Breakdown of Saya lulus ujian bahasa Indonesia tahun ini.
saya
I
tahun ini
this year
lulus
to pass
ujian bahasa Indonesia
the Indonesian exam
Questions & Answers about Saya lulus ujian bahasa Indonesia tahun ini.
Why is there no word for the or my before ujian? In English we’d usually say “the Indonesian exam” or “my Indonesian exam.”
Indonesian normally has no articles like the / a / an, and it often leaves my / your / his / her implied by context.
- Saya lulus ujian bahasa Indonesia tahun ini.
Literally: I pass exam Indonesian language this year.
From context, listeners understand this as “I passed the Indonesian exam this year” or “I passed my Indonesian exam this year.”
If you want to make my explicit, you can say:
- Saya lulus ujian bahasa Indonesia saya tahun ini.
= I passed my Indonesian exam this year.
But adding saya after ujian bahasa Indonesia is only needed if you really must emphasize whose exam it is. Normally, the short version is fine.
How do we know this is past tense if the verb lulus doesn’t change form?