Ibu membeli mesin cuci baru supaya tidak perlu mencuci pakaian dengan tangan.

Mother buys a new washing machine so she doesn’t need to wash clothes by hand.

Breakdown of Ibu membeli mesin cuci baru supaya tidak perlu mencuci pakaian dengan tangan.

• sebuah: a
• baru: new
• tidak: not
• supaya: so that

Questions & Answers about Ibu membeli mesin cuci baru supaya tidak perlu mencuci pakaian dengan tangan.

In this sentence, what exactly does Ibu mean? Is it “mother,” “Mrs.,” or just “a woman”?

Ibu is flexible and can mean several related things, depending on context:

1. “Mother / Mom” – When talking about your own mother (or someone’s mother) in a neutral/polite way.
2. A polite way to address an adult woman – Similar to “Ma’am” or “Madam” in English.
3. “Mrs.” or “Ms.” – As a title before a name, e.g. Ibu Sari (“Mrs. Sari”).

In a stand‑alone sentence like Ibu membeli mesin cuci baru…, without more context it’s usually understood as “(My/our/the) mother bought a new washing machine…” or “The lady / the woman bought…” depending on the story context.

Indonesian often omits possessive pronouns, so Ibu can imply my mother or our mother without saying ibu saya. Context decides which interpretation is right.

---

Why is it membeli and not just beli? What does the meN- prefix do here?