Questions & Answers about Sepatu basah dijemur sampai kering.
How can you tell that Sepatu basah dijemur sampai kering is in the passive voice?
In Indonesian the prefix di- attached to a verb (here dijemur) marks passive voice. This means the action happens to the subject (sepatu), not that the subject performs the action.
What does dijemur mean?
Dijemur is the passive form of menjemur, which means to hang something in the sun to dry. In passive voice dijemur expresses that it “is/are hung out to dry” or “gets sun-dried.”
Why is there no mention of who dries the shoes?
In Indonesian passive sentences the agent (the doer) is often omitted when it’s unknown, obvious, or not important. The focus here is on the shoes and the drying process, not on who does it.
Why does basah come after sepatu instead of before, like in English?
In Indonesian adjectives follow the noun they modify. So sepatu basah is literally “shoes wet,” which in English we reorder as “wet shoes.”
What role does sampai play in sampai kering?
Sampai means “until.” It sets the endpoint of the action, so dijemur sampai kering means “hung out to dry until (it/they become) dry.”