Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.

He/She hides his/her feelings in a diary.

Breakdown of Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.

• sebuah: a
• buku: the book
• dia: he/she
• di: in
• harian: daily
• nya: his/her
• perasaan: the feeling
• menyembunyikan: to hide

Questions & Answers about Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.

Does dia mean “he” or “she”? How do I know which one it is?

Dia is a gender‑neutral third‑person singular pronoun. It can mean he, she, or even they (referring to one person) depending on context.

Indonesian usually does not mark gender in pronouns. To know whether dia is he or she, you rely on:

• Previous sentences (who they were talking about),
• Names or descriptions (e.g. Dia guru saya, namanya Siti → clearly female),
• Extra information if needed (Dia, seorang perempuan itu, …).

Without context, Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian can be translated as:

• He hides his feelings in a diary, or
• She hides her feelings in a diary.

Why is it menyembunyikan and not just sembunyi?

Sembunyi is an intransitive verb (or verb-like word) meaning to hide (oneself):

• Dia sembunyi di kamar. → He/She hides in the room.

Menyembunyikan is a transitive verb (needs an object) and means to hide something:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya. → He/She hides his/her feelings.

Grammar point:

• The prefix meN-
  • base word sembunyi
    • suffix -kan → menyembunyikan, meaning “to cause something to be hidden / to hide something.”

So you use:

• sembunyi when the subject is what hides.
• menyembunyikan + object when the subject hides something.

What is the function of -kan in menyembunyikan? Can I drop it?

The suffix -kan often:

• Makes a verb transitive (takes an object),
• Can add a sense of “causing/making something be X”, or directing an action onto something.

In menyembunyikan:

• sembunyi = to hide (oneself)
• menyembunyikan (perasaan) = to hide (feelings) → to make the feelings be hidden.

You cannot just say:

• Dia menyembunyi perasaannya. ✗ (incorrect)

Without -kan, menyembunyi is not a standard form. The correct, natural verb is menyembunyikan.

What exactly does perasaannya mean? Why is there -nya at the end?

Perasaannya = perasaan + -nya.

• perasaan = feeling(s), emotions
• -nya here works like his / her / their (or sometimes “the”).

So perasaannya here means:

• his feelings or her feelings (depending on who dia is).

More examples:

• bukunya = his/her/their book
• rumahnya = his/her/their house

Note: -nya can also mean the or that in some contexts, but in perasaannya with dia, it is most naturally read as his/her feelings.

Why isn’t it perasaan dia instead of perasaannya? Are both correct?

Both are grammatically correct, but perasaannya is more compact and very natural.

You can say:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya.
• Dia menyembunyikan perasaan dia.

Differences:

• perasaannya is a bit smoother and more typical in this sort of sentence.
• perasaan dia can sound slightly more informal or spoken, depending on the context.

Meaning-wise in this sentence, they’re effectively the same: his/her feelings.

What is buku harian literally? Why “book daily”?

Buku harian is a compound noun:

• buku = book
• harian = daily, related to hari (day)

So literally, buku harian is a daily book, i.e. a book you write in daily → a diary.

This pattern is common:

• koran harian = daily newspaper
• laporan harian = daily report

In English we say diary, but in Indonesian you keep the two words: buku harian.

Why is it di buku harian, not pada buku harian? What’s the difference between di and pada?

Di and pada can both be translated as in/at/on, but they’re used slightly differently.

• di = basic preposition for physical places or locations.

  • di rumah (at home), di meja (on the table), di buku harian (in the diary).

• pada is more formal and often used for:

  • abstract things: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion),
  • people (in formal writing): pada Bapak/Ibu (to Mr/Mrs),
  • time expressions: pada hari Senin (on Monday, in formal style).

In Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian, we’re talking about a physical book, so di is the natural choice.
Pada buku harian would sound overly formal or unnatural here in everyday language.

Could I say di dalam buku harian instead of di buku harian?

Yes, you can. Both are correct, with a small nuance:

• di buku harian = in the diary, normal, neutral.
• di dalam buku harian = literally inside the diary, sometimes a bit more explicit or emphatic about the “inside”.

For this sentence, both:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.
• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di dalam buku harian.
  are acceptable. The second just sounds a bit more “inside the pages” in a literal sense.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Dia di buku harian menyembunyikan perasaannya?

The natural word order here is:

Subject – Verb – Object – Place
→ Dia (S) menyembunyikan (V) perasaannya (O) di buku harian (Place).

Indonesian is quite flexible, but Dia di buku harian menyembunyikan perasaannya sounds awkward and unnatural in normal speech/writing.

Other orders you might see (in poetry, emphasis, etc.) are possible, but for standard, clear Indonesian, use:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.

How do I say “in her diary” vs “in his diary”? Does di buku harian show whose diary it is?

In the given sentence, di buku harian by itself does not say whose diary it is. It’s just in a diary / in the diary (understood from context).

To be explicit:

• di buku hariannya = in his/her diary
  
  • buku harian
    • -nya → the diary that belongs to dia (or someone previously mentioned).

So:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku hariannya.
  → He/She hides his/her feelings in his/her diary.

If you want to be crystal clear:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian miliknya. (in his/her own diary)
• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian kakaknya. (in her/his older sibling’s diary), etc.

Is perasaan singular or plural here? Does perasaannya mean “feeling” or “feelings”?

Indonesian usually doesn’t mark singular vs plural on nouns, so perasaan can be feeling or feelings depending on context.

In this sentence, natural English would be:

• his/her feelings (plural),
  so we translate perasaannya as his/her feelings.

If you especially want to emphasize many feelings, you could say:

• perasaan-perasaannya (reduplication can mark plurality or emphasis), but that’s not necessary here. Perasaannya alone is perfectly normal.

How do I show tense? Does this sentence mean “hides”, “hid”, or “is hiding”?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense.
Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian can mean:

• He/She hides his/her feelings in a diary. (habitual, present)
• He/She hid his/her feelings in a diary. (past)
• He/She is hiding his/her feelings in a diary. (present progressive)

To make the time clearer, Indonesians use time adverbs:

• Kemarin dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.
  → Yesterday he/she hid his/her feelings in a diary.

• Sekarang dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.
  → Now he/she is hiding his/her feelings in a diary.

• Dulu dia selalu menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.
  → He/She used to always hide his/her feelings in a diary.

Could I drop dia and just say Menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian?

In very informal or elliptical contexts (like notes, headlines, or when the subject is extremely obvious), Indonesians sometimes drop pronouns.

However, as a normal, complete sentence, you should keep dia:

• Dia menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian. ✔

If you say just:

• Menyembunyikan perasaannya di buku harian.
  it feels incomplete, like a fragment (similar to writing in English: Hiding his/her feelings in a diary. without “He/She is”). It can appear in titles, summaries, or instructions, but not as a full neutral sentence.