Saya menyalakan lampu di kamar lagi.

I turn on the light in the room again.

Breakdown of Saya menyalakan lampu di kamar lagi.

• saya: I
• di: in
• kamar: the room
• menyalakan: to turn on
• lampu: the light
• lagi: again

Questions & Answers about Saya menyalakan lampu di kamar lagi.

What does menyalakan mean and how is it formed?

menyalakan means “to turn on” or “to switch on.” It’s built from the root nyala (meaning “light” or “to be lit”) with the active prefix me- and the applicative suffix -kan, which lets you add a direct object (in this case, lampu).

Why is menyala different from menyalakan?

menyala is an intransitive verb meaning “to be on” or “to shine” (e.g., lampu menyala = “the light is on”). To express “to make something light up,” you need the transitive form menyalakan, using -kan to mark the action as affecting an object.

What is the function of lagi in this sentence?

Here, lagi means “again.” Placed at the end of the sentence, it indicates the action (turning on the light) is being done once more.

How would you say “I’m still turning on the light” instead of “again”?

To mean “still,” you’d use masih before the verb. For example:
Saya masih menyalakan lampu di kamar.
This means “I am still turning on the light in the room.”

Can lagi appear in a different position?

Yes, it can. If you want to place lagi right after the verb, you can say:
Saya menyalakan lagi lampu di kamar.
It still means “I turn on the light in the room again,” but putting lagi immediately after menyalakan can feel slightly more colloquial.

Why is it di kamar and not ke kamar?

di marks a static location (“in the room”), while ke marks direction (“to the room”). Since you’re describing where the light is being turned on (inside), you use di kamar.

Could you drop Saya at the beginning?

Yes. Pronouns are often omitted when context is clear. “Menyalakan lampu di kamar lagi” is understandable if people know who you’re talking about, though adding Saya makes it explicit.

Is there another way to say “turn on the light” in Indonesian?

You can also use menghidupkan lampu, from the root hidup (“life” or “alive”). menghidupkan carries the same sense of “to activate” or “to switch on” and is interchangeable in most contexts.

What nuance difference is there between lampu and cahaya in this context?

lampu is “lamp” or “light fixture,” the object you switch on. cahaya means “light” as a phenomenon (e.g., sunlight or illumination). You turn on a lampu, not cahaya.