Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.

Meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning.

Breakdown of Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.

• dia: he/she
• di: at
• perpustakaan: the library
• besok pagi: tomorrow morning
• temui: to meet

Questions & Answers about Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.

Why is there no word for “you” in Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi even though the English is “Meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning”?

Indonesian often drops the subject “you” in commands because it’s understood from context.

• Temui dia… literally just says “Meet him/her…” and the listener understands it as “(You) meet him/her…”
• If you really want to include “you” you can say:
  • Kamu temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.
  • Tolong temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi. (more polite)

So the “you” is implied, not spoken.

What exactly is temui? Is it the same as the verb temu?

Temu is the root meaning “to meet / to encounter”.
Temui is an imperative (command) form meaning “meet (someone)”.

Rough idea:

• temu – root
• menemui – “to meet (someone) / to go see someone” (normal verb)
• temui! – “meet (him/her)!” (command)

So Temui dia… is a direct instruction: “Meet him/her…”

What’s the difference between temui dia and bertemu dengan dia?

Both involve the idea of meeting, but they’re used slightly differently.

• Temui dia…
  
  • More direct, transitive: “(You) meet him/her.”
  • Feels like telling someone to go and see that person.
• Bertemu dengan dia…
  
  • Literally “to meet with him/her.”
  • bertemu is intransitive; it often appears as:
    • Saya bertemu dengan dia di perpustakaan. – “I met him/her at the library.”
  • As a command, it’s less common; you’d usually keep temui in instructions.

For a natural command, Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi is more common than Bertemu dengan dia…

Could I say menemui dia instead of temui dia?

Yes, but the nuance changes a bit.

• Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.
  
  • Pure imperative: “Meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning.”
• Kamu harus menemui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.
  
  • “You must go meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning.”
  • menemui is the normal verb form; temui is the bare command.

As a short command, temui dia is more natural than menemui dia.

Does dia mean “he” or “she”? How do I know the gender?

Dia is gender-neutral. It can mean:

• he / him
• she / her

Indonesian does not mark gender in the third person singular pronoun.
The gender is understood from context, or you specify the person’s role:

• Temui guru itu di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “Meet that teacher at the library tomorrow morning.”
• Temui pacarmu di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “Meet your boyfriend/girlfriend at the library tomorrow morning.”

If you really need “they (plural),” you’d use mereka, not dia.

Why is dia used here and not ia or beliau?

• dia – most common neutral 3rd-person pronoun in everyday speech and writing (subject or object).
• ia – mainly used as subject in more formal or literary writing, rarely as object:
  • Ia datang besok pagi. – “He/She is coming tomorrow morning.”
• beliau – respectful “he/she” for elders, superiors, or respected figures.

In a polite, formal instruction to meet someone respected, you might see:

• Temui beliau di perpustakaan besok pagi.

But dia is the default, neutral choice here.

How do I know that dia is the object (“him/her”) and not the subject (“he/she”)?

Word order and verb choice tell you.

• In Temui dia…, the verb temui comes first as a command, so the understood pattern is:
  • (You) meet him/her…
• The structure is:
  [imperative verb] + [object] + [place/time]
• If dia were the subject, you’d normally see:
  • Dia bertemu saya di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “He/She meets me at the library tomorrow morning.”

So in this sentence, dia is clearly the object of the command.

What does di mean in di perpustakaan? Could I use ke instead?

• di means “at / in / on” (location).
  
  • di perpustakaan = “at the library”.
• ke means “to” (movement / direction).
  
  • ke perpustakaan = “to the library”.

In Temui dia di perpustakaan, the important idea is where the meeting happens, not the movement, so di is correct.

If you want to emphasize going there, you might say:

• Pergi ke perpustakaan dan temui dia di sana besok pagi.
  “Go to the library and meet him/her there tomorrow morning.”

Is the order di perpustakaan besok pagi fixed, or can I move the time phrase around?

You can move the time phrase around quite flexibly. All of these are grammatical:

1. Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.
2. Temui dia besok pagi di perpustakaan.
3. Besok pagi, temui dia di perpustakaan.
4. Di perpustakaan, temui dia besok pagi. (less common but possible)

The default, most natural options are 1 and 3.
Indonesian often places time expressions at the beginning or end of the sentence.

Why isn’t there a word like “will” (such as akan) for the future? It’s tomorrow.

Indonesian usually doesn’t need a separate future tense marker when there’s a time word.

• besok = tomorrow
• besok pagi = tomorrow morning

Because besok pagi already shows the future, you don’t need akan.

You can add akan for emphasis or clarity in a full sentence, but not usually in a bare imperative:

• Saya akan menemui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi.
  “I will meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning.”

In a command, Temui dia… already implies a future action, so akan is not used.

Is Temui dia… polite, or does it sound too strong?

Temui dia… is a plain, direct command. Politeness depends on:

• who is speaking (boss, teacher, friend)
• how formal the situation is

To make it softer or more polite, you can add:

• Tolong temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “Please meet him/her…”
• Harap temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “Kindly meet him/her…” (formal, written)
• Silakan temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi. – “Please go ahead and meet him/her…” (inviting)

Without any of these, it’s neutral but direct.

Could I say ketemu dia di perpustakaan besok pagi instead of temui dia…?

Ketemu is informal and usually not used as a direct command in standard Indonesian.

• Saya ketemu dia di perpustakaan. – “I ran into/met him/her at the library.” (colloquial)
• As a command, people might say in casual speech:
  • Kamu ketemu dia di perpustakaan besok pagi, ya.
    Literally: “You meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning, okay?” (soft, conversational)

But in a clear, standard imperative, Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi is better than Ketemu dia…

What does perpustakaan literally mean? Is there a connection to the word for “book”?

Yes. It’s built from the root pustaka, an old word related to “book / writing / text.”

• pustaka – book, script, text (mostly in more formal or older usage)
• per‑…‑an – a common noun-forming pattern for places or abstract nouns

So perpustakaan is “a place of books,” i.e., a library.

Can you break down the meaning of each word in Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi?

• Temui – “(You) meet (someone)!” (imperative verb)
• dia – “him/her” (third-person singular, gender-neutral)
• di – “at / in”
• perpustakaan – “library”
• besok – “tomorrow”
• pagi – “morning”

Combined: “(You) meet him/her at the library tomorrow morning.”

How do I pronounce Temui dia di perpustakaan besok pagi?

Syllable breakdown (Indonesian pronunciation is very regular):

• Te-mu-i
• di-a
• di
• per-pus-ta-ka-an
• be-sok
• pa-gi

Approximate sounds:

• temui – “tuh-MOO-ee”
• dia – “DEE-ya”
• perpustakaan – “puhr-POOS-ta-ka-an” (each vowel pronounced clearly)
• besok – “BUH-sok” (often said a bit like “besok,” not “beh-sock”)
• pagi – “PAH-gee”

Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable of each word.