Dia mencium ibunya.

Dia means he or she. Indonesian does not normally mark gender in third-person singular pronouns, so the sentence itself does not tell you whether the person is male or female.

Also, dia does not change form like English he/him or she/her. In this sentence, it is the subject: Dia = the person doing the action.

The base word is cium, which is related to kiss or smell.

The form mencium uses the prefix meN-, which commonly makes an active verb in standard Indonesian. Because the root begins with c, meN- becomes men-, giving mencium.

So:

• cium = root
• mencium = to kiss / to smell, as an active verb

In standard written Indonesian, mencium is the expected form here.

No. Mencium can also mean to smell or to sniff.

So Dia mencium ibunya could, in principle, mean either:

• He/She kissed his/her mother
• He/She smelled/sniffed his/her mother

Usually context makes the meaning clear. If the learner has already been shown the meaning kissed, then that is the intended reading here.

Ibunya is made of:

• ibu = mother / mom
• -nya = his / her / its, or sometimes a definite marker depending on context

So ibunya usually means his mother or her mother.

In this sentence, that is the most natural interpretation.

Here, -nya marks third-person possession, so it works like his or her in English.

So:

• ibu = mother
• ibunya = his/her mother

A useful thing to remember is that -nya does not show gender. It can mean his or her, and context tells you which one is meant.

They can both mean his/her mother, but ibunya is usually more natural and compact.

Compare:

• ibunya = his/her mother
• ibu dia = his/her mother

Ibu dia is possible, but it can sound more explicit, contrastive, or less smooth depending on context. In many ordinary sentences, native speakers would prefer ibunya.

Not always, but that is usually the default interpretation unless context says otherwise.

Because the sentence has dia and then ibunya, many learners will naturally read it as:

• He/She kissed his/her mother

However, grammar alone does not absolutely force that reading. In the right context, ibunya could refer to some other third person’s mother.

So the sentence is often understood as his/her own mother, but context is what really decides.

The word order is the normal Indonesian pattern:

• Dia = subject
• mencium = verb
• ibunya = object

So it is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That is very similar to English:

He/She + kissed + his/her mother

That is a good question, because ibu has more than one use in Indonesian.

It can mean:

• mother
• a respectful form of address, like Mrs. or ma’am

In ibunya, the possessive -nya strongly points to the meaning his/her mother. So in this sentence, ibu is not a title of respect; it means mother.

A rough pronunciation is:

dee-ah men-chee-oom ee-boo-nya

A few helpful points:

• dia = dee-ah
• c in Indonesian sounds like ch in church
• cium is often pronounced in two syllables: ci-um
• ny in -nya sounds like the ny in canyon

So a more careful approximation is:

di-a men-ci-um i-bu-nya

In casual spoken Indonesian, yes, you may hear Dia cium ibunya.

But in standard Indonesian, especially in writing or in learning materials, Dia mencium ibunya is the better form.

So a simple rule is:

• mencium = standard / formal / textbook
• cium = more casual, depending on context and style