Particles And Participles

-AN

Particles placed after the verb to give it a reflexive meaning:

  • NIA OHO AN, he killed himself.

    When used with RASIK means 'own' or 'self' the construction changes;

  • SUKI NAKENAK RASIK NIA AN, or SUKI NAKENAK NIA AN RASIK, Suki wounds himself.

ATU-

Placed (be)for the verb to indicate purpose or intention:

DUADUAN

A particle following the verb indicating that the action is still continuing:

HA-

a causative prefix forming new verbs from verbs, nouns and adjectives:

HA is a contraction of HALO, thus HALO BADAK is contracted to (>) HABADAK, literally 'make short'.

HAM-, HAN-

particles prefixed to verbs, nouns, and adjectives to form verbs which describe the state or action of the subject resulting from a continued action of the root word:

Note: HAM- and HAN- are interchangeable.

LEREK

particle placed after verbs to indicate a state of rest, abandonment, or permanence:

MA-, MAK-

particles prefixed to verbs to form nouns denoting the agent which practises the verb's action:

Note: root words beginning with H change to M, those ending in a vowel add K; also MA and MAK are second person forms of HA and HAK.

NA-, NAK-, NAM-

prefix to form verbs in third person plural; also forms verbal nouns and adjectives.

RA-, RAK-, RAM-, RAN-

prefix to form verbs in third person plural and also verbal nouns and adjectives.

HA'E

an emphatic particle stressing the word it precedes, not translatable in English, used in all dialects. The Tetun-Dili equivalent is MAK, MAKA.

RESIN

an adverb meaning 'extra', 'plus'. It also forms cardinal numbers over ten:

TEN, TEEN

a participle affixed after a word to form nouns with a derogatory sense: