Saya menaruh sikat gigi di rak kamar mandi.

I put the toothbrush on the bathroom shelf.

Breakdown of Saya menaruh sikat gigi di rak kamar mandi.

• saya: I
• di: on
• menaruh: to put
• sikat gigi: the toothbrush
• rak kamar mandi: the bathroom shelf

Questions & Answers about Saya menaruh sikat gigi di rak kamar mandi.

Does bold Saya sound formal? Can I use bold Aku instead?

Yes. bold Saya is neutral–formal and polite; bold Aku is informal/intimate. With strangers, elders, or in writing, bold Saya is safest. With friends or family, bold Aku is common. Jakarta slang uses bold gue/gua. The rest of the sentence stays the same:

• bold Saya menaruh …
• bold Aku menaruh …
• bold Gue naruh … (colloquial; bold naruh is the casual form of bold menaruh)

Why is there no word for “the” in bold sikat gigi? How do I say “my toothbrush”?

Indonesian has no articles. Definiteness comes from context or add-ons:

• “the” (specific/that one): add bold itu after the noun: bold sikat gigi itu.
• “my toothbrush”: bold sikat gigi saya (neutral) or bold sikat gigiku (colloquial).
• bold -nya can mean “his/her” or “the one in question”: bold sikat giginya. It’s context-dependent and can be ambiguous.

What does bold sikat gigi literally mean? Could I say bold sikat untuk gigi?

Literally “tooth brush”: bold sikat = brush, bold gigi = tooth/teeth. Indonesian prefers bare noun–noun compounds: bold sikat gigi, not “brush for teeth.” bold Sikat untuk gigi is grammatical but sounds explanatory/technical, not the standard word for “toothbrush.”

Is bold menaruh the best verb? How is it different from bold meletakkan, bold menyimpan, and just bold taruh?

• bold menaruh: everyday “to put/place (down).”
• bold taruh: the base verb; common in imperatives: bold Taruh di rak!
• bold naruh: colloquial form of bold menaruh.
• bold meletakkan: near-synonym of “to put/place”; a bit more formal/bookish.
• bold menyimpan: “to store/put away” (for safekeeping).
• bold menempatkan: “to position/place” (more formal/abstract).

Your sentence is natural with bold menaruh or bold meletakkan. Use bold menyimpan if you mean “put away for later.”

Can I omit the subject and just say bold Menaruh sikat gigi di rak kamar mandi?

Dropping bold Saya often turns it into an instruction (“Put the toothbrush…”) or a fragment. For a clear statement, keep the subject: bold Saya menaruh…. In casual speech you can topicalize the object: bold Sikat gigi saya taruh di rak kamar mandi, or rely on context: bold Tadi taruh di rak kamar mandi (“Earlier [I] put it on the bathroom shelf”).

Why bold di rak and not bold di atas rak for “on the shelf”?

bold Rak is inherently a surface to place things on, so bold di rak already means “on the shelf.” Use bold di atas rak when contrasting with inside/under/other parts of the unit or when you mean the topmost surface of a shelving unit:

• bold di dalam rak/lemari = inside a rack/cabinet
• bold di bawah rak = under the shelf
• bold di atas rak = on the (top of the) shelf (emphatic/specific)

Could I use bold ke instead of bold di?

Not here. bold di marks location (“at/on/in”). bold ke marks movement “to/toward.” With placement verbs like bold menaruh/bold meletakkan, Indonesian uses bold di to express the resulting location: bold menaruh X di Y. Use bold ke with motion verbs: bold membawa sikat gigi ke kamar mandi (“bring the toothbrush to the bathroom”). bold pada is generally not used for physical location here.

What’s the difference between the preposition bold di and the passive prefix bold di-?

• bold di as a preposition is separate and followed by a noun: bold di rak, bold di kamar mandi.
• bold di- as a prefix creates the passive: bold ditaruh (“is/was put”). Spelling shows the difference: bold di rak (two words) vs bold ditaruh (one word). Example passive: bold Sikat gigi ditaruh di rak kamar mandi (oleh saya).

Does bold rak kamar mandi mean “bathroom shelf” or “a shelf in the bathroom”? Do I need bold yang?

No bold yang needed. Noun–noun compounds are normal: head first, modifier after it. bold rak (head) + bold kamar mandi (modifier).

• bold rak kamar mandi can mean “bathroom shelf” (type/association) or “the bathroom’s shelf.”
• If you want to stress location, say bold rak di kamar mandi (“a shelf in the bathroom”). Context decides which reading listeners take.

How do I say “I put my toothbrush on the bathroom shelf”?

Add a possessive:

• Neutral: bold Saya menaruh sikat gigi saya di rak kamar mandi.
• Colloquial: bold Aku/Gue naruh sikat gigiku di rak kamar mandi.
• Using bold -nya: bold Saya menaruh sikat giginya di rak kamar mandi (can mean “his/her toothbrush” or “the toothbrush [we mentioned]”).

Is the word order always SVO? Can I front the object?

Indonesian is flexible:

• SVO: bold Saya menaruh sikat gigi di rak kamar mandi. (neutral)
• Object fronting/topicalization: bold Sikat gigi, saya taruh di rak kamar mandi. (emphasis on the toothbrush)
• Passive: bold Sikat gigi ditaruh di rak kamar mandi. (agent optional) All are natural given the right context and emphasis.

Is bold kamar mandi exactly “bathroom”? What about “toilet/WC”?

bold Kamar mandi literally “bathing room,” but in daily use it covers “bathroom.” Other options:

• bold toilet / bold WC (loanwords; common on signs)
• bold kamar kecil (polite/euphemistic “little room”)
• The fixture: bold kloset or bold toilet bold Kamar mandi is safe in most contexts.

Why bold kamar mandi and not bold mandi kamar?

In Indonesian compounds, the head comes first and the modifier follows. bold kamar (room) is the head; bold mandi (bathing) modifies it: “a room for bathing.” Reversing them changes or breaks the meaning.

Where does bold menaruh come from? What’s the base form and related forms?

Base verb: bold taruh (“put”). With the meN- prefix it becomes bold menaruh (everyday), often realized colloquially as bold naruh. Related:

• Passive: bold ditaruh (“be put/placed”)
• Imperative: bold Taruh!
• Related root bold letak gives bold meletakkan / bold diletakkan (“to place/be placed”), a common synonym pair.

Do I need a classifier like bold sebuah before bold sikat gigi to mean “a toothbrush” or “one toothbrush”?

No classifier is required. Just use the bare noun, or add a number if needed:

• “a/one toothbrush”: bold satu sikat gigi (natural), or sometimes bold sebuah sikat gigi (acceptable but less common/natural for everyday objects)
• “some toothbrushes”: bold beberapa sikat gigi Plurality is usually understood from context; reduplication (bold sikat gigi-sikat gigi) is possible but not necessary here.