – 'good'
• domin – 'love'
• ema – 'person, people'
• fatin – 'place'
• feto – 'woman'
• foho – 'mountain'
• fulan – 'moon/month'
• funu – 'war'
• hamlaha – 'hungry'
• haan – 'eat'
• hahán – 'food'
• hemu – 'drink'
• hotu – 'all'
• ida – 'one'
• kalan – 'night'
• ki'ik – 'little'
• kraik – 'low'
• labarik – 'child'
• lafaek – 'crocodile'
• lais – 'fast'
• lalenok – 'mirror'
• laran – 'inside'
• lia – 'language'
• liafuan – 'word' (from lian 'voice' and fuan 'fruit')
• lian – 'voice', 'language'
• loos – 'true', 'tebes' also acts as a synonym.
• loron – 'day'
• lokraik – 'afternoon'
• tauk – 'scared'
• mane – 'man'
• maromak – 'god'
• moris – 'life'
• rai – 'country'
• tasi – 'sea'
• tinan – 'year'
• tebes – 'very'
• teen – 'dirt', 'sediment'
• tos – 'hard'
• uluk – 'first'
• ulun – 'head'

From Portuguese

Words derived from Portuguese:

• adeus – 'goodbye'
• ajuda – 'help'
• aprende – 'learn', from aprender
• arkitetura – 'architecture', from arquitetura
• arkuiris – 'rainbow', from arco-íris
• aviaun – 'airplane', from avião
• demais – 'too much'
• desizaun – 'decision', from decisão
• deskulpa – 'sorry', from desculpa
• doutor – 'doctor'
• edukasaun – 'education', from educação
• ekipamentu – 'equipment', from equipamento
• eletrisidade – 'electricity', from electricidade
• embaixada – 'embassy'
• emerjensia – 'emergency', from emergência
• enjeñaria – 'engineering', from engenharia
• entaun – 'so', 'well', from então
• envezde 'instead of', from em vez de
• eskola – 'school', from escola
• esperiénsia – 'experience', from experiência
• familia – 'family', from família
• fízika – 'physics', from física
• forsa – 'force', from força
• froñas – 'pillowcases', from fronhas
• gitarrista – 'guitarist', from guitarrista
• governu – 'government', from governo
• ideia – 'idea'
• igreja – 'church'
• imposivel – 'impossible', from impossível
• istória – 'history', from história
• jerasaun – 'generation', from geração
• kafé – 'coffee', from café
• kaisaun – 'coffin', from caixão
• keiju – 'cheese', from queijo
• kompañia – 'company', from companhia
• komprende – 'understand', from compreender
• konsulta – 'consultation', from consulta
• korrupsaun – 'corruption', from corrupção
• kuandu – 'when', from quando
• mensajen – 'message', from mensagem
• menus – 'less', from menos
• milagre – 'miracle'
• mundu – 'world', from mundo
• múzika – 'music', from música
• Natál – 'Christmas', from Natal
• obrigadu/a – 'thanks', from obrigado/a
• organizasaun – 'organization', from organização
• pasadu – 'past', from passado
• pasaporte – 'passport', from passaporte
• paun – 'bread', from pão
• pergunta – 'question'
• polísia – 'police', from polícia
• povu – 'people', from povo
• prezidente – 'president', from presidente
• profesór – 'teacher', from professor
• profisaun – 'profession', from profissão
• relijiaun – 'religion', from religião
• semana – 'week'
• serbisu – 'work', from serviço
• serveja – 'beer', from cerveja
• teknolojia – 'technology', from tecnologia
• televizaun – 'television', from televisão
• tenke – 'must', from tem que
• tendénsia – 'tendency', from tendência
• terrorizmu – 'terrorism', from terrorismo
• xefe – 'chief', from chefe

From Malay

As a result of Bazaar Malay being a regional lingua franca and of Indonesian being a working language, many words are derived from Malay, including:

• atus 'hundred', from ratus
• barak 'much', from banyak
• bele 'can', from boleh
• besi 'iron', from besi
• udan 'rain', from hujan
• dalan 'way' or 'road', from jalan
• fatu(k) 'stone', from batu
• fulan 'moon' or 'month' from bulan
• malae 'foreigner', from melayu 'Malay'
• manas 'hot', from panas
• rihun 'thousand', from ribu
• sala 'wrong', from salah
• tulun 'help', from tolong
• dapur 'kitchen', from dapur
• uma 'house', from rumah

In addition, as a legacy of Indonesian rule, other words of Malay origin have entered Tetun, through Indonesian.

