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?
You can absolutely say:
- Aku pilek sejak tadi malam.
The difference is formality and relationship:
Saya
- More formal or neutral.
- Used with strangers, older people, in polite situations, at work, etc.
Aku
- More informal/intimate.
- Used with close friends, family, people the same age or younger.
The rest of the sentence stays the same. So:
- To a doctor: Saya pilek sejak tadi malam. (more polite)
- To a : (more casual)