Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

I want to go to the nearest hospital.

Breakdown of Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

• saya: I
• pergi: to go
• ke: to
• mau: want
• rumah sakit: the hospital
• terdekat: nearest

Questions & Answers about Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

Is saya the only word for I / me in Indonesian?

No. The two main everyday words are:

• saya – neutral, polite, a bit more formal; safe in almost any situation (with strangers, in shops, at work).
• aku – informal, used with friends, family, people your age, or younger.

In this sentence, Saya mau pergi… sounds polite and neutral.
With a close friend you could say:

• Aku mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

The meaning is the same; only the level of formality changes.

What exactly does mau mean here? Is it want or is it like going to / will?

mau literally means want (to), but in real speech it often overlaps with going to / about to in English.

In this sentence, Saya mau pergi… can mean:

• I want to go… (expressing desire), or
• I’m going to go / I’m about to go… (near-future intention),

depending on context and tone.

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense the way English does, so mau covers both want and (be) going to quite often. Context tells people which nuance you mean.

Why do we need both mau and pergi? Can I just say one of them?

You can change it:

1. Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

   • Literally: I want to go…
   • Emphasizes desire/intention to go.

2. Saya mau ke rumah sakit terdekat.

   • Literally: I want to (go) to the nearest hospital.
   • pergi is omitted because it’s understood after mau ke….
   • Very common and natural in speech.

3. Saya pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

   • Literally: I go / I am going to the nearest hospital.
   • States the action more factually; no want, just go.
   • Common in narration or when reporting a decision already made.

So mau + pergi is perfectly correct, but everyday speech very often uses:

• Saya mau ke rumah sakit terdekat.

Is ke always used with pergi? Can I omit ke?

When you say where you go (destination), you normally need ke:

• pergi ke sekolah – go to school
• pergi ke Jakarta – go to Jakarta
• pergi ke rumah sakit – go to the hospital

You can’t say:

• ✗ Saya mau pergi rumah sakit terdekat. (wrong)

You need ke before the destination:

• ✓ Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.

The only time you don’t see ke is if the place word is used almost like an activity, e.g.:

• Saya pergi belanja. – I go shopping.

But when it’s clearly a place (hospital, office, school, city, etc.), use ke for to.

What does rumah sakit literally mean, and why is hospital expressed that way?

Literally:

• rumah = house
• sakit = sick / ill / in pain

So rumah sakit is literally “sick house”, i.e. a place for sick people → hospital.

Some related vocabulary:

• RS – abbreviation for rumah sakit (you’ll see this in writing and signs, e.g. RSUP, RSUD).
• puskesmas – community health center / public clinic.
• klinik – clinic (often smaller than a hospital).

But rumah sakit is the standard word for hospital.

Why is it rumah sakit terdekat, not terdekat rumah sakit?

In Indonesian, describing words normally come after the noun:

• rumah besar – big house
• mobil baru – new car
• orang tinggi – tall person

So you say:

• rumah sakit terdekat – the nearest hospital
  (literally hospital nearest)

Putting terdekat before the noun:

• ✗ terdekat rumah sakit

is not normal Indonesian. The correct pattern is:

• [noun] + [adjective]
• rumah sakit
  • terdekat

What’s the difference between dekat, lebih dekat, paling dekat, and terdekat?

All come from the base word dekat (near / close):

1. dekat – near / close

   • rumah sakit dekat – a nearby hospital

2. lebih dekat – closer / more near (comparative)

   • rumah sakit yang lebih dekat – the hospital that is closer

3. paling dekat – closest / nearest (superlative, very explicit)

   • rumah sakit yang paling dekat – the nearest hospital

4. terdekat – also nearest / closest (superlative with prefix ter-)

   • rumah sakit terdekat – the nearest hospital

In everyday speech, paling dekat and terdekat are often interchangeable.
terdekat is just a bit shorter and very common in set phrases like this sentence.

Would Saya ingin pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat mean the same thing? Is ingin more formal than mau?

Yes, the meaning is essentially the same, but the nuance differs:

• mau – very common, everyday, neutral; used everywhere in speech.
• ingin – a bit more formal / careful; often used in writing or polite speech, or when you want to sound a bit more serious.

So:

• Saya mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.
  – perfectly normal, sounds like ordinary spoken Indonesian.

• Saya ingin pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.
  – slightly more formal or “careful”; fine in polite conversation or writing.

Both are correct; mau is more frequent in daily talk.

Can I drop saya and just say Mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat?

Yes. Indonesian often omits the subject when it is clear from context.

• Mau pergi ke rumah sakit terdekat.
  Could mean: I want to go to the nearest hospital.
  (or we, you, etc., depending on context)

In a conversation where it’s obvious that you are talking about yourself, leaving out saya is natural. For example, answering a question:

• Mau ke mana? – Where (are you) going?
• Mau ke rumah sakit terdekat.

This is very common in casual speech.

How would this sentence sound in casual spoken Indonesian?

Some natural informal versions:

• Saya mau ke rumah sakit terdekat.
  (drop pergi; still polite and common)

With friends / very casual:

• Aku mau ke rumah sakit terdekat.
• Aku mau ke rumah sakit yang paling deket.
  (shortened dekat → deket, and add yang paling)

Even more colloquial, especially in big cities:

• Mau ke rumah sakit deket sini. – (I) want to go to a hospital near here.
• Ke rumah sakit terdekat aja. – Just (go) to the nearest hospital.

All of these feel more like everyday spoken Indonesian than the slightly textbook-sounding Saya mau pergi ke….

How do you pronounce pergi, rumah sakit, and terdekat?

Approximate pronunciations (using English-like spelling):

• pergi – PER-gee

  • r is tapped/flapped (like the Spanish r in pero)
  • g is always hard, as in go
  • stress usually on the first syllable: PER-gee

• rumah sakit – ROO-mah SAH-kit

  • u like oo in food (but shorter)
  • h is pronounced, even at the end of rumah
  • a like a in father
  • kit with a clear k, not like English kite

• terdekat – tər-DUH-kat

  • ter- often reduced to tər- (like the ter in teacher without ch)
  • e in dekat is like uh in cut (Indonesian “schwa” sound)
  • stress commonly on the second syllable: ter-DE-kat.

Indonesian spelling is very phonetic: each letter is pronounced, and vowels are consistent.

Does this sentence refer to the near future, or could it also mean I want to go (sometime)?

It can cover both, depending on context:

• Immediate / near future (very common reading):
  Saying this to a taxi driver, doctor, friend etc. usually means:
  I’m going to go now / soon.

• General desire / plan:
  In a discussion about your health plans, it might mean:
  I want to go (at some point, maybe later).

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense explicitly (no will, am going, etc.), so time reference comes from context, time expressions, and situation, not from the verb form itself.

Is there a difference between rumah sakit terdekat and rumah sakit yang terdekat?

Both are grammatical and mean almost the same thing:

• rumah sakit terdekat – the nearest hospital
• rumah sakit yang terdekat – the hospital which is the nearest

The yang functions like that / which to mark a descriptive phrase.
Nuance:

• Without yang (rumah sakit terdekat) – shorter, very natural, and most common.

• With yang (rumah sakit yang terdekat) – a bit more explicit or careful, sometimes used when contrasting or emphasizing:

  • Kita pergi ke rumah sakit yang terdekat saja.
    Let’s just go to the nearest hospital (as opposed to others).

In everyday speech for this simple idea, rumah sakit terdekat is perfectly normal and slightly more natural.