Numerals

• ida 'one'
• rua 'two'
• tolu 'three'
• haat 'four'
• lima 'five'
• neen 'six'
• hitu 'seven'
• ualu 'eight'
• sia 'nine'
• sanulu 'ten'
• ruanulu 'twenty'

However, Tetun speakers often use Malay/Indonesian or Portuguese numbers instead, such as delapan or oito 'eight' instead of ualu, especially for numbers over one thousand.

Combinations

Tetun has many hybrid words, which are combinations of indigenous and Portuguese words. These often include an indigenous Tetun verb, with a Portuguese suffix -dór (similar to '-er'). For example:

• han ('to eat') handór – glutton
• hemu ('to drink') hemudór – heavy drinker
• hateten ('to say') hatetendór – chatterbox, talkative person
• sisi ('to nag, pester') sisidór – nag, pest

Basic phrases

• Bondia – 'Good morning' (from Portuguese Bom dia).
• Di'ak ka lae? – 'How are you?' (literally 'Are you well or not?')
• Ha'u di'ak – 'I'm fine.'
• Obrigadu/Obrigada – 'Thank you', said by a male/female (from Portuguese Obrigado/Obrigada).
• Ita bele ko'alia Tetun? – 'Do you speak Tetun?'
• Loos – 'Right'
• Lae – 'No.'
• Ha'u' [la] komprende – 'I [do not] understand' (from Portuguese compreender).

Grammar

Morphology

Personal pronouns

(1)

Hau

1S

rona

hear

asu

dog

hatenu

barking

"I hear the dog barking"

(2)

Nia

3S

sosa

buys

sigaru

cigarettes

"He/She buys cigarettes"

(3)

Ita

1PL

rona

hearing

rádiu?

radio

"Are we hearing a radio?"

(4)

Sira

3PL

moris

alive

hotu

all

ka?

?

"Are they all alive?"

A common occurrence is to use titles such as Senhora for a woman or names rather than pronouns when addressing people.

(1)

Senhora

Mrs

mai

come

hori

PAST

bain-hira?

when

"When did you arrive?"

The second person singular pronoun Ó is used generally with children, friends or family, while with strangers or people of higher social status, Ita or Ita boot is used.

(1)

Nina,

Nina

Ó

2S.FAM

iha

LOC

nebee?

where

"Nina, where are you?"

Nouns and pronouns

Plural

The plural is not normally marked on nouns, but the word sira 'they' can express it when necessary.

feto 'woman/women' → feto sira 'women'

However, the plural ending -s of nouns of Portuguese origin is sometimes retained.

Estadus Unidus – United States (from Estados Unidos)

Nasoens Unidas – United Nations (from Nações Unidas)

Definiteness

Tetun has an optional indefinite article ida ('one'), used after nouns:

labarik ida – a child

There is no definite article, but the demonstratives ida-ne'e ('this one') and ida-ne'ebá ('that one') may be used to express definiteness:

labarik ida-ne'e – this child, the child

labarik ida-ne'ebá – that child, the child

In the plural, sira-ne'e ('these') or sira-ne'ebá ('those') are used:

labarik sira-ne'e – these children, the children

labarik sira-ne'ebá – those children, the children

Possessive/genitive

The particle nia forms the alienable possessive, and can be used in a similar way to 's in English, e.g.:

João nia uma – 'João's house'

Cristina nia livru – 'Cristina's book'

