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 |
| 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.