Penjual belum sempat membersihkan mesin tik berdebu itu.

Belum sempat is a very common combination in Indonesian. It means something like:

• has not had the chance to
• has not had time to
• has not gotten around to

So Penjual belum sempat membersihkan... means the seller hasn’t had time/chance to clean... yet.

A useful contrast:

• belum = not yet
• tidak = not

Because the sentence uses belum, it suggests the action may still happen later.

In this sentence, belum is used because the idea is not yet, not a general negation.

• belum sempat = hasn’t had the chance yet
• tidak sempat = didn’t have the chance / couldn’t manage to

So:

• Penjual belum sempat membersihkan mesin tik berdebu itu.
  = The seller hasn’t had time yet to clean that dusty typewriter.

• Penjual tidak sempat membersihkan mesin tik berdebu itu.
  = The seller didn’t have time to clean that dusty typewriter.

The first one feels more open-ended, as if it may still be cleaned later.

Penjual means seller or vendor.

It comes from the root jual = to sell, with the prefix peN-, which often forms a noun meaning the person who does the action.

So:

• jual = sell
• penjual = seller

This pattern is very common in Indonesian:

• beli = buy → pembeli = buyer
• ajar = teach → pengajar = teacher/instructor
• tulis = write → penulis = writer

Membersihkan is the correct active transitive verb here because the seller is doing the action to something.

The root is bersih, meaning clean. From it you get:

• bersih = clean
• membersihkan = to clean something
• dibersihkan = to be cleaned

So:

• mesin tik itu bersih = that typewriter is clean
• penjual membersihkan mesin tik itu = the seller cleans/is cleaning the typewriter
• mesin tik itu dibersihkan = the typewriter is cleaned / is being cleaned

In your sentence, the object mesin tik berdebu itu is being acted on, so membersihkan is the natural form.

Membersihkan can be broken down like this:

• meN- = active verb prefix
• bersih = clean
• -kan = often makes the verb transitive or gives it a cause/make sense

Together, membersihkan means to clean something or to make something clean.

There is also a sound change:

• meN- + bersih becomes membersih-... So the full form is membersihkan.

This kind of form is very common in Indonesian verbs.

Mesin tik means typewriter.

It is basically a noun phrase that has become a standard compound-like expression:

• mesin = machine
• tik = type / typing (in this set expression)

So mesin tik is understood as typewriter. Learners should treat it as a standard vocabulary item.

Even though you can analyze the parts, it is best to remember mesin tik as one unit of meaning.

Berdebu means dusty or covered with dust.

It comes from:

• debu = dust
• berdebu = dusty / having dust on it

The prefix ber- often creates an intransitive or descriptive meaning, and here it gives the sense having dust.

So:

• lantai berdebu = a dusty floor
• buku berdebu = a dusty book
• mesin tik berdebu = a dusty typewriter

In this sentence, berdebu describes mesin tik.

In Indonesian, descriptive words usually come after the noun.

So:

• mesin tik berdebu = dusty typewriter
• literally: typewriter dusty

This is normal Indonesian word order.

Compare:

• rumah besar = big house
• buku baru = new book
• meja kayu = wooden table
• mesin tik berdebu = dusty typewriter

So if you are thinking in English order, this is one of the main adjustments to make.

Itu usually means that.

In a noun phrase, Indonesian often puts itu after the noun and its description:

• mesin tik berdebu itu = that dusty typewriter

So the order is:

• noun: mesin tik
• description: berdebu
• determiner: itu

This is very normal in Indonesian.

Compare:

• rumah besar itu = that big house
• anak kecil itu = that small child
• mesin tik berdebu itu = that dusty typewriter

Yes, itu can sometimes feel close to the in translation, depending on context.

Its core meaning is usually that, but in natural English translation it may simply help mark something as specific or already identifiable.

So:

• mesin tik berdebu itu could be translated as
  that dusty typewriter

  but in some contexts English might naturally say
  the dusty typewriter

This happens because Indonesian does not have articles like a and the, so words like itu often help show definiteness or specificity.

Indonesian does not normally use articles like English a, an, and the.

So nouns often appear without any article:

• penjual = seller / the seller
• mesin tik = a typewriter / the typewriter

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

In this sentence, itu makes mesin tik berdebu itu specific, so it is natural to translate it as that dusty typewriter or the dusty typewriter depending on context.

Not exactly. Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

Instead, Indonesian often uses context or time-related words such as:

• sudah = already
• belum = not yet
• sedang = in the process of
• akan = will

So belum sempat membersihkan does not mark tense directly. Depending on context, it could be translated as:

• hasn’t had time to clean
• hadn’t had time to clean
• hasn’t gotten around to cleaning

English requires a tense choice, but Indonesian leaves more of that to context.

In this sentence, to clean is the best translation.

Membersihkan usually means to clean something, especially by removing dirt, dust, or mess.

Because the object is mesin tik berdebu itu (that dusty typewriter), the idea is specifically that the seller has not yet cleaned the dust off it.

So tidy up would usually be less accurate here than clean.

Yes, but the original order is the most neutral and natural:

• Penjual belum sempat membersihkan mesin tik berdebu itu.

You could change the structure for emphasis, for example:

• Mesin tik berdebu itu belum sempat dibersihkan penjual.
  = That dusty typewriter hasn’t been cleaned by the seller yet.

This version uses the passive-style verb dibersihkan and shifts the focus to the typewriter instead of the seller.

So Indonesian allows different word orders, but the original sentence is a straightforward active sentence:

• subject: penjual
• predicate: belum sempat membersihkan
• object: mesin tik berdebu itu