Saya menghitung harga sayur di supermarket.

I calculate the price of vegetables at the supermarket.

Breakdown of Saya menghitung harga sayur di supermarket.

• saya: I
• di: at
• supermarket: the supermarket
• sayur: the vegetable
• harga: the price
• menghitung: to calculate

Questions & Answers about Saya menghitung harga sayur di supermarket.

What does menghitung mean in this sentence, and how is it different from mengukur?

menghitung is an active verb meaning “to calculate” or “to count” (e.g. adding numbers, finding a total). Here it means calculating the total cost.
mengukur means “to measure” (length, weight, volume). You’d use mengukur if you were measuring the weight or size of the vegetables, not their price.

Why is harga necessary? What would menghitung sayur mean without it?

harga means “price.”

• menghitung harga sayur = “calculating the price of vegetables.”
• menghitung sayur = “counting the vegetables” (i.e. how many pieces), not figuring out their cost.

How do you form a phrase like “price of vegetables” in Indonesian? Why harga sayur and not sayur harga?

In Indonesian, the head noun comes first, followed by its modifier.

• harga (head noun: price) + sayur (modifier: vegetables) → harga sayur (“price of vegetables”).
  Reversing them (sayur harga) would sound ungrammatical.

Why do we use the preposition di before supermarket, instead of ke or another preposition?

• di marks the location where an action takes place: “at/in the supermarket.”
• ke marks movement toward a place: “to the supermarket.”
  Also, Indonesian doesn’t use articles like “the” or “a,” so di supermarket can mean both “at the supermarket” and “in a supermarket.”

Must we include Saya at the beginning of the sentence? Can it be left out?

Subject pronouns are optional in Indonesian if context is clear.

• With Saya: explicitly “I calculate…” or emphasis on the subject.
• Without Saya: Menghitung harga sayur di supermarket is still perfectly clear, especially in informal contexts.

How is tense or aspect expressed here? How would you say “I already calculated” or “I will calculate”?

Indonesian verbs do not inflect for tense. You add time words or aspect markers:

• Past/perfect: Saya sudah menghitung harga sayur di supermarket. (“I have already calculated…”)
• Future: Saya akan menghitung harga sayur di supermarket. (“I will calculate…”)
• Progressive: Saya sedang menghitung harga sayur di supermarket. (“I am calculating…”)

What is the function of the meN- prefix in menghitung, and why does hitung become menghitung instead of memhitung?

meN- is an active-transitive prefix that turns a root into a verb that takes a direct object. The prefix assimilates to the initial sound of the root:

• Root: hitung (count/calculate)
• Prefix + assimilation: me-
  • hitung → menghitung (the h drops and the prefix becomes meng-)
    This follows the regular meN- phonological rules in Indonesian.