Salah satu teman saya belajar di perpustakaan malam ini.

the friend

Breakdown of Salah satu teman saya belajar di perpustakaan malam ini.

• di: at
• belajar: to study
• saya: my

Questions & Answers about Salah satu teman saya belajar di perpustakaan malam ini.

Why do we say salah satu teman saya instead of just satu teman saya?

Satu teman saya literally means one friend of mine, and sounds a bit odd or incomplete in Indonesian when you want to say one of my friends (from a group).

Salah satu teman saya is the natural way to say one of my friends.

• salah satu = one of (several)
  So Salah satu teman saya implies you have multiple friends, and you are talking about one member of that group.

But doesn’t salah mean wrong or mistake? Why is it used in salah satu?

Yes, on its own salah usually means wrong / incorrect.

However, in the fixed phrase salah satu, it no longer has that meaning.

• salah satu is an idiomatic expression meaning one of (them).

Native speakers don’t feel the meaning “wrong” here; they just understand salah satu as a unit meaning one of.

Is teman saya singular or plural? Does it mean my friend or my friends?