Questions & Answers about Sayur di panci besar belum matang.
What does sayur mean here, and why isn’t it sayur-sayuran for “vegetables”?
sayur can mean “vegetable” or “vegetables” without a change in form. Indonesian nouns don’t mark plurality with an “s” or any suffix; you rely on context or words like beberapa (“some”) or reduplication (sayur-sayuran) if you want to be extra clear.
Why is there no word for “are” or “is” in this sentence?
Indonesian doesn’t use a copula in most present-tense statements. Adjectives and adverbs can function as predicates directly. So belum matang (“not yet cooked”) is the predicate without an explicit “are/is.”
What exactly does belum do in belum matang?
belum is an adverb meaning “not yet.” Paired with an adjective like matang (“ripe” or “cooked”), it means “not yet X’d,” i.e. “not yet cooked.”
Why is matang used here instead of a verb like memasak?
memasak is the verb “to cook.” matang is an adjective meaning “ripe” or “cooked.” In Indonesian you can say something is matang to mean it’s done cooking, so belum matang naturally means “not cooked yet.”
What role does di play in ?