Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

I read a job vacancy on the campus bulletin board.

Breakdown of Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

• saya: I
• membaca: to read
• di: on
• papan pengumuman: the bulletin board
• kampus: campus
• lowongan pekerjaan: the job vacancy

Questions & Answers about Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

What is the nuance of saya here? Could I use aku instead?

Saya means I and is neutral–polite/formal. It’s commonly used in:

• Speaking to people you don’t know well
• Formal situations (campus, office, public announcements)
• Writing (essays, reports, forms)

Aku also means I, but it’s more casual and intimate, used with:

• Friends, family, close peers
• Informal texting or chatting

In this sentence, Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus, using saya fits well because it sounds neutral and slightly formal, which matches the context (campus, job vacancy).

You can say:

• Aku membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

Grammatically it’s fine, but it feels more like you’re casually telling a friend about it.

Why is membaca used instead of just baca?

Baca is the base verb to read.

Membaca is meN- + baca, the standard active verb form. In standard Indonesian:

• meN- + verb root = regular active verb
  
  • membaca (to read)
  • menulis (to write)
  • mendengar (to hear)

In careful or written Indonesian, you normally use the meN- form when the verb is the main predicate:

• Saya membaca buku. – I read / am reading a book.

In everyday informal speech and texting, people often drop the prefix and just use the root:

• Saya baca buku.
• Aku baca buku.

So:

• Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan… = more standard/formal
• Saya baca lowongan pekerjaan… = more casual, but very common in speech

What does lowongan pekerjaan literally mean, and why are there two words?

Literally:

• lowongan = vacancy, opening
• pekerjaan = work, job, employment

So lowongan pekerjaan is a noun–noun phrase that means job vacancy or job opening.

Why two words?

• lowongan alone just means an opening or vacancy in general.
• pekerjaan specifies what kind of vacancy: a vacancy for a job.

You often also see the shorter and more informal version:

• lowongan kerja – same meaning, more colloquial (because kerja is the everyday word for work/job).

Do I need a word like a or the before lowongan pekerjaan?

Indonesian doesn’t use articles like a, an, the.

Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan… can mean:

• I read a job vacancy…
• I read the job vacancy…

Context decides whether it’s a or the in English.

If you really want to make it clearly “a job vacancy,” you can add sebuah:

• Saya membaca sebuah lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
  – I read a job vacancy on the campus bulletin board.

But in real usage, most people just say:

• Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan…

and let context handle the “a/the” meaning.

Why is the preposition di used for on the bulletin board?

Di is a general preposition meaning at, in, or on, depending on context.

In Indonesian, di is used for many location relationships that English splits into in / on / at:

• di meja – on the table
• di rumah – at home
• di kulkas – in the fridge

For a bulletin board, you use di:

• di papan pengumuman – on the bulletin board

You could also see pada in very formal written contexts, but for physical locations di is by far the normal choice.

What exactly is papan pengumuman? Is it one word or two?

It’s two words forming a noun phrase:

• papan = board (a plank, a flat board)
• pengumuman = announcement(s), notice(s)

Together, papan pengumuman literally means announcement board, i.e. a bulletin board / notice board.

In usage, it behaves like one conceptual noun (a type of board), but it’s written as two separate words.

How should I understand papan pengumuman kampus? Why is kampus at the end?

The structure is:

• papan (board)
• pengumuman (announcement)
• kampus (campus)

In Indonesian, the modifying noun usually comes after the main noun. So:

• papan pengumuman kampus
  ≈ the campus bulletin board / the bulletin board of the campus

In more explicit English-like structure it would be: papan pengumuman di kampus (bulletin board at the campus), but Indonesian often expresses possession/location with just a noun pile like:

• kantin kampus – campus cafeteria
• perpustakaan sekolah – school library
• parkir mall – mall parking

Could I say di papan pengumuman di kampus instead of papan pengumuman kampus?

Yes, and it’s perfectly natural:

• Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman di kampus.
  – I read a job vacancy on the bulletin board at campus.

Differences:

• papan pengumuman kampus
  – Feels like a specific, known “campus bulletin board,” almost like a fixed facility.
• papan pengumuman di kampus
  – Slightly more descriptive: “a bulletin board that is located at the campus.”

Both are correct; the original version is a bit more compact.

Can I drop saya and just say Membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus?

You can drop the subject in Indonesian if it’s clear from context, but:

• Membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

by itself looks more like a fragment (e.g. a note in a diary, or a headline) rather than a normal, full sentence.

For a neutral, complete sentence, especially in writing or in isolation, it’s better to keep saya:

• Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.

Subject dropping is common when:

• The subject is already obvious from the previous sentence or situation.
• You’re speaking very informally.

Example with context:

• Tadi ke kampus. (I) went to campus earlier.
  (Saya) membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
  – The second saya can be dropped in casual speech.

Indonesian doesn’t have tense endings. How do we know this is past tense (I read / I saw) and not present (I am reading)?

The verb membaca itself is tenseless. It just means read in a general sense.

Indonesian relies on:

• Context
• Time adverbs like: tadi (earlier), kemarin (yesterday), sekarang (now), nanti (later)

So:

• Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
  could be:
  • I read a job vacancy… (past)
  • I’m reading a job vacancy… (present)

To make it clearly past, you might say:

• Tadi saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
  – Earlier I read a job vacancy on the campus bulletin board.

To make it clearly present:

• Sekarang saya sedang membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
  – Right now I am reading a job vacancy on the campus bulletin board.

Could lowongan pekerjaan be shortened to just lowongan in this sentence?

Yes, in many contexts lowongan by itself is understood as job vacancy, especially around campus, jobs, or HR contexts.

So you could say:

• Saya membaca lowongan di papan pengumuman kampus.

This would usually be understood as I read a job vacancy on the campus bulletin board.

Nuance:

• lowongan pekerjaan – clearer, slightly more formal.
• lowongan – shorter, natural in speech when the context is obvious.
• lowongan kerja – common and slightly informal/colloquial, especially in ads and conversation.

Can I change the word order to emphasize the job vacancy, like Lowongan pekerjaan itu saya baca di papan pengumuman kampus?

Yes. Indonesian allows fronting the object for emphasis or in a quasi-passive feel.

• Lowongan pekerjaan itu saya baca di papan pengumuman kampus.
  – That job vacancy, I read it on the campus bulletin board.

Notes:

• Adding itu (that) helps make it sound more natural and specific.
• This structure is often used when:
  • The object is already known in the conversation, or
  • You want to put extra focus on the object.

Compare:

1. Saya membaca lowongan pekerjaan di papan pengumuman kampus.
   – Neutral: I read a job vacancy…

2. Lowongan pekerjaan itu saya baca di papan pengumuman kampus.
   – Emphasizes that job vacancy as the topic.

Both are grammatical; the original sentence is the default, neutral order.