Breakdown of Perpustakaan tutup pukul delapan.
tutup
to close
perpustakaan
the library
pukul delapan
eight o’clock
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Questions & Answers about Perpustakaan tutup pukul delapan.
Why is there no article before perpustakaan in the sentence?
Indonesian doesn’t use articles like the or a. Nouns stand on their own, and you rely on context (or words like itu, “that”) if you need to specify definiteness.
What part of speech is tutup here? And why not menutup?
In this sentence tutup is an intransitive verb meaning “closes” or “is closed.” Indonesian verbs aren’t marked for subject or tense.
By contrast, menutup is the transitive form “to close (something).” You’d use it when someone actively closes the library, e.g. Saya menutup perpustakaan (“I close the library”).
What does pukul mean in this sentence?
pukul functions like the English preposition at when giving clock time. So pukul delapan literally means “at eight o’clock.”
Can I say jam delapan instead of pukul delapan?
Yes—jam also introduces time (jam delapan = eight o’clock). pukul is slightly more formal or typical in official schedules.
Does pukul delapan mean 8 AM or 8 PM?
By itself it’s ambiguous. Context usually tells you. To be clear, add pagi for AM (pukul delapan pagi) or malam for PM (pukul delapan malam).
Why isn’t there a tense marker to show this is in the future?
Indonesian doesn’t conjugate verbs for tense. Instead, you use time words or context. Here the simple present verb “tutup” works like English “closes” in a schedule sense.
Can the time phrase come at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes. Indonesian word order is flexible. You can say Pukul delapan perpustakaan tutup to emphasize the time.
How would I say The library opens at eight in Indonesian?
Swap tutup with buka:
Perpustakaan buka pukul delapan.
How do I express The library has already closed?
Add sudah (“already”) before tutup:
Perpustakaan sudah tutup.