Spidol itu saya simpan di laci meja.

that

Breakdown of Spidol itu saya simpan di laci meja.

• saya: I
• di: in
• simpan: to keep

Questions & Answers about Spidol itu saya simpan di laci meja.

Why is the demonstrative after the noun: why spidol itu, not itu spidol?

In Indonesian, demonstratives normally follow the noun when they modify it: spidol itu = “that/the marker.” Ini = “this,” itu = “that.” If you say ini spidol, that’s the equational pattern “This is a marker,” not “this marker.”

Why does the sentence start with Spidol itu? Isn’t Indonesian usually Subject–Verb–Object?

Indonesian allows object-fronting to topicalize the object. Spidol itu saya simpan… literally “That marker, I keep…” emphasizes the marker (it’s the topic or contrastive focus). The neutral SVO version is Saya menyimpan spidol itu di laci meja. Both are correct.

Why is it saya simpan and not saya menyimpan?

In this object-fronting pattern, with a pronominal actor like saya/aku after the object, the verb commonly appears as the bare root: … saya simpan …. You can still say … saya menyimpan … (fully correct, a bit more neutral/formal). If the subject comes first, Saya menyimpan… is the standard. Morphology: menyimpan = meN- + simpan (the initial s drops and meN- surfaces as meny-).

Could I use a passive instead? What would it sound like?

Yes: Spidol itu disimpan di laci meja (oleh saya). The di- passive focuses on the object; the agent is optional and often omitted. It sounds descriptive or report-like. Another compact actor-voice variant is with :