Saya pilek sejak tadi malam.

I have had a cold since last night.

Breakdown of Saya pilek sejak tadi malam.

• adalah: to be
• saya: I
• tadi malam: last night
• sejak: since

Questions & Answers about Saya pilek sejak tadi malam.

What exactly does pilek mean here? Is it a noun like “a cold” or an adjective like “having a cold”?

Pilek refers to the common cold (runny/stuffy nose, etc.), but grammatically it behaves more like an adjective / state word in Indonesian.

• Saya pilek.
  Literally: I am cold-ish / I am in a cold state.
  Natural English: I have a cold.

Other examples with similar pattern:

• Saya lapar. – I’m hungry.
• Saya capek. – I’m tired.
• Saya pusing. – I’m dizzy.

So you can think of pilek as: “to be down with a cold”, used the same way as sick / hungry / tired in English, not as “I have a cold” with a separate verb.

Is Saya the only way to say “I” here? Could I say Aku pilek sejak tadi malam?