When the possessor is postposed, representing inalienable possession, nia becomes nian:

povu Timór Lorosa'e nian – the people of Timor-Leste

Inclusive and exclusive we

Like other Austronesian languages, Tetun has two forms of we, ami (equivalent to Malay kami) which is exclusive, e.g. "I and they", and ita (equivalent to Malay kita), which is inclusive, e.g. "you, I, and they".

ami-nia karreta – 'our [family's] car'

ita-nia rain – 'our country'

Nominalization

Nouns derived from verbs or adjectives are usually formed with affixes, for example the suffix -na'in, similar to "-er" in English.

hakerek 'write' → hakerek-na'in 'writer'

The suffix -na'in can also be used with nouns, in the sense of 'owner'.

uma 'house' → uma-na'in 'householder'

In more traditional forms of Tetun, the circumfix ma(k)- -k is used instead of -na'in. For example, the nouns 'sinner' or 'wrongdoer' can be derived from the word sala as either maksalak, or sala-na'in. Only the prefix ma(k)- is used when the root word ends with a consonant; for example, the noun 'cook' or 'chef' can be derived from the word te'in as makte'in as well as te'in-na'in.

The suffix -teen (from the word for 'dirt' or 'excrement') can be used with adjectives to form derogatory terms:

bosok 'false' → bosok-teen 'liar'

Adjectives

Derivation from nouns

To turn a noun into a nominalised adjective, the word oan ('person, child, associated object') is added to it.

malae 'foreigner' → malae-oan 'foreign'

Thus, 'Timorese person' is Timor-oan, as opposed to the country of Timor, rai-Timor.

To form adjectives and actor nouns from verbs, the suffix -dór (derived from Portuguese) can be added:

hateten 'tell' → hatetendór 'talkative'

Gender

Tetun does not have separate masculine and feminine gender, hence nia (similar to ia/dia/nya in Malay) can mean either 'he', 'she' or 'it'.

Different forms for the genders only occur in Portuguese-derived adjectives, hence obrigadu ('thank you') is used by men, and obrigada by women. The masculine and feminine forms of other adjectives derived from Portuguese are sometimes used with Portuguese loanwords, particularly by Portuguese-educated speakers of Tetun.

governu demokrátiku – 'democratic government' (from governo democrático, masculine)

nasaun demokrátika – 'democratic nation' (from nação democrática, feminine)

In some instances, the different gender forms have distinct translations into English:

bonitu – 'handsome'

bonita – 'pretty'

In indigenous Tetun words, the suffixes -mane ('male') and -feto ('female') are sometimes used to differentiate between the genders:

oan-mane 'son' → oan-feto 'daughter'

Comparatives and superlatives

Superlatives can be formed from adjectives by reduplication:

barak 'much, many' → babarak 'very much, many'

boot 'big, great' → boboot 'huge, enormous'

di'ak 'good' → didi'ak 'very good'

ikus 'last' → ikuikus 'the very last, final'

moos 'clean, clear' → momoos 'spotless, immaculate'

When making comparisons, the word liu ('more') is used after the adjective, optionally followed by duké ('than' from Portuguese do que):

Maria tuan liu (duké) Ana — Maria is older than Ana.

To describe something as the most or least, the word hotu ('all') is added:

Maria tuan liu hotu — Maria is the oldest.

Adverbs

Adverbs can be formed from adjectives or nouns by reduplication:

di'ak 'good' → didi'ak 'well'

foun 'new, recent' → foufoun 'newly, recently'

kalan 'night' → kalakalan 'nightly'

lais 'quick' → lailais 'quickly'

loron 'day' → loroloron 'daily'

Prepositions and circumpositions

The most commonly used prepositions in Tetun are the verbs iha ('have', 'possess', 'specific locative') and baa/ba ('go', 'to', 'for'). Most prepositional concepts of English are expressed by nominal phrases formed by using iha, the object and the position (expressed by a noun),optionally with the possessive nia.

iha uma (nia) laran — ' inside the house'

iha foho (nia) tutun — ' on top of the mountain'

iha meza leten — ' on the table'

iha kadeira okos — ' under the chair'

iha rai li'ur — ' outside the country'

iha ema (nia) leet — ' between the people'

Verbs

Copula and negation

There is no verb to be as such, but the word la'ós, which translates as 'not to be', is used for negation:

Timor-oan sira la'ós Indonézia-oan. — 'The Timorese are not Indonesians.'

