Kami memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.

We roast chicken in the backyard.

Breakdown of Kami memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.

• di: in
• kami: we
• halaman belakang: the backyard
• ayam: the chicken
• memanggang: to roast

Questions & Answers about Kami memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.

What does the pronoun kami mean, and how is it different from kita?

• kami = we (excluding the person you’re talking to).
• kita = we (including the person you’re talking to).

If you tell someone who is not part of the activity, use kami. If the listener is included (e.g., you’re telling a teammate), use kita.

How is tense expressed here? Does it mean past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs don’t change for tense; context or time words show it. You can add:

• Past/completed: Kami sudah memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.
• Ongoing: Kami sedang memanggang ayam di halaman belakang. (informal: Kami lagi memanggang…)
• Future: Kami akan memanggang ayam di halaman belakang. (or Nanti kami memanggang…)
• Habitual: Kami sering memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.

What’s going on morphologically in memanggang?

• The root is panggang (to roast/bake/grill with dry heat).
• The active transitive prefix meN- attaches and assimilates: with a root starting in p, the p drops and the prefix becomes mem- → memanggang.
• Related forms:
  • Passive: dipanggang (e.g., Ayam dipanggang…).
  • Imperative: Panggang ayamnya!

Is memanggang the same as membakar?

They overlap but have nuances:

• memanggang: dry heat (oven, grill, roasting). Natural with bread, cakes, roasting meat. Example: memanggang roti/ayam.
• membakar: to burn/grill over direct flame or charcoal. Common for barbecues. Example: membakar sate/ikan. In everyday talk about backyard BBQs, many say bakar: Kami membakar ayam di halaman belakang (colloquial speech may use the bare root: Kami bakar ayam…).

Does ayam mean the animal or the meat? How can I be specific?

ayam can mean chicken (animal) or chicken (meat), depending on context. To be specific:

• Chicken meat: daging ayam
• A whole chicken: seekor ayam
• Chicken pieces: potongan ayam

How do I say “a chicken,” “the chicken,” or “some chickens”?

Indonesian has no articles. Use other markers:

• “a chicken” (one animal): seekor ayam
• “the chicken” (specific/known): ayam itu or ayamnya (context decides whether -nya means “the/its”)
• “some chickens”: beberapa ekor ayam
• Plural in general: use a quantifier (dua ekor ayam, banyak ayam) or sometimes reduplication (ayam-ayam) for emphasis/style.

What exactly does di halaman belakang mean? Any alternatives?

It means “in/at the backyard.” di marks a static location. Common alternatives:

• di belakang rumah = at the back of the house (often the same place as a backyard)
• More formal/regional: di pekarangan belakang Avoid di belakang halaman (that means “behind the yard,” i.e., outside the yard).

Can I put the location first?

Yes, for emphasis or flow:

• Di halaman belakang, kami memanggang ayam. Basic order is SVO, but placing the location up front is natural in Indonesian.

Is di in di halaman belakang the same as di- in dipanggang?

No.

• di (separate word) = preposition “in/at/on,” e.g., di halaman belakang. Never attach it: not dihalaman.
• di- (attached prefix) = passive voice on verbs, e.g., dipanggang (“is/was roasted”).

How do I say this in the passive voice?

Two natural options:

• Regular passive: Ayam dipanggang di halaman belakang (oleh kami). (agent optional)
• Object-fronted active (common when the object is topical): Ayam itu kami panggang di halaman belakang.

How do I make it clear we’re doing it right now?

Add a progressive marker:

• Neutral: Kami sedang memanggang ayam di halaman belakang.
• Colloquial: Kami lagi memanggang ayam di halaman belakang. (or, with BBQ nuance, Kami lagi bakar ayam di belakang rumah.)

Can I drop the subject kami?

Yes, if context makes the subject obvious (Indonesian allows subject drop). For example, answering “What are you doing?”:

• (Kami) sedang memanggang ayam di halaman belakang. In a standalone sentence, keeping kami is clearer.

Any quick pronunciation tips?

• memanggang: the ngg is pronounced like ng
  • hard g (as in “sing” + “go”). The first e is a schwa, like “uh.”
• belakang: the e is a schwa; final ng is the nasal sound in “sing.”
• g is always hard (as in “go”), never like “gem.”

Does memang (indeed) have anything to do with memanggang?

No. memang (“indeed”) is a separate word. memanggang is meN- + panggang; it just happens to contain the sequence memang by coincidence.