Breakdown of Kamar kosmu lebih rapi, dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
Questions & Answers about Kamar kosmu lebih rapi, dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
Kamar kos literally means “boarding-house room” or “rented room in a kost / boarding house”.
- kos (also written kost) is the boarding house itself: a place where many people rent rooms.
- Example: Saya tinggal di kos dekat kampus. – I live in a boarding house near campus.
- kamar kos is one of the individual rooms in that building.
- Example: Kamar kosmu besar. – Your boarding-house room is big.
So kamar kosmu is “your room in the boarding house,” not the whole boarding house.
The suffix -mu means “your” (informal, singular or plural) and attaches directly to nouns:
- buku → bukumu = your book
- rumah → rumahmu = your house
- kos → kosmu = your boarding house / your kost
In kamar kosmu, -mu attaches to kos, not to kamar, so the phrase is understood as:
- kamar (di) kosmu = “the room (in) your boarding house”
You could also say kamarmu di kos, which would emphasize “your room (which happens to be in a kos),” but kamar kosmu is the more natural compact expression for “your boarding-room.”
The suffix -nya on a noun often works like “the” or “that … we already know about”:
- tikar = a mat / mats (indefinite)
- tikarnya = the mat (the specific mat we’ve been talking about)
So tikarnya lebih bersih means “the mat is cleaner” – we know which mat from context (probably the mat in your room).
-nya can also mean his/her/its/their, but in many sentences (including this one) it just marks a specific, known thing, not a possessor.
Yes. The pattern lebih + adjective + daripada + comparison is the basic way to say “more … than …”:
- lebih rapi = more tidy / neater
- lebih bersih = cleaner
- daripada tikarku = than my mat
So:
tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku
= “the mat is cleaner than my mat.”
The normal word order is:
[Subject] + lebih + [adjective] + daripada + [thing it’s compared to]
Yes, if the comparison is already clear from context.
- tikarnya lebih bersih = “the mat is cleaner” (cleaner than what? – understood from context)
- tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku = “the mat is cleaner than my mat” (explicit)
In your full sentence, daripada tikarku makes the comparison explicit, which is helpful if it might be ambiguous.
In comparative sentences with lebih, the standard form is:
lebih + adjective + daripada + noun/pronoun
So: lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
In informal speech, many Indonesians do say lebih … dari …:
- lebih bersih dari tikarku
This is common and usually understood, but in careful or formal Indonesian, daripada is preferred for “than” in comparisons.
Indonesian usually does not need a verb like “to be” (is/are) when describing a state with an adjective. The adjective itself functions like the predicate:
- Kamar kosmu rapi. – Your room is tidy.
- Tikarnya bersih. – The mat is clean.
In comparisons we just insert lebih before the adjective:
- Kamar kosmu lebih rapi. – Your room is tidier.
- Tikarnya lebih bersih. – The mat is cleaner.
The verb adalah is used in other situations (e.g., linking to a noun phrase: Dia adalah dokter – “He is a doctor”), but not normally before adjectives like rapi or bersih.
The sentence:
Kamar kosmu lebih rapi, dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
Has two coordinated clauses:
- Kamar kosmu lebih rapi – your boarding-room is tidier
- tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku – and the mat is cleaner than my mat
You have options:
- With dan (as given):
Kamar kosmu lebih rapi dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
(Comma is optional in normal writing.) - More compact, repeating less:
Kamar kosmu dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikarku.
(Here it can be read as “Your room and its mat are tidier/cleaner than mine,” but the exact nuance changes.)
The version with dan tikarnya clearly separates the room and the mat as two things being commented on.
Both can be used more broadly:
rapi
- Rooms / things: kamar rapi, meja rapi – tidy
- People’s appearance:
- Dia sangat rapi. – He/she is very neat (well-dressed, well-groomed).
bersih
- Rooms / things: kamar bersih, baju bersih – clean
- Body / health:
- Tanganmu bersih. – Your hands are clean.
- Makanannya bersih. – The food is hygienic / clean.
So they are not limited to rooms, but the meaning remains “tidy” or “clean” in all uses.
No, that would sound wrong in standard Indonesian.
The usual order is:
[Subject] + lebih + adjective
So:
- tikarnya lebih bersih = correct
- lebih bersih tikarnya = not natural
You can occasionally front an adjective phrase for emphasis in more literary or stylistic Indonesian, but in everyday speech and writing, keep subject → lebih → adjective.
tikarku makes the comparison personal and specific: compared to my mat.
- daripada tikarku = than my mat
- daripada tikar = than a mat / than the mat (unclear whose, sounds incomplete)
In this context, the speaker is contrasting your things with my things, so it’s natural to repeat the possessive: tikarku. Dropping -ku would weaken or obscure that contrast.
Yes, -mu corresponds to kamu and is informal. It’s fine with friends, classmates, roommates, etc.
For more polite or formal speech:
- Instead of kamu / -mu, use Anda (you, formal).
- There is no -Anda suffix, so you keep Anda as a separate word.
A more formal version could be:
Kamar kos Anda lebih rapi, dan tikarnya lebih bersih daripada tikar saya.
Here:
- Anda = you (formal)
- saya = I / my (formal)
This sounds more polite and is suitable for speaking to customers, older strangers, or in a formal setting.