Breakdown of Burung terbang di langit pagi.
di
in
terbang
to fly
burung
the bird
langit pagi
the morning sky
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Questions & Answers about Burung terbang di langit pagi.
Why is there no article like the or a before burung?
Indonesian does not have definite or indefinite articles. Nouns stand alone, and you infer “a,” “the,” or “some” from context or by adding words like itu (that/the) or quantifiers such as beberapa (some) or semua (all).
How can I tell if burung is singular or plural?
Burung can be singular or plural depending on context. To make it explicitly plural you can:
- Reduplicate: burung-burung (birds)
- Add a quantifier: beberapa burung (several birds), banyak burung (many birds)
If there’s no marker, you rely on context to decide.
Why isn’t terbang conjugated for tense or person?
Verbs in Indonesian do not change form for tense (past/present/future) or for person. Time is shown by:
- Context or time words (e.g. kemarin for yesterday, nanti for later)
- Aspect markers like sedang for ongoing actions
How do I say “The birds are flying in the morning sky” to show it’s happening right now?
Use the aspect word sedang and mark plurality:
Burung-burung sedang terbang di langit pagi.
Here, burung-burung = “the birds” (plural) and sedang indicates the progressive aspect “are flying.”
What is the function of di in di langit pagi?
Di is a preposition indicating location. It attaches before the noun phrase langit pagi to mean “in the morning sky.” Indonesian prepositions always precede their noun phrases.
Why is it langit pagi instead of pagi langit?
In Indonesian, modifiers (adjectives or time-nouns) follow the head noun. Here langit (sky) is the noun and pagi (morning) modifies it, so you get “sky morning” = “morning sky.”
Why isn’t there a hari after pagi, as in pagi hari?
Pagi hari literally means “morning of the day” and is the full expression for “in the morning.” However, when pagi directly modifies another noun (like langit), you can drop hari and say langit pagi (“morning sky”) for a more concise phrase.
Do I need to use yang between langit and pagi, like langit yang pagi?
No. While yang can introduce relative clauses or adjectives, direct noun-noun compounds (like langit pagi) omit it. Adding yang here would sound stilted or imply a clause (e.g., “the sky that is morning”).
Can I make this sentence passive, since Indonesian often uses passive?
No, because terbang is an intransitive verb (it has no object). Only transitive verbs (ones that take an object) can form passive constructions with di- prefixes.
Is word order flexible? Could I say Di pagi hari burung terbang di langit?
Yes. Indonesian allows you to move time/location adverbials to the front for emphasis or style.
Di pagi hari, burung terbang di langit. is perfectly natural and means the same thing.