Saya pinjam buku sejarah di perpustakaan.

I borrow a history book at the library.

Breakdown of Saya pinjam buku sejarah di perpustakaan.

• sebuah: a
• saya: I
• di: at
• perpustakaan: the library
• pinjam: to borrow
• buku sejarah: the history book

Questions & Answers about Saya pinjam buku sejarah di perpustakaan.

What does pinjam mean and how is it different from meminjam or meminjamkan?

• pinjam is the root verb meaning “to borrow” in everyday, informal speech.
• meminjam is the same verb in a more formal register (with the me- prefix).
• meminjamkan (with the suffix -kan) shifts the meaning to “to lend” (i.e. you give something for someone else to borrow).

Can I say Saya meminjam buku sejarah di perpustakaan instead?

Yes. Both sentences mean exactly the same thing.

• Saya pinjam… feels more casual.
• Saya meminjam… sounds a bit more formal or written.

Why is di perpustakaan used instead of dari perpustakaan or ke perpustakaan?

• di perpustakaan indicates “at the library,” the place where the borrowing happens.
• dari perpustakaan means “from the library” (source of the book).
• ke perpustakaan means “to the library” (direction of going there).

Why is the location phrase placed at the end of the sentence?

Indonesian typically follows Subject–Verb–Object–(Adverbial) order. Location phrases like di perpustakaan naturally come after the object to complete the sentence.

How do I express tense, like “I borrowed” or “I will borrow”?

Indonesian doesn’t change the verb form for tense. You add time words or particles:

• Past: Kemarin saya meminjam… or Saya sudah meminjam… (“already”).
• Future: Nanti saya meminjam… or Saya akan meminjam… (“will”).

Where do I place time words like kemarin (“yesterday”) in this sentence?

You have flexibility:

1. At the very start: Kemarin saya meminjam…
2. After the subject: Saya kemarin meminjam…
3. Right before the verb: Saya kemarin meminjam…
   All are grammatically correct; choice affects emphasis.

Why is there no article like “the” before buku sejarah or perpustakaan?

Indonesian doesn’t use articles (a/the). Nouns stand alone, and definiteness is understood from context or added words like ini (this) or itu (that).

Why is it buku sejarah and not sejarah buku?

Indonesian places the head noun first (buku) followed by its modifier (sejarah). So buku sejarah literally means “book of history” (i.e. history book).

Can I say buku tentang sejarah instead of buku sejarah?

Yes. buku tentang sejarah means “a book about history.” It’s perfectly correct but slightly longer than the more common compound buku sejarah.

Can I use aku instead of saya, or even drop the pronoun altogether?

• saya is neutral/formal; aku is informal.
• Dropping the pronoun (Pinjam buku sejarah di perpustakaan) is possible in casual speech, but can sound like a command or fragment if context isn’t clear.

What is the morpheme structure of perpustakaan?

• pustaka = “book; text.”
• per- … -an is a circumfix that turns roots into place nouns.
  Thus perpustakaan = “library,” literally “place for books.”