Mereka menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung untuk mengumpulkan uang penampungan hewan.

They put a donation box in front of the stage to collect money for the animal shelter.

Breakdown of Mereka menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung untuk mengumpulkan uang penampungan hewan.

• sebuah: a
• mereka: they
• untuk: to
• di depan: in front of
• uang: the money
• menaruh: to put
• panggung: the stage
• mengumpulkan: to collect
• kotak donasi: the donation box
• penampungan hewan: the animal shelter

Questions & Answers about Mereka menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung untuk mengumpulkan uang penampungan hewan.

What does menaruh mean exactly, and how is it related to the base verb taruh?

Taruh is the base verb meaning to put / to place.

When you add the prefix meN- to taruh, you get menaruh (the t in taruh disappears and the N becomes n: meN- + taruh → menaruh).

• taruh! – “put it (down)!” (often used as an imperative, informal)
• Dia menaruh tasnya di meja. – “He/She put his/her bag on the table.”

So menaruh is the standard active transitive form “to put, to place (something somewhere)” and is what you normally use in full sentences with a subject.

Could I say meletakkan instead of menaruh in this sentence? Is there any difference in nuance?

Yes, you can say either:

• Mereka menaruh kotak donasi…
• Mereka meletakkan kotak donasi…

Both are correct and natural, and in this context they mean the same thing: “They put/placed the donation box…”.

Nuance (roughly):

• meletakkan – literally “to put something down” (root letak = position). Slightly more neutral/formal and very common in writing.
• menaruh – more general “to put/place (something somewhere)”, very common in speech; also used metaphorically (e.g. menaruh harapan “to place hope”).

In everyday language, most speakers wouldn’t feel a big difference here.

Why isn’t there any word for a or the in kotak donasi and panggung?

Indonesian does not have articles like a/an or the. Nouns stand alone, and the definiteness is understood from context.

So kotak donasi can mean:

• a donation box
• the donation box
• even donation boxes (if context makes it clear it’s plural).

Similarly, panggung can mean a stage, the stage, stages, depending on what’s already known in the situation. If the English translation says a donation box in front of the stage, those a/the are added only for English grammar; in Indonesian they’re simply not expressed.

How does kotak donasi work grammatically? Why is donasi after kotak, and are there other ways to say “donation box”?

The structure kotak donasi is noun + noun (modifier):

• kotak = box
• donasi = donation

In Indonesian, the main noun comes first and the “type” or modifier noun comes after it. So kotak donasi literally = box (for) donations → donation box.

Other common options:

• kotak amal – very common, especially in religious or charity contexts (literally “charity box”).
• kotak sumbangan – “contribution box / donation box”.

All are understandable; kotak donasi is transparent and neutral, kotak amal is probably the most fixed collocation in everyday life.

What is the difference between di depan panggung and di hadapan panggung or di depan alone?

• di depan panggung = in front of the stage (physical location).

  • di = at/in/on (location)
  • depan = front
  • panggung = stage

• di hadapan panggung also literally means “in front of the stage”, but di hadapan feels more formal and often implies facing or in the presence of something/someone (e.g. di hadapan hakim – “before the judge”).

• di depan by itself just means “in front (of something)” without saying what, so you’d usually follow it with a noun: di depan rumah, di depan panggung, etc.

In this sentence, di depan panggung is the most natural everyday choice.

Why is the preposition di used instead of ke before depan panggung?

In Indonesian:

• di marks a location (where something is): di depan panggung = in front of the stage.
• ke marks movement/direction (to where something is going): ke depan panggung = to the front of the stage.

With verbs of placing like menaruh/meletakkan, the place phrase usually describes the final location, so di is used:

• Mereka menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung.
  → Focus on where the box ends up (its location).

Ke depan panggung would sound more like “(they went) to the front of the stage”, i.e. describing movement rather than where the box is placed.

What does untuk do in untuk mengumpulkan uang? Can I leave it out or use something else?

Here untuk introduces a purpose: untuk mengumpulkan uang = to collect money / in order to collect money.

General patterns:

• untuk + verb: untuk mengumpulkan uang, untuk membantu orang miskin – “to … / in order to …”.
• untuk + noun: untuk penampungan hewan, untuk sekolah itu – “for …”.

Alternatives for purpose:

• agar/supaya followed by a clause: … supaya mereka bisa mengumpulkan uang. (more like “so that they can collect money”).
• buat instead of untuk in colloquial speech: buat ngumpulin uang.

In this sentence, untuk is natural and you should not drop it; mengumpulkan uang by itself doesn’t clearly express “for the purpose of”.