The word maka, which roughly translates as 'who is' or 'what is', can be used with fronted phrases for focusing/ emphasis:

João maka gosta serveja. — 'It's John who likes beer.'

Interrogation

The interrogative is formed by using the words ka ('or') or ka lae ('or not').

O bulak ka? — 'Are you crazy?'

O gosta ha'u ka lae? — 'Do you like me?'

Derivation from nouns and adjectives

Transitive verbs are formed by adding the prefix ha- or hak- to a noun or adjective:

been 'liquid' → habeen 'to liquify, to melt'

bulak 'mad' → habulak 'to drive mad'

klibur 'union' → haklibur 'to unite'

mahon 'shade' → hamahon 'to shade, to cover'

manas 'hot' → hamanas 'to heat up'

Intransitive verbs are formed by adding the prefix na- or nak- to a noun or adjective:

nabeen — '(to be) liquified, melted'

nabulak — '(to be) driven mad'

naklibur — '(to be) united'

namahon — '(to be) shaded, covered'

namanas — '(to become) heated up'

Conjugations and inflections (in Tetun-Terik)

In Tetun-Terik, verbs inflect when they begin with a vowel or consonant h. In this case mutation of the first consonant occurs. For example, the verb haree ('see') in Tetun-Terik would be conjugated as follows:

ha'u karee — 'I see'

ó maree — 'you (sing.) see'

nia naree — 'he/she/it sees'

ami haree — 'we see'

imi haree — 'you (pl.) see'

sira raree — 'they see'

Tenses

Past

Whenever possible, the past tense is simply inferred from the context, for example:

Horisehik ha'u han etu – 'Yesterday I ate rice.'

However, it can be expressed by placing the adverb ona ('already') at the end of a sentence.

Ha'u han etu ona – 'I've (already) eaten rice.'

When ona is used with la ('not') this means 'no more' or 'no longer', rather than 'have not':

Ha'u la han etu ona – 'I don't eat rice anymore.'

In order to convey that an action has not occurred, the word seidauk ('not yet') is used:

Ha'u seidauk han etu – 'I haven't eaten rice (yet).'

When relating an action that occurred in the past, the word tiha ('finally' or 'well and truly') is used with the verb.

Ha'u han tiha etu – 'I ate rice.'

Future

The future tense is formed by placing the word sei ('will') before a verb:

Ha'u sei fó hahán ba sira – 'I will give them food.'

The negative is formed by adding la ('not') between sei and the verb:

Ha'u sei la fó hahán ba sira – 'I will not give them food.'

Aspects

Perfect

The perfect aspect can be formed by using tiha ona.

Ha'u han etu tiha ona – 'I have eaten rice / I ate rice.'

When negated, tiha ona indicates that an action ceased to occur:

Ha'u la han etu tiha ona – 'I didn't eat rice anymore.'

In order to convey that a past action had not or never occurred, the word ladauk ('not yet' or 'never') is used:

Ha'u ladauk han etu – 'I didn't eat rice / I hadn't eaten rice.'

Progressive

The progressive aspect can be obtained by placing the word hela ('stay') after a verb:

Sira serbisu hela. – 'They're (still) working.'

Imperative

The imperative mood is formed using the word ba ('go') at the end of a sentence, hence:

Lee surat ba! – 'Read the letter!'

The word lai ('just' or 'a bit') may also be used when making a request rather than a command:

Lee surat lai – 'Just read the letter.'

When forbidding an action labele ('must not') or keta ('do not') are used:

Labele fuma iha ne'e! – 'Don't smoke here!'

