The preposition di places a person, thing, or event in a static setting. Depending on the English sentence, it can mean at, in, or on: di rumah “at home,” di Jakarta “in Jakarta,” and di atas meja “on the table.” Indonesian does not choose a different basic preposition for those three English relations.
This page covers physical static location in contemporary Standard Indonesian. It leaves full subordinate-clause syntax and derivational-affix paradigms to dedicated adjacent pages. The spelling distinction between free di and attached passive di- is essential from the beginning.
di establishes where something is or happens
The structure is di + place complement. The complement can be a common place noun, a proper place name, or a longer noun phrase.
Ibu sedang menunggu di rumah.
Mother is waiting at home.
Kakak saya bekerja di Jakarta.
My older sibling works in Jakarta.
Kami makan siang di warung kecil dekat kantor.
We have lunch at a small food stall near the office.
In all three sentences, di supplies the setting of an action rather than a destination. Waiting, working, and eating occur there.
A di phrase can itself be the predicate. Indonesian needs no copula corresponding to English be:
Ayah di rumah hari ini.
Father is at home today.
Kunci mobil di dalam tas hitam.
The car key is inside the black bag.
The subject comes first and the location follows directly. Ayah adalah di rumah is not the neutral location pattern.
One di for English at, in, and on
English forces learners to choose among at, in, and on. Indonesian di does not encode that same three-way distinction. The noun and real-world relationship often provide enough information.
| Indonesian | Natural English | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| di sekolah | at school | institution/place |
| di kamar | in the room | enclosed place |
| di meja | on/at the table | normally understood relation |
| di pantai | at/on the beach | area or surface |
Anak-anak sedang bermain di pantai.
The children are playing on the beach.
Dokumennya ada di meja resepsionis.
The document is on the reception desk.
Saya bertemu Dimas di stasiun tadi pagi.
I met Dimas at the station this morning.
Do not translate the English preposition first and then search for three Indonesian equivalents. Start from static location; di covers it. Add a relational location noun when the geometry must be explicit.
Relational location nouns
Words such as atas “top/above,” bawah “bottom/below,” dalam “inside,” depan “front,” and belakang “back” locate something relative to another noun. The full structure keeps every free word separate:
- di atas meja — on top of the table
- di bawah kursi — under the chair
- di dalam lemari — inside the cupboard
- di depan rumah — in front of the house
- di belakang sekolah — behind the school
Ponsel saya tertinggal di atas meja.
I left my phone on the table.
Kucing itu tidur di bawah kursi dekat jendela.
The cat is sleeping under the chair near the window.
Sepeda kami disimpan di belakang rumah.
Our bicycles are kept behind the house.
Di meja may be enough when the normal interpretation is “on the table,” just as di laci is normally understood as “in the drawer.” Use di atas meja or di dalam laci when the exact relation matters or contrasts with another location.
di sini, di situ, and di sana
The three location words form a distance contrast:
| Phrase | Meaning | Perspective |
|---|---|---|
| di sini | here | near the speaker |
| di situ | there | at the place indicated or not far away |
| di sana | over there | farther from the speaker |
Silakan duduk di sini; kursi itu masih kosong.
Please sit here; that chair is still empty.
Taruh paketnya di situ, di samping printer.
Put the package there, next to the printer.
Mereka tinggal di sana sejak tahun lalu.
They have lived over there since last year.
Write both words separately: di sini, di situ, di sana. The preposition remains free even though the combinations are extremely frequent.
Static di versus destination ke
Di answers “where is it/where does it happen?” Ke answers “where is it going?” Movement within a place can still use di when the phrase identifies the setting, but movement toward a destination requires ke.
Maya tinggal di Jakarta.
Maya lives in Jakarta.
Maya pindah ke Jakarta bulan depan.
Maya is moving to Jakarta next month.
Saya menunggu di pasar, lalu berjalan ke stasiun.
I waited at the market, then walked to the station.
