Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami. - That wooden statue is displayed in our living room.

Patung kayu itu literally: “that wooden statue”.
In context, if both speakers know which statue is meant, it can feel like “the wooden statue”.

So itu points to a specific thing already known or visible, similar to English “that/the one we’re talking about”.

Why is it patung kayu and not kayu patung? Doesn’t the adjective usually come before the noun in English?

In Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun they describe.

patung kayu = statue (patung) + wooden/wood (kayu)
→ “wooden statue” / “statue made of wood”

If you said kayu patung, it would sound like “statue wood” (a type of wood used for statues), which is different.

So the normal pattern is:

Noun + modifier
patung kayu, rumah besar, buku merah
(statue wooden, house big, book red)

What is the role of dipajang here? What is the base verb and why is it in this form?

The base verb is pajang, which means “to display / to put on display”.

dipajang = di- (passive prefix) + pajang (base verb)
So dipajang means “is/was displayed” (passive voice).

The sentence:

Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
= “The wooden statue is/was displayed in our living room.”

This focuses on the statue (what happens to it) rather than on who displayed it.

What is the difference between di- in dipajang and di in di ruang tamu kami?

They are completely different things:

di- (with a verb) is a prefix that marks the passive voice.
- dipajang = di- (passive) + pajang (display) → “is displayed”
di (separate word, before a noun) is a preposition meaning “in / at / on”.
- di ruang tamu kami = “in our living room”

So:

dipajang → one word, verb in passive form
di ruang tamu → “di” is a preposition, separate from the noun

Spelling rule:
If di is attached directly in front of a verb, it’s a prefix (no space).
If di comes before a place word (noun), it’s a preposition and must have a space.

Why isn’t there any word like “is” or “was” in this sentence?

Indonesian usually doesn’t use a separate verb like “to be” (is/was) before verbs and many adjectives. Here:

dipajang already plays the role of “is/was displayed” by itself.
There’s no need for an extra “is/was”.

So:

Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
= The wooden statue is/was displayed in our living room.

Tense (present vs past) is inferred from context, not from a special tense marker.

What is the function of kami in di ruang tamu kami? Why not kita?

Kami and kita both mean “we / us / our”, but:

kami = exclusive “we” (not including the listener)
kita = inclusive “we” (including the listener)

Here, ruang tamu kami = “our (not your) living room”, or just “our living room” when the listener is clearly not part of the household.

If you said ruang tamu kita, it would suggest the listener shares that living room somehow (“our living room, yours and mine”).

Could kami belong to patung instead of ruang tamu? Like “our wooden statue”?

In this sentence, kami clearly modifies ruang tamu, not patung, because of word order:

patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami
= “the wooden statue is displayed in our living room”

If you wanted to say “our wooden statue”, you would normally say:

Patung kayu kami dipajang di ruang tamu.
(“Our wooden statue is displayed in the living room.”)

or more explicit but less natural:

Patung kayu milik kami dipajang di ruang tamu.
(“The wooden statue that belongs to us is displayed in the living room.”)

How would I say this sentence in the active voice: “We displayed the wooden statue in our living room”?

Use the active prefix meN- on pajang:

Base verb: pajang
Active: memajang (meN- + pajang → memajang)

Active version:

Kami memajang patung kayu itu di ruang tamu kami.
= “We displayed the wooden statue in our living room.”

Passive: Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
(Focus on the statue.)
Active: Kami memajang patung kayu itu di ruang tamu kami.
(Focus on “we” doing the action.)

Can I omit some words, like saying just Patung kayu dipajang di ruang tamu?

Yes, you can, but you’ll slightly change the nuance:

Patung kayu dipajang di ruang tamu.
= “A wooden statue is displayed in the living room.”

Omitting itu removes the idea of a specific, known statue. It becomes more general: “a wooden statue (some wooden statue)”. Omitting kami removes the “our”.

The original sentence is more specific and personal:

Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
“That wooden statue is displayed in our living room.”

What is the difference between dipajang di ruang tamu kami and ada di ruang tamu kami?

dipajang di ruang tamu kami emphasizes that it is arranged/put on display there.
ada di ruang tamu kami just means it exists/is located there, without the idea of being displayed.

Compare:

Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
→ “The wooden statue is displayed in our living room.”
(It’s intentionally set out, maybe as decoration.)
Patung kayu itu ada di ruang tamu kami.
→ “The wooden statue is in our living room.”
(Simply states location; it might be in a corner, in a box, etc.)

Is ruang tamu always “living room”? Can I say ruangan tamu instead?

Ruang tamu is the standard, natural phrase for “living room” or “guest room” (the main room where guests are received).

ruang = room/space
tamu = guest
→ ruang tamu = room for guests → “living room”

Ruangan tamu is grammatically possible (ruangan is a derived form of ruang), but in everyday Indonesian people almost always say ruang tamu. Ruangan tamu can sound a bit odd or overly literal.

Could patung kayu itu be plural (“those wooden statues”)? How do I know if it’s singular or plural?

By itself, patung kayu itu is ambiguous; Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural:

It can mean “that wooden statue” (singular)
Or “those wooden statues” (plural)

You know which one from context. To make it clearly plural, you can add a word like beberapa (“several”) or banyak (“many”):

Beberapa patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
= “Several of those wooden statues are displayed in our living room.”

But the basic form patung kayu itu doesn’t show number by itself.

Can I change the word order, like Di ruang tamu kami, patung kayu itu dipajang? Is that still correct?

Yes, that is correct and natural. Indonesian allows some flexibility in word order to emphasize different parts:

Patung kayu itu dipajang di ruang tamu kami.
(Neutral order; focus on the statue and what happens to it.)
Di ruang tamu kami, patung kayu itu dipajang.
(Slight emphasis on the location: “In our living room, the wooden statue is displayed.”)

Both are grammatical; the meaning is essentially the same, with only a change in emphasis.