Keta oho sira! – 'Don't kill them!'

Orthography and phonology

The influence of Portuguese and to a lesser extent Malay/Indonesian on the phonology of Tetun has been extensive.

In the Tetun language, , and tend to have relatively fixed sounds. However and vary according to the environment they are placed in, for instance the sound is slightly higher if the proceeding syllable is or .

All consonants appearing in parentheses are used only in loanwords.

Stops: All stops in Tetun are un-aspirated, meaning an expulsion of breath is absent. In contrast, English stops, namely 'p' 't' and 'k' are generally aspirated.

Fricatives: is an unstable voiced labio-dental fricative and tends to alternate with or is replaced by ; e.g. – meaning 'grandparent.'

As Tetun did not have any official recognition or support under either Portuguese or Indonesian rule, it is only recently that a standardised orthography has been established by the National Institute of Linguistics (INL). The standard orthography devised by the institute was declared official by Government Decree 1/2004 of 14 April 2004. However, there are still widespread variations in spelling, one example being the word bainhira or 'when', which has also been written as bain-hira, wainhira, waihira, uaihira. The use of ⟨w⟩ or ⟨u⟩ is a reflection of the pronunciation in some rural dialects of Tetun-Terik.

The current orthography originates from the spelling reforms undertaken by Fretilin in 1974, when it launched literacy campaigns across East Timor, and also from the system used by the Catholic Church when it adopted Tetun as its liturgical language during the Indonesian occupation. These involved the transcription of many Portuguese words that were formerly written in their original spelling, for example, educação → edukasaun 'education', and colonialismo → kolonializmu 'colonialism'.

Reforms suggested by the International Committee for the Development of East Timorese Languages (IACDETL) in 1996 included the replacement of the digraphs ⟨nh⟩ and ⟨lh⟩ (borrowed from Portuguese, where they stand for the phonemes and ) with ⟨n̄⟩ and ⟨l̄⟩ , respectively (as in certain Basque orthographies), to avoid confusion with the consonant clusters and , which also occur in Tetun. Thus, senhor 'sir' became sen̄ór, and trabalhador 'worker' became trabal̄adór. Later, as adopted by IACDETL and approved by the INL in 2002, ⟨n̄⟩ and ⟨l̄⟩ were replaced by ⟨ñ⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ (as in Spanish). Thus, sen̄ór 'sir' became señór, and trabal̄adór 'worker' became traballadór. Some linguists favoured using ⟨ny⟩ (as in Catalan and Filipino) and ⟨ly⟩ for these sounds, but the latter spellings were rejected for being similar to the Indonesian system, and most speakers actually pronounce ñ and ll as and , respectively, with a semivowel which forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel (but reduced to , after ), not as the palatal consonants of Portuguese and Spanish. Thus, señór, traballadór are pronounced , , and liña, kartilla are pronounced , . As a result, some writers use ⟨in⟩ and ⟨il⟩ instead, for example Juinu and Juilu for June and July (Junho and Julho in Portuguese).

As well as variations in the transliteration of Portuguese loanwords, there are also variations in the spelling of indigenous words. These include the use of double vowels and the apostrophe for the glottal stop, for example boot → bot 'large' and ki'ik → kiik 'small'.

The sound , which is not indigenous to Tetun but appears in many loanwords from Portuguese and Malay, often changed to in old Tetun and to (written ⟨j⟩) in the speech of young speakers: for example, meja 'table' from Portuguese mesa, and kamija 'shirt' from Portuguese camisa. In the sociolect of Tetun that is still used by the generation educated during the Indonesian occupation, and may occur in free variation. For instance, the Portuguese-derived word ezemplu 'example' is pronounced by some speakers, and conversely Janeiru 'January' is pronounced . The sound , also not native to the language, often shifted to , as in serbisu 'work' from Portuguese serviço (also note that a modern INL convention promotes the use of serbisu for 'work' and servisu for 'service').