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:
HA'U KBA ATU HARE BASAR, I go to see the market
DUADUAN
A particle following the verb indicating that the action is still continuing:
LEKI MAUK LERE DAUDAUN DU'UT, Leki Mauk is cutting the grass.
HA-
a causative prefix forming new verbs from verbs, nouns and adjectives:
BADAK, short; HABADAK, to shorten;
MONU, to fall; HAMONU, to drop;
FODAK, timid; HAFODAK, to startle.
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:
TA'UK to fear > HAMTA'UK, to be in fear (of something);
KUUS, nasal mucus > HAMKUSS, to have a cold;
LAHA, hunger > HAMLAHA, to be hungry.
Note: HAM- and HAN- are interchangeable.
LEREK
particle placed after verbs to indicate a state of rest, abandonment, or permanence:
NIA MAI LEREK TASI IBUN, he came to the seashore (infers that he went no further than the seashore)
MA-, MAK-
particles prefixed to verbs to form nouns denoting the agent which practises the verb's action:
HAFETU, to kick > MAFETUK, kicker;
KAIR, to hold > MAKAIR LULIK, the keeper of the sacred house;
LA'O, to walk > MALA'OK, traveller,
HATETE, to talk > MATETEK, speaker;
FUAK, fruitful > MAFUAK, fruiting tree.
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:
RUANULU RESIN IDA, twenty one, literally, twenty plus one.
TEN, TEEN
a participle affixed after a word to form nouns with a derogatory sense:
BARUK, lazu; BARUK TEEN, laziness.