Breakdown of Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
Questions & Answers about Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
Saya means I (or me) and is the default polite/neutral first-person pronoun in Indonesian.
- Use saya in:
- With strangers
- In formal situations (work, school, public speaking)
- With people older than you or in higher positions
Other common words for I:
- aku – more informal/intimate. Used with friends, family, or people your age, especially in casual situations.
- gue / gua – very informal, used in Jakarta slang and some urban areas.
- kami and kita – mean we, not I (but learners sometimes confuse them).
In this sentence, Saya menonton… sounds polite and neutral. If you were talking to friends, you might say Aku nonton… instead.
Both menonton and melihat involve using your eyes, but they’re used differently:
menonton = to watch (something like a show, movie, performance)
- Common objects: televisi (TV), film, pertunjukan (performance), konser, siaran berita (news broadcast).
- Example: Saya menonton film. – I watch/am watching a movie.
melihat = to see / to look at
- More general; not tied to a program or performance.
- Example: Saya melihat burung. – I see a bird.
So for TV programs, movies, and broadcasts, menonton is the natural choice.
Melihat siaran berita would sound odd, like to see the news broadcast rather than to watch it as a program.
In casual speech, people often shorten menonton to nonton:
Saya nonton berita di TV setiap malam.
The base word is tonton, which means something like to watch.
The prefix meN- turns it into an active verb: menonton.
Key points about meN-:
It forms active verbs that usually take an object.
- menonton siaran berita – watch a news broadcast
- membaca buku – read a book (from baca)
- menulis surat – write a letter (from tulis)
It often marks that the subject is doing the action (like English “to watch”, “to read”, “to write” as normal active verbs).
With tonton, the t disappears and the N in meN- becomes n, giving menonton. This is a regular sound change pattern in Indonesian.
So, menonton is simply the normal active form of tonton, used when saya (or someone) is doing the watching.
Indonesian verbs do not use auxiliary verbs like English am / is / are / do / does / did.
- Saya menonton… can cover:
- I watch…
- I am watching…
- I do watch… (as emphasis)
There is:
- no separate “am” before verbs
- no “do” used for questions or emphasis
Time and aspect (present, past, habitual, etc.) are usually shown by:
- time expressions: sekarang (now), tadi (earlier), kemarin (yesterday), besok (tomorrow), etc.
- aspect words: sedang, lagi, sudah, akan, etc.
In this sentence, setiap malam (every night) already shows it’s a repeated/habitual action, so Saya menonton… is fully clear without anything like am or do.
Indonesian verbs generally don’t change for tense, so menonton could be present, past, or future. The time expression tells you which.
Here, setiap malam means every night, which implies a regular, repeated action (habit/hobby). So:
- Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
→ I watch the news on TV every night. (habitual)
To show other times, you would change or add time markers:
- Tadi malam saya menonton siaran berita…
– Last night I watched the news broadcast… - Besok malam saya akan menonton siaran berita…
– Tomorrow night I will watch the news broadcast…
So the habitual meaning comes mainly from setiap malam, not from a verb tense.
Literally:
- siaran = broadcast / transmission / program
- berita = news
So siaran berita = news broadcast or news program.
Differences:
- berita alone is just news (the information itself).
- Saya membaca berita. – I read the news.
- siaran berita emphasizes the broadcast program on TV or radio.
- Saya menonton siaran berita. – I watch a news broadcast/program.
In everyday speech, people might also just say:
- nonton berita di TV – watch the news on TV
But siaran berita is clearer that you’re talking about a broadcasted program.
The basic Indonesian sentence order is:
Subject – Verb – Object – (Adverbials)
S V O (time/place/etc.)
So:
- Saya (subject)
- menonton (verb)
- siaran berita (object)
- di televisi (place phrase: on TV)
- setiap malam (time phrase: every night)
This order is the most natural and standard.
You can move some adverbials (time/place) for emphasis:
- Setiap malam saya menonton siaran berita di televisi.
– Puts emphasis on every night. - Di televisi saya menonton siaran berita setiap malam.
– Slightly unusual, but could emphasize on television.
However, keeping Subject – Verb – Object together is usually most natural for learners:
Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
di is a preposition that usually means in / at / on, depending on context.
In di televisi, it means roughly on (the) television or on TV.
Common patterns:
- di rumah – at home
- di sekolah – at school
- di kantor – at the office
- di televisi / di TV – on TV
- di radio – on the radio
You generally need di before place nouns or media to show where something happens or through what medium:
- Saya menonton film di bioskop. – I watch a movie at the cinema.
- Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi. – I watch the news broadcast on TV.
Without di, televisi would look more like a direct object (the thing watched) instead of the place/medium.
Yes. You will very often see and hear TV instead of televisi.
- televisi – more formal or neutral, common in writing, news, official contexts.
- TV or tivi – very common in everyday speech and informal writing.
So you could also say:
- Saya menonton siaran berita di TV setiap malam.
– perfectly natural and common in casual conversation.
In a school essay or formal document, televisi might be preferred, but TV is widely accepted.
Yes, you can move setiap malam to the front:
- Setiap malam, saya menonton siaran berita di televisi.
The meaning is the same: every night I watch a news broadcast on TV.
The difference is emphasis:
- Front position: emphasizes the time expression (every night).
- End position: more neutral, typical sentence flow.
Both word orders are correct and natural:
- Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
- Setiap malam, saya menonton siaran berita di televisi.
Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural unless you need to emphasize it or the context is unclear.
In this sentence, siaran berita can mean:
- a news broadcast, the news broadcast, or news broadcasts
depending on context. Setiap malam already suggests a repeated program, so plural is implied.
If you really want to stress the plural, you can say:
- siaran-siaran berita – broadcasts of news (reduplication to show plurality)
- berbagai siaran berita – various news broadcasts
- banyak siaran berita – many news broadcasts
For everyday purposes, siaran berita is enough; the context usually makes it clear.
Yes, dropping the subject pronoun is possible in Indonesian, especially in context where it’s clear who the subject is.
So in casual conversation, you might hear:
- Setiap malam nonton berita di TV.
– Literally: Every night [I/you/we] watch the news on TV.
However:
- As a standalone sentence, Saya menonton… is clearer and more complete.
- In formal writing or when introducing yourself, it’s better to include saya.
In conversation, if people already know you’re talking about your habits, dropping saya is natural.
To emphasize that the action is happening right now, Indonesian often uses sedang or lagi.
Examples:
- Saya sedang menonton siaran berita di televisi.
– I am watching a news broadcast on TV (right now). - Colloquial: Aku lagi nonton berita di TV.
– I’m watching the news on TV now.
Compare:
- Saya menonton siaran berita di televisi setiap malam.
– I watch the news broadcast on TV every night. (habitual)
The verb menonton stays the same; the difference between habitual and right now meaning comes from time/aspect markers like setiap malam vs sedang / lagi / sekarang.