What’s the difference between mengumpulkan and the base verb kumpul?

• kumpul (root) – “to gather, to get together”. Used as:

  • berkumpul – people gather/assemble (intransitive).

• mengumpulkan – “to gather/collect (something)” (transitive, takes an object):

  • mengumpulkan uang – to collect money
  • mengumpulkan data – to collect data
  • mengumpulkan tugas – to hand in/turn in homework (literally “collect assignments”).

So:

• Orang-orang berkumpul di depan panggung. – “People gathered in front of the stage.”
• Mereka mengumpulkan uang di depan panggung. – “They collected money in front of the stage.”

In the sentence you gave, mengumpulkan is needed because “money” (uang) is the object being collected.

Does uang penampungan hewan literally mean “animal-shelter money”? Is that a natural phrase?

Yes, literally uang penampungan hewan is “animal-shelter money” – that is, money belonging to / for the animal shelter. Grammatically, it’s noun (uang) + noun phrase (penampungan hewan), where the second part specifies what kind of money.

It is understandable and not wrong, but in everyday usage people often make the purpose more explicit with untuk or bagi:

• untuk mengumpulkan uang bagi penampungan hewan – to collect money for the animal shelter.
• untuk mengumpulkan uang untuk penampungan hewan – to collect money for the animal shelter.

So a very natural version is:

Mereka menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung untuk mengumpulkan uang bagi penampungan hewan.

Your original phrase is grammatically fine; the alternatives just sound a bit more explicitly “for the shelter”.

What exactly does penampungan hewan mean? Could I say tempat penampungan hewan or just penampungan?

• tampung (root) – to contain, to accommodate, to take in.
• penampungan – a place or facility that takes people/animals in → a shelter / holding facility.
• hewan – animal.

So penampungan hewan = animal shelter / animal holding facility.

Variations:

• tempat penampungan hewan – literally “place of animal sheltering”; longer, but often used too.
• Saying only penampungan is vague; you’d normally specify penampungan hewan, penampungan pengungsi, etc.

For a general “animal shelter” in Indonesian, penampungan hewan is clear and natural.

What’s the difference between hewan and binatang?

Both can mean “animal”:

• hewan – slightly more formal/neutral, common in education, news, and official contexts (biology, animal care, NGOs, etc.).
• binatang – everyday word, but also used as an insult for people (“you animal!”).

For something like an animal shelter, penampungan hewan sounds more neutral and is a good choice. Penampungan binatang would be understood, but hewan is more standard in this context.

How is tense expressed in this sentence? How do I know if it means “they put” or “they are putting”?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Menaruh doesn’t tell you past, present, or future by itself. The time is understood from context or from time words like kemarin (yesterday), sekarang (now), besok (tomorrow).

So your sentence can correspond to several English tenses:

• “They put a donation box…” (past, e.g. in a story).
• “They are putting a donation box…” (present continuous, if you’re describing an ongoing action).
• “They will put a donation box…” (future, if it’s about a plan, often clarified with akan).

If you want to mark it explicitly, you can add:

• kemarin mereka menaruh… – yesterday they put…
• sekarang mereka sedang menaruh… – now they are (in the middle of) putting…
• mereka akan menaruh… – they will put…

Can the subject mereka be left out? When would Indonesians drop pronouns like this?

Yes, if the subject is already clear from context, Indonesians often drop it:

• Menaruh kotak donasi di depan panggung untuk mengumpulkan uang penampungan hewan.

If it’s already known you are talking about “they”, this is perfectly natural in conversation or narrative text.

Subject pronouns (saya, kamu, dia, mereka, etc.) are frequently omitted when:

• The subject was mentioned in the previous sentence.
• The subject is obvious from the situation (e.g. you and your friend are talking about your group).

However, including mereka is also fine and can help clarity, especially in isolated sentences or learner materials.

Is the word order fixed, or can I move di depan panggung to another position in the sentence?

The basic word order is Subject–Verb–Object–(Place)–(Purpose):

Mereka (S) menaruh (V) kotak donasi (O) di depan panggung (Place) untuk mengumpulkan… (Purpose)

You can move di depan panggung for emphasis or style, as long as it stays close to the verb and doesn’t break the logical flow:

• Di depan panggung, mereka menaruh kotak donasi untuk mengumpulkan uang penampungan hewan.
  → Emphasis on location.

Putting it between untuk and mengumpulkan would be wrong:

• ✗ … untuk di depan panggung mengumpulkan uang… (ungrammatical in this meaning).

So the phrase can move as a unit but should keep its internal order (di + depan + panggung) and stay in a place position that makes sense semantically.