Breakdown of Buku itu menggambarkan keluarga bahagia di rumah.
buku
the book
itu
that
rumah
the house
di
in
bahagia
happy
keluarga
the family
menggambarkan
to depict
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Indonesian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Buku itu menggambarkan keluarga bahagia di rumah.
What does the word itu mean in buku itu and why is it there?
itu is a demonstrative and also serves as the definite article in Indonesian. When you place it after buku, it turns ‘book’ into ‘that book’ or ‘the book.’ Indonesian doesn’t have separate words for ‘a’ or ‘the’ like in English, so context or words like itu (that/the) and ini (this) clarify definiteness.
How is the verb menggambarkan formed, and why does it have two g’s?
Start with the root gambar (‘draw/picture’). Add the causative suffix -kan → gambarkan, meaning ‘to cause to be drawn’ or ‘to depict.’ Then attach the prefix meng-: meng- + gambarkan → menggambarkan. The double g comes from a regular phonological rule: meng- assimilates to the initial consonant of the root, so the g is doubled.
What’s the difference in meaning between menggambar and menggambarkan?
menggambar (meN+gambar) means ‘to draw’ in the sense of physically sketching something. menggambarkan (meN+gambar+kan) shifts to ‘to depict,’ ‘to portray,’ or ‘to describe,’ often in a broader or more abstract sense (e.g., words describing a scene).
Why is bahagia placed after keluarga instead of before, like in English?
In Indonesian, adjectives follow the nouns they describe. So keluarga bahagia is literally ‘family happy,’ which corresponds to ‘happy family’ in English. You wouldn’t say bahagia keluarga, except maybe in poetic or very formal contexts.
Is keluarga singular or plural here? How would you say ‘families’?
keluarga is a collective noun that can refer to one family or multiple families, depending on context. In this sentence it means ‘one happy family.’ To explicitly say ‘families,’ you can either specify a number (e.g., dua keluarga) or use reduplication: keluarga-keluarga.
What does di rumah mean, and how does the preposition di work?
di is the locative preposition meaning ‘at,’ ‘in,’ or ‘on.’ You always place di before a noun to mark location. So di rumah = ‘at home.’ There’s no separate suffix—di stays in front of the location noun.
How do you express tense in this sentence? Does menggambarkan show past, present, or future?
Standard Indonesian verbs aren’t inflected for tense. menggambarkan itself doesn’t specify past/present/future. The time frame is understood from context or time adverbs (e.g., kemarin ‘yesterday,’ sekarang ‘now,’ akan ‘will’). Without any time marker, the action is taken as general or habitual.
What is the word order in this sentence, and is it similar to English?
Indonesian typically follows Subject–Verb–Object (SVO) order, just like English. Here:
- Buku itu (Subject)
- menggambarkan (Verb)
- keluarga bahagia (Object)
The locative phrase di rumah functions as an adverbial of place and comes after the object.