Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihatnya di film. - I have never touched snow, but I often see it in movies.

So Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju is like saying
“I have not yet ever touched snow (in my life up to now).”
It implies it could still happen in the future.

Tidak pernah means never (ever), more absolute:

Saya tidak pernah menyentuh salju = “I never touch snow” / “I never (ever) touch snow.”

You can use tidak pernah to talk about life experience, but:

belum pernah = never so far, but still possible in the future
tidak pernah = never at all, often implying it doesn’t happen as a habit or maybe will never happen

In this sentence, belum pernah matches the English “have never (up to now)” very well.

Why is English “have never touched” expressed with belum pernah and not with a special tense in Indonesian?

Indonesian doesn’t have verb tenses like present perfect (have done). Instead, it uses time/aspect words:

belum = not yet
sudah = already
pernah = ever (at some time in life)

So:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju
= “I (up to now) have not yet ever touched snow.”
≈ “I have never touched snow.”

No verb changes are needed; menyentuh stays the same in past, present, and future. The “perfect” meaning (life experience up to now) comes from belum pernah, not from a verb tense.

What does pernah add here? Could I say Saya belum menyentuh salju instead?

Pernah focuses on whether something has ever happened (life experience).

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju
= I have not yet ever touched snow (in my life).

If you say:

Saya belum menyentuh salju

it’s grammatically correct, but it usually sounds more like:

“I have not (yet) touched snow (in this situation / so far).”

Without pernah, it doesn’t clearly sound like you’re talking about life experience. With pernah, you’re clearly saying “ever in my life up to now.”

What is the difference between menyentuh and memegang?

Both are related to touching, but they’re not the same:

menyentuh = to touch (make contact, even briefly)
- Saya menyentuh salju. = I touch snow / I touched snow (just contact).
memegang = to hold / grasp (take something in your hand)
- Saya memegang salju. = I hold snow (in my hand), I’m grabbing it.

In the sentence Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, the focus is simply on ever making contact with snow at all, not necessarily holding it.

Why is tetapi used here instead of tapi? Are both correct?

Both tetapi and tapi mean “but”.

tetapi is more formal or neutral (good for writing, careful speech).
tapi is more informal/colloquial, very common in everyday speech.

So you could say:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihatnya di film. (slightly more formal)
Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tapi saya sering melihatnya di film. (more casual)

Both are correct; the choice depends on how formal you want to sound.

Do I have to repeat saya in the second clause, or can I say ... tetapi sering melihatnya di film?

You don’t have to repeat saya if the subject is clear from context. All of these are possible:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihatnya di film.
– fully explicit, very clear.
Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi sering melihatnya di film.
– saya is omitted, but understood; sounds natural in spoken Indonesian.
Belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi sering melihatnya di film.
– dropping saya entirely, very conversational, relies heavily on context.

For learners, repeating saya (version 1) is safest and clearest.

What does the -nya in melihatnya mean, and could I replace it with salju?

The -nya in melihatnya is an object pronoun meaning “it / him / her / them”, referring back to salju.

melihat = to see
melihatnya = to see it (here: see the snow / see snow)

So saya sering melihatnya di film ≈ “I often see it in films,” where “it” = snow.

You can replace it with salju:

Saya sering melihat salju di film. = I often see snow in films.
Saya sering melihatnya di film. = I often see it (the snow) in films.

Both are correct. Using -nya avoids repeating salju and is very natural.

Where should sering go in the sentence? Can I say Saya melihatnya sering di film?

The normal position for frequency words like sering (often) is before the verb:

Saya sering melihatnya di film. ✅ natural

Saya melihatnya sering di film is unusual and sounds incorrect in standard Indonesian.

Other possible (more emphatic) orders:

Sering saya melihatnya di film.
– possible, but sounds more poetic/emphatic: “Often, I see it in movies.”

For everyday speech, use:

Subject + sering + verb (+ object + other info)
e.g. Saya sering melihatnya di film.

Why is it di film and not pada film or di dalam film?

In this context, di film is the most natural way to say “in movies / in films.”

di film
– very common; can mean “in films / in movies” or “on film (on screen).”
pada film
– sounds odd here. Pada is used more with times or more formal objects (e.g. pada hari Senin, pada orang itu). It’s not usual with film like this.
di dalam film
– literally “inside the film”; might be used if you really want to stress inside the story/world of the movie, but it’s wordier and less common for this simple sentence.

So the natural, everyday way to match English “in movies” is di film.

How do I express the plural “films/movies” in Indonesian? Is di film singular or plural?

Indonesian nouns usually don’t change for singular vs plural. Film can mean:

film (one film)
films (more than one film)

Context tells you which is meant. In di film, the meaning is usually “in films / in movies (in general)”.

If you want to emphasize plurality, you can:

film-film (reduplication)
- Saya sering melihatnya di film-film. = I often see it in films (many films).
use a quantifier:
- di banyak film = in many films
- di berbagai film = in various films

But di film alone is already fine and commonly understood as “in movies” here.

Can I say menonton or nonton instead of melihat for movies?

Yes, and it’s often more natural:

menonton film = to watch a movie
nonton film = casual/colloquial form of menonton film

So you could say:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering menonton salju di film.
– acceptable, but sounds a bit odd because menonton salju isn’t a common phrase.

More natural would be:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihat salju di film.
Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihatnya di film.

Use melihat when you mean “see (it) in films” in a general way. Use menonton / nonton when the object is the movie itself:

Saya sering menonton film. = I often watch movies.
Saya sering melihat salju di film. = I often see snow in movies.

Could I use aku instead of saya here? What changes in meaning or tone?

Yes, you can. Both mean “I / me”, but they differ in formality:

saya
– neutral or formal; safe with strangers, in writing, in polite situations.
aku
– more informal/intimate; used with friends, family, people your age or younger.

So:

Saya belum pernah menyentuh salju, tetapi saya sering melihatnya di film.
– neutral/formal.
Aku belum pernah menyentuh salju, tapi aku sering melihatnya di film.
– more casual and friendly (also uses tapi instead of tetapi).

Meaning is the same; only the level of formality and closeness changes.