Saya minum cokelat panas di malam hari.

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Breakdown of Saya minum cokelat panas di malam hari.

• minum: to drink
• panas: hot
• di: at

Questions & Answers about Saya minum cokelat panas di malam hari.

Why is panas after cokelat, instead of before it like in English (hot chocolate)?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

• cokelat panas = hot chocolate
  
  • cokelat = chocolate (the noun)
  • panas = hot (the adjective)

So the pattern is:

• noun + adjective
  
  • buku merah = red book
  • mobil baru = new car
  • cokelat panas = hot chocolate

Putting panas before cokelat (panas cokelat) would sound wrong or at least very odd to native speakers in this context.

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What does di mean in di malam hari, and is it necessary here?

di is a preposition that usually means “at / in / on” (for locations and times).

In this sentence, di malam hari means roughly “at night” or “in the nighttime.”

• di = at / in
• malam hari = nighttime

Is it necessary? You often use a preposition when talking about time:

• di malam hari – at night
• di pagi hari – in the morning
• di akhir pekan – on weekends

However, in everyday speech people also say: