Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur.

I turn off the phone before sleeping.

Breakdown of Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur.

• saya: I
• mematikan: to turn off
• sebelum: before
• tidur: to sleep
• telepon: the phone

Questions & Answers about Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur.

What does mematikan mean, and how is it formed from the root mati?

mematikan means to turn off or to switch off. It’s built from:

• Root mati (to die/go off)
• Prefix me-, which turns a root into an active verb
• Suffix -kan, which makes the verb transitive (it needs an object)

So literally mematikan telepon is “cause the phone to go off,” i.e. turn it off.

Why is there no tense marker in Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur? How do you know if it’s past or present?

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Instead:

• Context or time words (like sebelum tidur) imply when the action happened.
• You can add adverbs if needed:
  
  • kemarin (yesterday)
  • nanti malam (tonight)

Without extra markers, it can be habitual (“I turn off…”) or a single past event (“I turned off…”), depending on context.

What role does sebelum play, and why isn’t there a subject inside sebelum tidur?

sebelum is a preposition meaning before. When it’s followed by a verb (tidur) it creates an adverbial time clause. In Indonesian, if the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as the main clause, you can omit it. So sebelum tidur means “before I sleep.”

Can I move sebelum tidur to the front? Will that change the meaning?

Yes. Indonesian word order is flexible for time/place phrases:

• Sebelum tidur, saya mematikan telepon.
• Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur.

Both mean I turn off my phone before sleeping. Placing it first simply highlights the time.

Why doesn’t the sentence say telepon saya (“my phone”)? Is that required?

Here telepon is clearly the object (“the phone” being turned off). If you want to stress possession, add saya after it:

• Saya mematikan telepon saya sebelum tidur.

But native speakers often drop the possessive when it’s obvious whose phone it is.

Could I use ponsel instead of telepon? Are they interchangeable?

Yes, but with nuance:

• telepon: general term for a phone or telephone
• ponsel (from telepon seluler): specifically a mobile/cell phone

Use whichever matches the device you mean.

Does mematikan telepon ever mean “to hang up the phone”?

No. To hang up or end a call, you’d say:

• menutup telepon
• memutuskan panggilan

Mematikan telepon always implies powering off the device, not just ending a call.

Can I replace saya with aku? What’s the difference?

• Saya is neutral/formal.
• Aku is informal and intimate.

Both are first-person pronouns, so you can say:

• Aku mematikan telepon sebelum tidur (with friends/family)
• Saya mematikan telepon sebelum tidur (formal or polite contexts)