Tetum & Co.
Timor-Leste’s Languages
You might not expect it, but Timor Leste has a huge variety of languages. The first ones you’ll hear about are of course the national ones, Portuguese and Tetum. Once you delve deeper into the topic, you’ll get your mind blown, because there are actually over 20 additional indigenous languages, excluding dialects. An example would be Mambai, which is largely spoken in the Aileu district, or Galoli, mainly existing in the district Manatuto. Many of them are not even related to each other and are simply a whole language of their own, spoken by only about a few hundred people.
Map of Timor Lestes Languages - Source: “Mai Koalia Tetun” by Geoffrey Hull
Sadly, that small number of speakers is also pushing them to the brink of extinction. In fact, some already are. However, people need to communicate more than ever in this globalized world, and all these languages and dialects can make that really hard. To further illustrate the problem, in villages high up in the mountains it can happen that most people there don’t even speak the lingua franca, Tetum. It’s not easy to preserve all those languages and still find a smooth way to talk to each other.
If you visit Timor, the go-to language you should learn is Tetum. It is an indigenous one that got over the years influenced by Portuguese, English and Indonesian. Have you ever heard of it? It’s a relatively unknown language and mainly spoken, so there are few books or texts in Tetum. That is also the reason there is still no consistent spelling system.
Portuguese is an official language, but barely anyone knows how to speak it. You won’t get around with it here. The same goes for Indonesian, another language that was introduced to Timor by colonialization, like Portuguese. Only the prices and numbers are still mainly said in Indonesian. English only works sometimes. The world’s lingua franca hasn’t entirely spread out here yet. Many people, especially in the rural areas speak only basic to no English. So, to visit Timor, you should know some basic Tetum and the numbers in Indonesian.
To give you some more insight on Timor Leste’s main language, Tetum, I have gathered here the main grammar rules and a few words and phrases:
Basic Grammar
Upper- & lowercase letters are used the same way as in English - Names & words at the beginning of the sentence are uppercase, the rest lowercase.
No conjugations or declinations - the form of the word stays the same no matter how it is used (tenses are marked with specific words).
No articles - “busa” can mean “the cat”, “a cat“, “cat“ or “the cats” (sometimes the plural is emphasized by adding the word “sira” afterwards: “busa sira” means exclusively “the cats”).
Adjectives come after the noun: “busa mutin” = [cat white]
Tetum is phonetic - mostly, you speak how you write.
The second-last syllable is usually the emphasized one, if not, it may be a word borrowed from another language.
Greetings & Farewells
until midday: “bondia!” (or just “bondi!”) = “Good Morning!”
until nightfall: “bontardi!” (or just “tardi!”) = “Good Afternoon!”
until the next morning: “bonnoiti!” (or just “noiti!”) = “Good evening/
Goodnight!”
“Adeus!” = “Goodbye!”
“Ate Logu!” [until later] = “See you later!
“Haree dalan!” [see way] = “Have a safe journey!"
Other useful Phrases
“Obrigado/a!” = “Thanks!” (traditionally, women say “obrigada” and men “obrigado”, but I have heard “obrigado” being used as a genderneutral form)
“Desculpa!” = “Sorry!”
“Lisensa?” = “Excuse me?”
“Folin hira?” [price how much] = “How much does it cost?”
“Ida nee saida?” [this what] = “What is this?”
“Hau nia naran Fernando.” [my name Fernando] = “My name is Fernando.”
“Diak ka lae? - Diak!”[good or not - Good] = “How are you? - Good!”
