Ibu memotong bawang merah dengan pisau di dapur.

Mother cuts a red onion with a knife in the kitchen.

Breakdown of Ibu memotong bawang merah dengan pisau di dapur.

• sebuah: a
• di: in
• dapur: the kitchen
• dengan: with
• ibu: the mother
• merah: red
• pisau: the knife
• bawang: the onion
• memotong: to cut

Questions & Answers about Ibu memotong bawang merah dengan pisau di dapur.

What can Ibu mean here—Mother, my mother, or Ma’am?

• As a kinship term, Ibu often means Mother (the speaker’s own mother). You can also say ibu saya or Ibuku to make my mother explicit.
• As a title of address, Ibu means Ma’am/Mrs., used for adult women (short form: Bu).
• Without context, the safest gloss is Mother, but it could also be read as Ma’am if used as a respectful title.

Is Ibu always capitalized?

• Capitalize Ibu when it starts a sentence, when it’s a respectful title (e.g., Ibu Sari), or when it stands for one’s own Mother in writing.
• Use lowercase ibu for the common noun mother in general.

How is tense shown? Does Ibu memotong… mean is cutting, cut, or cuts?

Indonesian verbs do not change for tense; context or particles show time/aspect:

• In progress: Ibu sedang memotong bawang merah.
• Past/recent: Tadi Ibu memotong bawang merah. / Ibu sudah memotong bawang merah.
• Future: Ibu akan memotong bawang merah.
• Habitual: Ibu sering memotong bawang merah di dapur.

Does bawang merah mean red onion or shallot?

In Indonesia, bawang merah usually refers to shallots (the small purple-red bulbs common in Indonesian cooking). The big Western red onion is typically bawang bombay (sometimes specified as bawang bombay merah).

Why is the adjective after the noun in bawang merah?

Indonesian places adjectives after nouns:

• bawang merah (red onion/shallot), rumah besar (big house), kucing hitam (black cat).

What’s the difference between potong and memotong? Why did the p disappear?

• potong is the root (cut).
• memotong is the active verb with the meN- prefix. With roots beginning with p, meN- becomes mem- and the initial p drops: meN- + potong → memotong. This same assimilation happens with other consonants (e.g., t → men-, k → meng-, s → meny- with the initial letter dropping).

Could I use mengiris or mencincang instead of memotong?

• memotong = to cut (general).
• mengiris = to slice (usually thin slices).
• mencincang = to chop/mince. Choose based on the action you want: slicing (mengiris), chopping (mencincang), or generic cutting (memotong).

What’s the nuance between dengan, pakai, and menggunakan for with/using?

• dengan [instrument]: neutral and common (with a knife).
• pakai [instrument]: very common, informal/colloquial (use).
• menggunakan [instrument]: more formal (to use). All three work here: dengan pisau, pakai pisau, menggunakan pisau.

Can I change the order of dengan pisau and di dapur?

Yes. Both are natural:

• Ibu memotong bawang merah dengan pisau di dapur.
• Ibu memotong bawang merah di dapur dengan pisau. You can also front the place for emphasis: Di dapur, Ibu memotong bawang merah dengan pisau. Indonesian adverbials are flexible; order often follows what you want to highlight.

Do I need the preposition di before dapur? How is this different from the prefix di-?

• di (separate word) is a preposition meaning at/in: di dapur (in the kitchen). It must be written separately. Writing didapur is a spelling error.
• di- (attached to a verb) is the passive prefix: dipotong (is/was cut).

How do I express a/the/some and plural with bawang merah?

Indonesian doesn’t have articles like a/the. bawang merah can mean shallot/shallots depending on context. To be explicit:

• Definite: bawang merah itu (that/the shallot(s))
• Indefinite quantity: beberapa bawang merah (some shallots)
• Plural by context or reduplication (rare with food items): bawang-bawang merah
• Possessive/definite feel: bawang merahnya (the shallot(s) / her shallots, depending on context)

How do I count knives and shallots? Are there classifiers?

Yes, classifiers are common:

• Knife: sebilah pisau (one knife; bilah is for blade-like objects), dua bilah pisau. You can hear sebuah pisau too, but sebilah is more specific/natural.
• Shallot/garlic: siung is very common in recipes, e.g., dua siung bawang merah; you may also see butir in some regions/contexts.

How would I make this sentence passive?

• Object-focus passive: Bawang merah dipotong Ibu dengan pisau di dapur. (oleh Ibu is optional; often omitted in everyday Indonesian) This emphasizes the shallots rather than the doer.

What are natural colloquial versions?

• Bu lagi motong bawang merah pakai pisau di dapur. Notes:
• Bu = casual Ibu.
• lagi marks in-progress (colloquial alternative to sedang).
• motong is the colloquial reduction of memotong.

Can dengan mean together with (comitative) as well as using (instrument)?

Yes. dengan can mean with in both senses:

• Instrument: dengan pisau (with a knife).
• Companion: dengan adik (with [together with] younger sibling). Context disambiguates; tools and objects usually signal instrument, people signal companionship.

Any quick pronunciation tips for this sentence?

• ng in bawang, memotong is a single nasal sound [ŋ] (like the ng in singer).
• aw in bawang, pisau sounds like ow in cow.
• r in merah is tapped or lightly rolled.
• The e in merah is often a schwa (mə-rah).
• u in dapur is like oo in food (shorter). Syllables: I-bu | me-mo-tong | ba-wang | me-rah | de-ngan | pi-sau | di | da-pur.