1st pers. sing., I me, HA'U |
2nd pers. sing., you you (polite), O ITA |
3rd pers. sing., he she her it, NIA |
1st pers. pl., we us (exclusive) we us (inclusive), AMI ITA |
2nd pers. pl., you, IMI EMI |
3rd pers. pl., they them they (Tetum-Belu), SIRA SIA |
Pronoun subjects and objects are not distinguished in Tetun. 'We' and 'us' inclusive, includes those being spoken to (i.e. 'we and you'), while 'we' and 'us' exclusive (i.e. 'we alone') do not include those spoken to.
AMI MAI ATU IMI, TAN BA ITA HOTU MESA BELUN
We come to see you, because we are all friends.
The possessive pronouns are formed by placing the pronoun before the noun with NIA between them, e.g. HA'U NIA ASU, my dog. NIA NIA 'his' is normally shortened to NINIA, e.g. NIA NIA ASU or NINIA ASU, 'his dog, her dog'. In conversation NIA can be dropped when the known ends a vowel provided N or K is added to the end of the noun, e.g. HA'U ASUN, my dog.
HA'U NIAN, HA'UN, HA'UK, NIAN, NINIAN etc. are used as possessive pronouns where there is no noun at the end of a sentence.