Breakdown of Kucing saya tidur di halaman belakang.
di
in
kucing
the cat
tidur
to sleep
halaman belakang
the backyard
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Questions & Answers about Kucing saya tidur di halaman belakang.
What does each word in the sentence "Kucing saya tidur di halaman belakang" mean?
• Kucing means cat.
• Saya means my (or I when used as a personal pronoun, but here it functions as a possessive, meaning "my").
• Tidur means sleep (or sleeps, since Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense).
• Di is a preposition meaning in, at, or on, indicating location.
• Halaman means yard or garden.
• Belakang means back.
Together, halaman belakang forms backyard.
Why is the pronoun saya placed after kucing instead of before it, as in the English "my cat"?
In Indonesian, possessive constructions typically place the possessor (in this case, saya) after the possessed noun (kucing). This means the structure kucing saya directly translates to cat my, which is the customary way to express possession in Indonesian, unlike the English construction.
What role does the word di play in this sentence?
Di is a locative preposition used to indicate position or location. In this sentence, it shows where the action is taking place—namely, in the backyard. It functions similarly to the English prepositions in, at, or on.
Does the verb tidur change its form to indicate tense, such as past, present, or future?
No, Indonesian verbs like tidur do not conjugate for tense. The same form is used regardless of whether the action is happening in the past, present, or future. Context or additional time markers in the sentence help indicate the specific tense when needed.
How would you modify the sentence to form a negative statement ("My cat does not sleep in the backyard") or a question ("Does my cat sleep in the backyard?")?
• To form a negative statement, insert tidak before the verb:
Kucing saya tidak tidur di halaman belakang.
This translates to My cat does not sleep in the backyard.
• To form a question, you can add the question marker apakah at the beginning:
Apakah kucing saya tidur di halaman belakang?
This translates to Does my cat sleep in the backyard?