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Breakdown of Kucing saya tidur di bawah kursi.
kucing
the cat
tidur
to sleep
kursi
the chair
saya
my
di bawah
under
Questions & Answers about Kucing saya tidur di bawah kursi.
Why is saya placed after kucing to mean “my cat”?
Indonesian marks possession with the pattern noun + possessor. So “my cat” is kucing saya. You could also use a possessive suffix and say kucingku, but the default neutral form is kucing saya.
What’s the difference between kucing saya and kucingku?
Both mean “my cat,” but:
- kucing saya uses the separate pronoun saya (more formal or neutral).
- kucingku attaches the informal suffix -ku to kucing (more colloquial or intimate).
Why is there no word for “is” in the sentence?
In Indonesian, you drop the copula “to be” (like “is/am/are”) in simple present statements. You just state the verb directly: Kucing saya tidur… = “My cat (is) sleeping…”
How do you express “is sleeping” (progressive aspect) in Indonesian?
Add sedang before the verb:
Kucing saya sedang tidur di bawah kursi.
Sedang explicitly marks an ongoing action, but if it’s obvious, you can omit it.
What does di bawah mean, and why is it two words?
- di is the locative preposition (“in/on/at”).
- bawah means “under” or “below.”
They always stay separate, so di bawah = “under.”
Can I write dibawah as one word?
No. The locative di must be separate from bawah. Writing dibawah is a spelling mistake. Always use di bawah.
Can I say di kursi bawah instead of di bawah kursi?
No. The correct structure is di bawah + noun. Swapping them (di kursi bawah) breaks the prepositional phrase and sounds ungrammatical.
There’s no article “the” before kursi. How do you say “the chair”?
Indonesian doesn’t have articles like “a” or “the.” Context usually tells you whether it’s definite or indefinite. If you need to specify “this chair” or “that chair,” add a demonstrative:
- kursi ini = “this chair”
- kursi itu = “that chair”
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