Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah. - I put the comma in the wrong place in the middle of the sentence, so the meaning changed a bit.

Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah.

I put the comma in the wrong place in the middle of the sentence, so the meaning changed a bit.

Breakdown of Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah.

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Questions & Answers about Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah.

What is the role of salah in this sentence? Is it an adjective or an adverb?

In this sentence, salah works like an adverb meaning “wrongly / by mistake”.

Saya salah menaruh koma…
≈ I wrongly placed a comma / I put the comma in the wrong place.

This pattern is very common:

Saya salah ambil buku. = I took the wrong book. / I took the book by mistake.
Dia salah kirim pesan. = He/She sent the message to the wrong person / by mistake.

So even though salah is basically an adjective (“wrong, incorrect”), in front of a verb it often describes how the action was done (like an adverb).

Why is it saya salah menaruh koma and not something like saya menaruh koma salah?

Indonesian doesn’t usually put salah after the verb the way English puts wrong at the end (e.g. “I put the comma wrong”). The natural pattern is:

[subject] + salah + [verb] + [object]

So:

Saya salah menaruh koma. ✅ (natural)
Saya menaruh koma salah. ❌ (unnatural / wrong)

You can think of salah menaruh as a mini-phrase: “to wrongly place / to misplace (something)”.

What exactly does menaruh mean, and how is it different from meletakkan or menempatkan?

Menaruh means “to put / to place (something)” in a fairly neutral, everyday way.

menaruh buku di meja = to put a book on the table

Compared with similar verbs:

meletakkan – also “to put / place”, very common and a bit more neutral/formal than menaruh in some regions, but they often overlap.
- Saya meletakkan koma di tengah kalimat. (fine)
menempatkan – more like “to position / to place (something) in a specific role/place)”, often more formal or abstract.
- Menempatkan karyawan di posisi yang tepat.

In this sentence, you could use:

Saya salah menaruh koma… (very natural)
Saya salah meletakkan koma… (also natural)

Menaruh is slightly more colloquial than menempatkan, but totally acceptable in normal speech and writing.

Does koma here mean the punctuation mark or the medical condition “coma”?

Here koma clearly means the comma punctuation mark, because of the context di tengah kalimat (“in the middle of the sentence”).

Indonesian uses koma for both:

koma (punctuation) = comma
koma (medical) = coma

Usually, the meaning is clear from context:

Tolong pakai koma di sini. = Please use a comma here.
Pasien itu masih koma. = The patient is still in a coma.

How should I understand di tengah kalimat? Why is there no word like “the”?

di tengah kalimat literally means “in the middle of (the) sentence”.

di = in / at / on
tengah = middle / center
kalimat = sentence

Indonesian usually doesn’t use articles like “the” or “a”. Whether it means “the sentence” or “a sentence” is understood from context.

You could add itu or ini to be more specific:

di tengah kalimat itu = in the middle of that sentence
di tengah kalimat ini = in the middle of this sentence

But in many cases, di tengah kalimat is enough and sounds natural.

What is the function of jadi here? Is it like “so” in English?

Yes, jadi here works like English “so” / “therefore”. It introduces a result or consequence.

…, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah.
≈ “…, so the meaning changed a little.”

Other common ways to express “so”:

sehingga – more formal/neutral, often used in written language:
- …, sehingga maknanya sedikit berubah.
makanya – more colloquial, often “that’s why”:
- …, makanya maknanya sedikit berubah.

In conversation and informal writing, jadi is extremely common as a causal connector.

What does maknanya mean exactly, and what does the ending -nya do here?

Maknanya = makna + -nya

makna = meaning / sense
-nya has several functions; here it is basically “its” or “the”, referring back to kalimat.

So maknanya = its meaning / the meaning (of the sentence).

This -nya is very common and can mean:

Possessive:
- bukunya = his/her/their book
- maknanya = its meaning
Referring to something mentioned before (like “the”):
- Kalimat itu sulit. Maknanya abstrak.
  = That sentence is difficult. The meaning is abstract.

In this sentence, maknanya is understood as “the meaning of that sentence (we’re talking about)”.

Could I say artinya instead of maknanya? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say artinya, and it’s very natural:

…, jadi artinya sedikit berubah.

Differences in nuance:

makna – often a bit more formal/abstract, like “sense, meaning, significance”.
arti – very common in everyday use, can be “meaning” or “definition”.

In this context, both:

maknanya sedikit berubah
artinya sedikit berubah

are acceptable and common. Artinya might sound slightly more casual, but the difference is small.

Why is it maknanya sedikit berubah and not sedikit maknanya berubah?

The normal pattern in Indonesian is:

[subject] + (adverb of degree) + adjective/verb

Here:

maknanya = subject
sedikit = adverb of degree (“a little”)
berubah = verb / stative verb (“changed”)

So:

maknanya sedikit berubah = its meaning changed a little.

Sedikit maknanya berubah is possible but would sound unusual or poetic, and the focus shifts. The everyday, neutral structure is maknanya sedikit berubah.

What is the nuance of sedikit here? Does it mean “a little bit” or “a few”?

In this sentence, sedikit means “a little / slightly”, modifying the verb berubah.

maknanya sedikit berubah
= its meaning changed a little / slightly.

General uses of sedikit:

With nouns: “a few / a little (amount)”
- sedikit air = a little water
- sedikit orang = a few people
With adjectives or verbs: “slightly / a little bit”
- sedikit berbeda = slightly different
- sedikit berubah = changed a little

So here it is the second usage.

Could I remove jadi and just say Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, maknanya sedikit berubah?

Yes, you can. That version is still grammatical and understandable:

Saya salah menaruh koma di tengah kalimat, maknanya sedikit berubah.

Without jadi, it sounds a bit more like two separate statements placed side by side:

I wrongly placed a comma in the middle of the sentence,
its meaning changed a little.

Adding jadi makes the causal connection more explicit and conversational:

…, jadi maknanya sedikit berubah.
= …, so its meaning changed a little.

Both are fine; jadi just makes the cause–effect relationship clearer and more natural in speech.

Is Saya the most natural pronoun here? Could I say Aku instead?

Both are possible, but they have different typical contexts:

Saya – polite, neutral, works in formal and informal situations. Safe to use almost anywhere.
Aku – more informal/intimate, used with friends, family, people the same age or younger, in casual contexts.

So you might say:

Saya salah menaruh koma… – neutral, standard, fits writing and speech.
Aku salah naruh koma… – casual, spoken, also using naruh (colloquial form of menaruh).

In a textbook/example sentence where register is neutral, Saya is the best choice.

Is there any difference between menaruh and colloquial naruh in speech?

Yes:

menaruh – standard form, used in writing and careful speech.
naruh – colloquial spoken form, common in informal conversations.

In casual speech, many speakers say:

Aku salah naruh koma di tengah kalimat…

In anything semi-formal or written (like your example sentence), menaruh is preferred.