Breakdown of Saya melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang.
saya
I
di
in
kucing
the cat
halaman belakang
the backyard
melihat
to see
tujuh
seven
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Questions & Answers about Saya melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang.
What is the basic word order of Saya melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang and how does it compare to English?
The sentence follows Subject–Verb–Object–Adverbial (SVO-Adv) order:
- Saya (Subject)
- melihat (Verb)
- tujuh kucing (Object)
- di halaman belakang (Adverbial of place)
This matches English SVO (I saw seven cats) but Indonesian places the location phrase at the end, just like in English.
How do you know if melihat is present or past tense?
Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Melihat can mean “see,” “am seeing,” or “saw” depending on context. To clarify time, you add a time adverb:
- Kemarin saya melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang. (Yesterday I saw seven cats in the backyard.)
- Sekarang saya melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang. (Right now I am seeing seven cats in the backyard.)
Why is there no plural marker on kucing? How do you know it’s plural?
Indonesian typically doesn’t mark plurality on nouns. Here the number tujuh (seven) tells you there’s more than one cat. If you needed a general “plural,” you could use:
- kucing-kucing (cats, plural by reduplication)
- beberapa kucing (some cats)
What does the prefix me- in melihat indicate?
The prefix me- turns the root lihat (see) into an active transitive verb, “to see.” It signals that the subject (here saya) is performing the action. Without me-, lihat is just a root; you need melihat for a proper active verb meaning “(to) see.”
Why is di placed before halaman belakang and what role does it play?
di is a preposition meaning “in,” “at,” or “on” for static locations. It attaches to the noun phrase halaman belakang to form “in the backyard.” Always write di separated from the noun: di halaman belakang.
Can you omit the subject Saya? If so, what changes?
Yes. Indonesian often drops pronouns when they’re clear from context.
- (Saya) melihat tujuh kucing di halaman belakang.
Still means “I saw seven cats in the backyard,” but sounds more concise or casual.
Why is the phrase halaman belakang ordered this way? Could it be belakang halaman?
Compound nouns in Indonesian usually put the head noun first (halaman = “yard”) and the modifier second (belakang = “back”). Halaman belakang is the standard term for “backyard.” Belakang halaman is understandable but not the common collocation.
Is it possible to insert an animal classifier like ekor in this sentence?
Yes. You can say tujuh ekor kucing to count animals formally:
- Saya melihat tujuh ekor kucing di halaman belakang.
In everyday speech, however, people often omit ekor and just say tujuh kucing.
How would you ask “How many cats did you see in the backyard?” in Indonesian?
You could say:
Berapa kucing yang kamu lihat di halaman belakang?
- Berapa = “how many”
- yang links to the verb clause
- kamu lihat = “you saw”
If you wanted to refer to “those seven cats” (i.e. definite), how would you modify the sentence?
Add the demonstrative itu after the noun phrase:
Saya melihat tujuh kucing itu di halaman belakang.
Now it clearly means “I saw those seven cats in the backyard.”