The verb tinggal describes a state located in Jakarta. Pindah presents Jakarta as the endpoint, so it selects ke. In the third sentence, the same person is first statically di pasar and then moves ke stasiun.
Both locative prepositions are separate from their complements: di rumah, ke rumah, di Jakarta, ke Jakarta.
Free di versus passive di-
Indonesian also has an attached passive prefix di-. It is not a location word. It combines with a verb base to show that the subject undergoes an action: dibaca “is/was read,” ditulis “is/was written,” dibuka “is/was opened.”
Buku itu dibaca Rina di rumah.
That book was read by Rina at home.
Surat ini ditulis di Bandung pada tahun 1998.
This letter was written in Bandung in 1998.
The first sentence contains both systems:
- dibaca: attached di-
- verb baca, marking passive voice
- di rumah: free preposition di
- place rumah
The spelling exposes the grammar. A free preposition can be separated and followed by a complex place phrase. A passive prefix cannot stand alone and must attach to its verb base.
Free ke versus attached ke-
The same visual distinction exists with ke. Free ke marks a destination: ke kantor “to the office.” Attached ke- occurs inside derived words, including ordinals such as kedua “second.” Full derivational patterns belong elsewhere, but the word boundary must be recognized.
Kami naik tangga ke lantai kedua.
We went up the stairs to the second floor.
Here destination ke lantai kedua has free ke before the noun phrase, while kedua contains attached ke-.
For a focused spelling guide, see spacing di and ke.
Capitalization and initial position
The preposition is normally lowercase, while a proper place name keeps its capital: di Jakarta, di Bali, di Jalan Sudirman. At the beginning of a sentence, Di is capitalized because it is the first word.
Di rumah kami biasanya makan malam bersama.
At home we usually eat dinner together.
A short initial location phrase does not take a comma merely because English may use one. Normal Indonesian writes Di rumah kami ... as one continuous clause.
Common Mistakes
1. Joining locative di to its complement
❌ Ibu menunggu dirumah.
Incorrect spelling — locative di is a separate preposition.
✅ Ibu menunggu di rumah.
Mother is waiting at home.
2. Using di for a destination
❌ Kami pergi di pasar setelah sarapan.
Incorrect — the market is the destination, not the static setting.
✅ Kami pergi ke pasar setelah sarapan.
We went to the market after breakfast.
3. Separating the passive prefix
❌ Buku itu di baca Rina.
Incorrect spelling — passive di- attaches to the verb base.
✅ Buku itu dibaca Rina.
That book was read by Rina.
4. Joining di to a relational location noun
❌ Kuncinya ada diatas meja.
Incorrect spelling — di and atas are separate words.
✅ Kuncinya ada di atas meja.
The key is on the table.
Key Takeaways
- Separate di marks a static setting and can translate at, in, or on.
- Use relational nouns for exact geometry: di atas meja, di bawah kursi, di dalam lemari.
- Di sini is near the speaker; di sana is farther away.
- Use free ke for a destination, not di.
- Attach passive di- in dibaca and derivational ke- in kedua, but separate the locative prepositions from their complements.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- ke: Direction and DestinationA1 — Use free ke for movement toward destinations and endpoints, contrasting it with static di and attached ordinal or derivational ke-.
- dari: Source, Origin, Material, and ComparisonA1 — Use dari to express where something begins, comes from, is made from, or serves as a point of comparison.
- Spatial Relators with atas, bawah, depan, and belakangA1 — Build precise locations, destinations, and sources with di, ke, or dari plus the relational nouns atas, bawah, depan, and belakang.
- pada: Time Points and Abstract LocationA2 — Use pada to anchor events at time points and to locate states, responsibility, or attention on an abstract holder.
- Writing di and ke: Prefix or PrepositionA1 — Choose solid or separate spelling for di and ke by identifying whether each form is an affix or a preposition.
- Attaching Prefixes and SuffixesA2 — Write ordinary Indonesian affixes solid with lowercase bases and use boundary hyphens around capitalized or acronym bases.