Chapter 3. PRONUNCIATION

Tetun is a soft language, because of the lack of harsh guttural sounds. The stress is usually on the penultimate syllable with a few exceptions.

Capital letters denote stress:

HA-re, to see
ha-FI-la, to return
ha-LU-ha, to forget
ba-BU-rit, a syringe
hak-FI-lak, to alter
nak-FU-nan, to become mouldy
a-RU-ma, some (mostly said as RU-ma)
KU-ak, hole
IS-in, body
BA-dain, tradesman
KA-rau, buffalo
RAI, earth

Sometimes the letter U may act as a consonant similar to English W. In some areas this sound is changed B as more natural sound for that district:

la-UA-rik, youth (la-BA-rik)
UA-ni, honeybee (BA-ni)
UE, water (BE)

A small number of Tetun words are stressed irregularly on the last syllable.

ha-RE, rice
ta-FE, to spite
ha-HU, to begin
ko-A, to crow

Tetun also has double vowels, which are an extension of a single sound, e.g.

BOOT, big
AAT, bad evil
ba-DAAK, rice powder

The glottoral stop is common and important practice of speech in Tetun between vowels, as a break or hiatus, and is indicated by '. It can be described as a click at the back of the throat:

KO-'-a, to cut
NA-'-uk, to steal
BE-'-u, to thresh grain

Hyphenated words are pronounced as two words, but the stress is on the last penultimate syllable:

aman-IKun, uncle
bere-LOik, spider
bai-RUa, day after tomorrow

Consonants are sometimes prefixed to root words, mostly as expletives, to become part of the first syllable, but to be pronounced in such a way to be barely distinguishable:

KBA-but, troublemaker
KBE-lak, disc
KDO-ran, water vessel

Some words are pronounced differently in two or more districts:

BUU, KBUU, sack

A number of words from other languages are included because they are in such common usage they can be regarded as part of the alphabet. The are spelt phonetically:

AMIGU, friend (from Portuguese AMIGO)

BARLAKE, marriage (from Indonesian BERLAKI)

Diphthongs (double vowel sounds):

AI like i in ice, AIN, foot
EI like e in below, TEIK, to stamp the feet
OI like oy in boy, HAKOI, to bury
UI like we, TAFUI, to spit
AU like ou in pound, BAUR, rainbow
EU like ew in sew, KAKEU, a tree
OU like ow in bow, BOU to heap

Some letters of the English language are not natural to the Tetun language, but may appear in loan words (i.e. introduced words.) Some words are changed to a more natural sound and some letters are interchangeable from district to district, especially where Tetun is spoken as a second language.

letter, changed to, examples
B, F, BAKU FAKU
U, B, LAUARIK LABARIK

foreign letters

G, K, GABRIEL KABRIEL
G, D, GENTIO DENTIU
C, K, CAFE KAFE
C or Cceil;, S, AC U ASU
CH, S, CHA, SA
QU, K, VIQUEQUE, UE KEKE
V, U, VACA UAKA or BAKA
Z, S, ZEFERINO SEFERINO

Some English combinations like "CH", "TH" are unpronounceable by Timorese, "thing" being said as "ting".

The approximate sounds of the alphabet are:

A, like "a" in father
B, as in English
D, as in English
E, like "e" in set or "a" in fake
F, like "f" in father
H, like "h" in harm
I, like "ea" in tea
K, like "k" in kite
L, like "l" in like
M, as in English
N, as in English
O, like "o" in hot or not.
P, as in English
R, like Scottish rr with a roll of the tongue
S, like "s" in some
T, as in English
U, like "w" in wake as first letter other letters like "oo" in boot

Note: The letters C, G, J, Q, V, W, X, Y, Z are not normally used in Tetum (see above notes on loan words). However loan words still retain their original form, so it is possible to find all letters of the English alphabet.

Vowels and consonants at the end of words.

E & O when at the end of words are pronounced slightly open.

HARE, to see
SELE, to destroy
KOKO, to try
LEBO, to carry

Final AE, OE, EO are pronounced slightly open and are articulated as two syllables.

HAE, grass
MALAE, foreigner
SASOE, palm leaf cape
LALEO, hut
KULEO, seasickness
KAKAE, cockatoo

In final -EK, -ET, -OK, -OT the consonant is weakly pronounced.