Breakdown of Paman saya adalah pengacara, dan klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
Questions & Answers about Paman saya adalah pengacara, dan klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
In Indonesian, the possessed noun comes first, and the possessor (the owner) comes after it:
- paman saya = my uncle
- buku saya = my book
- rumah mereka = their house
So the pattern is: [thing] + [owner], not the English order [owner] + [thing].
Saya paman would literally sound like “I (am) uncle,” not “my uncle.”
Adalah is a linking word similar to is/are in English when connecting a subject to a noun phrase:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara = My uncle is a lawyer.
However, in everyday Indonesian, adalah is often optional in this kind of sentence. You can also say:
- Paman saya pengacara.
Both are correct. Adalah sounds a bit more formal or careful, and it appears more in written or formal speech. Without it, the sentence is more neutral or informal.
The sentence is:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara, dan klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
In the second clause, Indonesian simply puts two noun phrases together (subject + predicate) without a linking word; this is very normal.
You can say:
- … dan klien pertamanya adalah teman lama kami.
This is also correct, slightly more formal or explicit. So you have two acceptable versions:
- klien pertamanya teman lama kami (more neutral/natural)
- klien pertamanya adalah teman lama kami (more formal/emphatic)
The meaning is the same.
The -nya suffix has several functions, but here it is a third‑person possessive marker: his / her / its.
- pertama = first
- pertamanya = his/her/its first (one)
So klien pertamanya means his first client (referring back to paman saya).
Rough breakdown:
- klien = client
- pertama = first
- -nya = his/her/its
→ klien pertamanya = his first client.
Both forms exist, but they differ in naturalness and style:
- klien pertamanya – very natural, compact, and common in both speech and writing.
- klien pertama dia – possible in informal speech, but sounds a bit heavier/less smooth; the free pronoun dia is usually used when you want to emphasize it.
In standard, neutral Indonesian, when the possessor is third person (he/she/it), attaching -nya is often preferred:
- rumahnya (his/her house), not usually rumah dia
- bukunya (his/her book)
- klien pertamanya (his/her first client)
So klien pertamanya is the most natural choice here.
Both mean we / us, but:
- kami = we (excluding the person spoken to)
- kita = we (including the person spoken to)
In teman lama kami, the pronoun kami suggests: “an old friend of ours (but not necessarily the listener’s).”
If the speaker wanted to include the listener (e.g., “an old friend of ours, yours and mine”), they would more naturally say:
- teman lama kita = our old friend (yours and mine).
There is a nuance difference:
- teman lama = a friend you have known for a long time (old in terms of duration of the friendship).
- teman tua = a friend who is old in age (an elderly friend).
In English, old friend usually means “friend I’ve known a long time,” so the correct Indonesian equivalent is teman lama.
In Indonesian, adjectives generally follow the noun:
- teman lama = old/longtime friend
- buku baru = new book
- rumah besar = big house
So the pattern is: [noun] + [adjective].
Lama teman would be ungrammatical or, at best, very unusual in this sense. The natural order is teman lama.
Indonesian does not have articles like a/an or the. The noun pengacara by itself is neutral; context tells us how to translate it:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara → My uncle is a lawyer.
- klien pertamanya → his first client (so the first client he had).
If you really need to emphasize “a (single) lawyer,” you can say:
- Paman saya seorang pengacara.
But in most cases, the bare noun plus context is enough, and English articles are added only in translation.
Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for past, present, or future. Tense is inferred from context, time expressions, or other clues:
- klien pertamanya teman lama kami
Literally: “his first client (is) our old friend.”
Because “first client” naturally implies an earlier time in his career, English speakers interpret it as past: “was his first client.”
If you want to make the past time explicit, you can add time words:
- Dulu, klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
“In the past, his first client was an old friend of ours.”
If you say:
- Paman adalah pengacara
this does not automatically mean “my uncle is a lawyer.” It just means “uncle is a lawyer,” and could refer to some uncle in the context, or be used as a kinship title (for an older man you call “Uncle”).
To clearly say my uncle, you need a possessive:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara.
Indonesian nouns do not change form to show possession, so you must explicitly add saya (my), dia/-nya (his/her), etc.
Yes, both relate to people receiving services, but they are used in different contexts:
klien = clients of professionals or specialized services
- lawyer, consultant, architect, designer, psychologist, etc.
- klien pengacara = a lawyer’s client
pelanggan = customers or subscribers of shops and general services
- store customers, restaurant customers, phone/internet subscribers, etc.
- pelanggan toko = shop customer
- pelanggan tetap = regular customer
Since the sentence is about a pengacara (lawyer), klien is the appropriate word.
The sentence has two full clauses:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara
- klien pertamanya teman lama kami
They are joined by dan (and). Many writers put a comma before dan when it connects two independent clauses, especially if the clauses are a bit long.
You may see both:
- Paman saya adalah pengacara dan klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
- Paman saya adalah pengacara, dan klien pertamanya teman lama kami.
Both are acceptable; the comma is a style choice, not a grammar requirement.