Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.

The doctor examines the patient at the hospital.

Breakdown of Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.

• di: at
• rumah sakit: the hospital
• dokter: the doctor
• pasien: the patient
• memeriksa: to examine

Questions & Answers about Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.

Where is “the” or “a” in this sentence? How do articles work in Indonesian?

Indonesian does not use articles like “a/an” or “the.”
So dokter can mean a doctor or the doctor, and pasien can mean a patient or the patient, depending on context.

To make it clearer, speakers can add words like:

• seorang dokter = a (single) doctor
• dokter itu = that/the doctor (already known in the context)
• pasien itu = that/the patient

But in many everyday sentences, you just say dokter and pasien, and context supplies whether it’s a or the.

Does “Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit” mean present, past, or future?

By itself it is tense-neutral. It can mean:

• The doctor examines the patient at the hospital. (general/habitual)
• The doctor is examining the patient at the hospital. (right now)
• The doctor examined the patient at the hospital. (past)

To make time clearer, Indonesians usually add time words:

• Kemarin dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit. = Yesterday the doctor examined the patient at the hospital.
• Besok dokter akan memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit. = Tomorrow the doctor will examine the patient at the hospital.
  (Here akan marks future.)

What is the basic form of memeriksa, and what does the prefix me- do?

The basic (dictionary) form is periksa, meaning to examine / to check / to inspect.

The verb memeriksa = meN- + periksa. The meN- prefix:

• turns it into an active transitive verb (someone actively does the action to an object)
• often corresponds to English “to X (something)”

So:

• Dokter memeriksa pasien. = The doctor examines/checks the patient.
• Polisi memeriksa tas. = The police examine/check the bag.

Can I change the word order, like putting di rumah sakit earlier in the sentence?

Yes, Indonesian word order is fairly flexible for adverbs like place and time. All of these are possible and natural:

• Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.
• Di rumah sakit, dokter memeriksa pasien.

The basic pattern is still Subject – Verb – Object, and then place/time information can move around, mainly for emphasis or style. You generally wouldn’t put pasien before memeriksa in this active sentence unless you change it into a passive pattern (see below).

How do I say “The patient is examined by the doctor at the hospital” in Indonesian?

You can use a passive structure:

• Pasien diperiksa dokter di rumah sakit.

Here:

• diperiksa = passive form of memeriksa
• dokter appears after the verb and can mean by the doctor

A slightly more explicit version:

• Pasien diperiksa oleh dokter di rumah sakit.

oleh = by (the agent). In everyday speech, oleh is often dropped, especially when it’s clear who is doing the action.

What exactly does di mean here, and how is it different from ke?

di is a preposition that usually means “in / at / on” (location, no movement):

• di rumah sakit = at the hospital / in the hospital
• di rumah = at home

ke means “to” (movement toward a place):

• Ke rumah sakit = to the hospital
• Dokter pergi ke rumah sakit. = The doctor goes to the hospital.

So in Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit, di shows where the action happens, not movement.

What does rumah sakit literally mean, and why is it two words?

Literally, rumah sakit is:

• rumah = house
• sakit = sick / ill

So it literally means “sick house”, i.e. a place where sick people are treated → hospital.

It is normally written as two words: rumah sakit. When it’s part of a proper name, it’s capitalized:

• Rumah Sakit Cipto Mangunkusumo (a specific hospital)

How do I show plural forms like doctors or patients in Indonesian?

Indonesian usually doesn’t change the noun form for plural. dokter can mean doctor or doctors, and pasien can mean patient or patients.

To make plural clear, you can:

1. Reduplicate the noun

   • dokter-dokter = doctors
   • pasien-pasien = patients

2. Use quantifiers or plural markers

   • banyak pasien = many patients
   • para dokter = (all) the doctors / the doctors as a group

So:

• Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.
  could also be understood as: The doctors examine the patients at the hospital, if the context supports that.

Is dokter only a noun, or can it also be used as a title to address a doctor?

Dokter is both:

1. A noun for the profession:

   • Dia seorang dokter. = He/She is a doctor.

2. A form of address/title, similar to “Doctor” in English:

   • Dokter, saya sakit kepala. = Doctor, I have a headache.

In very informal speech and texting, people sometimes shorten it to Dok when addressing a doctor, but Dokter is safer and more standard.

Does memeriksa only work in medical contexts, or can it mean “check” in general?

Memeriksa is not limited to medicine. It more generally means to examine / to check / to inspect. For example:

• Polisi memeriksa saksi. = The police question/examine the witness.
• Guru memeriksa tugas murid. = The teacher checks the students’ homework.

In a medical context, context makes it clear that this checking is a medical examination.

What’s the difference between memeriksa and mengobati?

Both can appear with dokter, but they’re different actions:

• memeriksa = to examine / to check (diagnostic)

  • Dokter memeriksa pasien. = The doctor examines the patient.

• mengobati = to treat / to give treatment (therapeutic)

  • Dokter mengobati pasien. = The doctor treats the patient.

You’ll often see both in longer descriptions of what a doctor does.

Where do time expressions go if I want to say “The doctor examined the patient at the hospital yesterday”?

Time expressions are flexible, but common patterns are:

• Kemarin dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit.
• Dokter memeriksa pasien di rumah sakit kemarin.

Both are natural. Putting kemarin (yesterday) at the beginning gives it a bit more emphasis. The core order Subject – Verb – Object – (Place) – (Time) is very typical, but time can also go first.