Breakdown of Saya mencuci pakaian kerja di malam hari.
saya
I
di
at
malam hari
the night
pakaian kerja
the work clothes
Questions & Answers about Saya mencuci pakaian kerja di malam hari.
What does mencuci mean and how does the me- prefix work in this word?
mencuci means “to wash.” The prefix me- is one of the active verb prefixes in Indonesian. When attached to the root cuci (“wash”), it forms an active transitive verb indicating the subject performs the action on an object. So cuci → mencuci = “(to) wash (something).”
Why is it pakaian kerja instead of pakaian untuk kerja?
pakaian kerja is a compound noun meaning “work clothes.” In Indonesian, it’s common to combine two nouns directly to specify purpose or category. Although pakaian untuk kerja (“clothes for work”) is grammatically correct, pakaian kerja is shorter and more idiomatic.
If I want to say “my work clothes,” how would I modify pakaian kerja?
You can add a possessive suffix -ku: pakaian kerjaku = “my work clothes.” Alternatively, you can say pakaian kerja saya, but that’s a bit longer and literally “work clothes of mine.”
What does di malam hari mean and why is the preposition di used here?