Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi di universitas itu. - My friend chooses the economics major at that university.

Putting the pronoun first (saya teman) is ungrammatical as a noun phrase; saya teman would sound like you are starting a sentence “I friend …”, which doesn’t work here.

Can teman saya mean my friend and my friends? How do you know if it’s singular or plural?

Yes, teman saya is number‑neutral; it can mean:

my friend (one person), or
my friends (more than one)

Indonesian normally doesn’t mark plural with an ending like English -s. You figure it out from context, or you add extra words if you need to be clear:

seorang teman saya = one friend of mine
beberapa teman saya = some of my friends
dua teman saya = two of my friends
para teman saya = my friends (as a group; a bit more formal)

What’s the difference between teman saya and saya punya teman?

Both involve teman (friend), but they’re used differently:

teman saya = my friend (a specific friend, as a noun phrase)
- Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi… = My friend chose…
saya punya teman = I have a friend (introducing the existence of a friend)
- Saya punya teman yang memilih jurusan ekonomi… = I have a friend who chose economics as a major…

So:

Use teman saya when that friend is already known in the conversation.
Use saya punya teman when you’re introducing that friend for the first time.

Why is it memilih and not just pilih? What does the me- prefix do?

pilih is the base form (root) meaning to choose / choose.

memilih is the standard active verb form with the meN- prefix:

root: pilih
meN- + pilih → memilih

In general:

meN- + verb root → active verb (like a normal finite verb in a sentence)
It marks the word clearly as a verb and is preferred in neutral / formal speech.

So in a full sentence, you typically say:

Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi.

In everyday casual speech, people often drop meN-, especially in fast or informal talk:

Teman saya pilih jurusan ekonomi. (common in conversation, sounds informal)

Both are understandable, but memilih is the standard/neutral form.

Does the sentence tell us if this happened in the past, present, or future? Where is the tense?

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. memilih can mean:

chose (past)
is choosing (present)
will choose (future)

The actual time is shown by context or time words, for example:

Teman saya sudah memilih jurusan ekonomi.
→ My friend has already chosen an economics major.
Teman saya sedang memilih jurusan ekonomi.
→ My friend is (currently) choosing an economics major.
Teman saya akan memilih jurusan ekonomi.
→ My friend will choose an economics major.

The bare sentence is time‑neutral; you decide the tense from context.

What exactly does jurusan mean? Is it like major, department, or faculty?

jurusan most commonly means major / field of study at a university.

jurusan ekonomi → economics major / economics program

Usage notes:

Students often say ambil jurusan X or memilih jurusan X = to take/choose X as a major.
For official terms, you may also see program studi or prodi instead of jurusan.

It can also mean direction/route in non‑academic contexts (e.g. jurusan Jakarta on a bus = “to Jakarta”), but in your sentence it’s clearly the academic meaning.

Why isn’t there a word for a or the before jurusan and universitas?

Indonesian does not use articles like English a/an and the. Nouns appear without articles:

jurusan ekonomi
universitas itu
buku (book / the book / a book, depending on context)

Specificity is shown in other ways:

by context,
by demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that/the),
or by other modifiers.

So jurusan ekonomi could be translated as an economics major or the economics major, depending on what makes sense in English.

What does itu in di universitas itu do? Is it that university or the university?

itu is a demonstrative that literally means that, but it’s also used to mark something as specific / known in the context.

universitas = a university / universities (general)
universitas itu = that university / the university (the one we both know about)

So di universitas itu can be understood as:

at that university (maybe physically pointed at, or contrasted with others), or
at that particular university (already mentioned earlier; like at that university we talked about).

In translation you might choose at that university or at that college, or sometimes at that school depending on context.

Why is it di universitas itu and not pada universitas itu? Are di and pada different?

Both di and pada are prepositions, but they’re used differently:

di = in / at / on (location, very common)
- di universitas itu = at that university
- di rumah, di Jakarta, di kelas
pada is more formal/abstract and used with:
- time expressions: pada hari Senin (on Monday)
- certain abstract objects: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion)
- sometimes as a very formal alternative to di in writing

In everyday speech and most writing, di universitas itu is natural. pada universitas itu would sound overly formal or awkward in this context.

Could you say temanku memilih jurusan ekonomi instead of teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi? What’s the difference?

Yes, temanku memilih jurusan ekonomi di universitas itu is correct and natural.

Differences:

teman saya = my friend (using the separate pronoun saya)
temanku = my friend (using the attached suffix -ku = my)

Nuance:

saya is neutral/formal I / my.
-ku is grammatically fine and common, but it sounds a bit more informal / personal or slightly literary, depending on context.

In casual speech or writing to friends, temanku is very common. In formal writing (essays, reports), teman saya is safer.

Why isn’t there yang in Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi…? When would I use yang there?

In your sentence, Teman saya is just the subject, so you don’t need yang:

Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi… = My friend chose an economics major…

yang is mainly used to:

Introduce a relative clause:
- Teman saya yang memilih jurusan ekonomi itu pintar.
  → My friend who chose economics is smart.
Add emphasis or clarification:
- Teman saya yang memilih jurusan ekonomi.
  → It’s my friend who chose economics (not someone else).

So if you add yang, you change the structure/meaning; it’s not needed in the simple S–V–O sentence you have.

Is it okay to drop saya and just say Teman memilih jurusan ekonomi di universitas itu?

Grammatically, teman memilih jurusan ekonomi… is possible, but the meaning changes:

teman saya = my friend
teman on its own = (a) friend / friends in a general sense, not clearly yours

So:

Teman saya memilih… → specifically my friend
Teman memilih… → could mean (a/the) friend chooses…, but it sounds incomplete or unclear unless the context has already made it obvious whose friend is being talked about.

If you want to say my friend, it’s better to keep saya (or use temanku).

Could di universitas itu come earlier in the sentence, like Di universitas itu teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi?

Yes, that word order is also correct:

Teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi di universitas itu.
Di universitas itu, teman saya memilih jurusan ekonomi.

Indonesian word order is flexible, and moving di universitas itu to the front can:

put extra emphasis on the place (At that university, my friend chose economics), or
help with flow in a larger paragraph.

Both sentences are grammatical; the difference is mainly nuance and emphasis.