Teman saya salah mengerti tujuan rapat.

the friend

Breakdown of Teman saya salah mengerti tujuan rapat.

• rapat: the meeting
• saya: my
• tujuan: the purpose

Questions & Answers about Teman saya salah mengerti tujuan rapat.

Why is it teman saya and not saya teman for my friend?

In Indonesian, the possessor usually comes after the noun:

• teman saya = my friend
  
  • teman = friend
  • saya = I / me (here: my)

So the structure is: noun + possessor, not possessor + noun as in English.

• rumah saya = my house
• mobil saya = my car

Saya teman is not correct for my friend. If you say saya teman, it sounds like a fragment, roughly I (am) a friend, and it’s still not a natural phrase on its own.

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Can teman saya mean my friends as well as my friend?

Yes. Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plurals when it’s obvious from context.

• teman saya can mean:
  • my friend (one person), or
  • my friends (more than one)

If you really want to emphasize plural, you can say:

• teman-teman saya = my friends (clearly plural)

In neutral conversation, teman saya is fine, and listeners use context to know if it’s one or more people.

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What exactly does salah mengerti mean? Is an adverb here?