Dia memeriksa cairan di laboratorium kecil itu.

that

Breakdown of Dia memeriksa cairan di laboratorium kecil itu.

• dia: he/she
• di: in
• kecil: small

Questions & Answers about Dia memeriksa cairan di laboratorium kecil itu.

What does dia mean exactly? Does it mean “he” or “she”?

Dia is a third‑person singular pronoun that can mean he, she, or even they (referring to one person) depending on context.
Indonesian pronouns usually do not mark gender, so you figure out whether it’s “he” or “she” from the surrounding context or from previous sentences.

How can I tell that memeriksa is in the past tense (“checked”)?

Indonesian verbs, including memeriksa, do not change form for tense. Memeriksa simply means to examine / to check.

The time is understood from:

• Context: a previous sentence like Tadi pagi dia memeriksa… (This morning he/she examined…)
• Time words: tadi, kemarin, sudah, sedang, akan, etc.

So dia memeriksa cairan… can mean “he/she checks the liquid”, “he/she is checking the liquid”, or “he/she checked the liquid” depending on the context given elsewhere.

What is the base word of memeriksa, and what does the prefix me- do here?