Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Alamat rumahmu pernah berubah, kan? - Your house address has changed before, right?

Pernah means “ever” or indicates that something happened at least once in the past. It’s not a tense marker like English “have,” but an aspectual adverb showing that the action took place at least one time.

Why is the possessive pronoun attached as -mu (in rumahmu) instead of using a separate word?

In Indonesian, possessive pronouns are commonly suffixed to nouns. So rumahmu literally means “your house,” where -mu marks “your.” You wouldn’t say kamu rumah—the suffix is the normal way to show possession.

What kind of verb is berubah and why isn’t it just ubah?

Berubah is an intransitive verb formed with the prefix ber-, meaning “to change” or “to become different.” In contrast, ubah without the prefix is transitive and means “to change [something].” Since you’re saying the address itself changed (it doesn’t act on another object), you use berubah.

What does kan? add to the sentence?

Kan? is a tag question similar to “right?” or “isn’t it?” in English. It seeks confirmation or assumes the listener agrees that the address did change.

Why is there no explicit past-tense form like “changed” in English?

Indonesian verbs don’t inflect for tense. Instead, time is indicated by context or adverbs such as pernah (ever) or sudah (already). The verb itself stays in its base form.

Could you break down the word order in Alamat rumahmu pernah berubah, kan?

Alamat rumahmu = subject (“your home address”)
pernah berubah = predicate (“has ever changed”)
kan? = tag question (“right?”)
So the structure is Subject–Predicate–Tag, which is typical in Indonesian.

Can you say alamatmu pernah berubah, kan? instead?

Yes. Alamatmu means “your address” and omitting rumah doesn’t change meaning if context implies it’s your home address. Both sentences are acceptable.