Saya minum kopi tadi malam.

I drank coffee last night.

Breakdown of Saya minum kopi tadi malam.

• saya: I
• minum: to drink
• kopi: the coffee
• tadi malam: last night

Questions & Answers about Saya minum kopi tadi malam.

What does Saya mean in this sentence?

Saya is the Indonesian first-person singular pronoun, equivalent to I in English.

What is the meaning and role of minum in this sentence?

Minum means to drink. In Indonesian, verbs remain in their base form regardless of tense or subject, so minum is used without any modifications.

How does tadi malam indicate that the action occurred in the past?

Tadi malam translates to last night. Because Indonesian doesn’t conjugate verbs for tense, time expressions like tadi malam are used to show when an action took place.

What is the grammatical structure of the sentence Saya minum kopi tadi malam?

The sentence follows a common Indonesian word order: Subject ( Saya ), Verb ( minum ), Object ( kopi ), and Time expression ( tadi malam ). This structure clearly presents the actor, the action, what is involved, and when it happened.

Why does the verb minum not change form to indicate past tense like in English?

Indonesian verbs do not change form based on tense. Instead, the language uses contextual clues or temporal markers—such as tadi malam—to indicate when an action occurred, so minum remains in its base form regardless of the time frame.