Breakdown of Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.
Questions & Answers about Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.
Indonesian allows both active and passive structures, and they often start a sentence with the thing being affected (the object in English).
Active: Ibu menyisir rambut adik perempuan saya pelan-pelan.
(Mother combs my younger sister’s hair slowly.)Passive: Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.
(My younger sister’s hair is combed slowly by Mother.)
In the passive form, the focus is on rambut adik perempuan saya (the hair), so it naturally comes first. This is very normal in Indonesian and not as “marked” as the passive in English.
Disisir comes from:
- Root verb: sisir = to comb
- Passive prefix: di-
So:
- menyisir = to comb (active voice; someone does the combing)
- disisir = to be combed (passive voice; something is combed)
In this sentence, disisir is passive because the hair is receiving the action, and the agent (Ibu) is optional and introduced with oleh.
In Indonesian, possession is usually shown simply by putting the possessor after the thing possessed, without using dari.
- rambut adik perempuan saya
= hair + younger sibling + female + my
= my younger sister’s hair
Using dari for possession (like rambut dari adik perempuan saya) is grammatical but sounds more emphatic or less natural for ordinary possession. The basic, most natural pattern is:
[thing] + [owner]
e.g. buku saya (my book), rumah dia (his/her house), rambut adik saya (my younger sibling’s hair).
- adik = younger sibling (gender-neutral)
- perempuan = female/woman
- adik perempuan = younger sister
- adik perempuan saya = my younger sister
So the phrase adik perempuan saya literally means “younger sibling (who is) female (and) mine.”
You can say adik saya if:
- the gender is already clear from context, or
- you don’t care to specify it.
If you specifically want to say “younger sister,” use adik perempuan (or colloquially adikku yang cewek, etc.).
Ibu literally means “mother,” but:
- When written with a capital I and used as a kinship term referring to your own mother, it usually means my mother in context, even without saya.
- Indonesians often drop the explicit possessive (like saya) when the relationship is obvious.
So:
- Ibu (capitalized, in a family context) ≈ my mother / Mom
- ibu (lowercase) can be:
- any mother in general, or
- a polite form of address for an older woman, like “Ma’am.”
In this sentence, oleh Ibu is understood as “by (my) mother.” You don’t need to say oleh ibu saya unless you really want to emphasize “my.”
Pelan means “slow” or “slowly.”
Pelan-pelan is a reduplication (repeating the word), which in this case:
- makes the adverb sound more natural and common,
- can add a nuance of gentleness or unhurriedness, not just low speed.
You can also hear:
- pelan saja = just slowly
- perlahan-lahan = slowly, gradually (slightly more formal)
- pelan alone = slow/slowly (correct, but pelan-pelan is very common in speech).
The hyphen just marks the reduplication in writing.
Yes. Common positions:
After the verb (as in the original):
Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.Before the verb (a bit more marked/emphatic):
Rambut adik perempuan saya pelan-pelan disisir oleh Ibu.In an active sentence:
Ibu menyisir rambut adik perempuan saya pelan-pelan.
All are understandable; placing pelan-pelan after the verb is the most neutral and common.
Oleh introduces the agent (the doer) in a passive sentence.
- disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu
= is combed slowly by Mother
In Indonesian passive:
- The agent phrase with oleh can often be dropped if it’s obvious or not important:
Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan.
(My younger sister’s hair is combed slowly.)
– We don’t say who does it; it’s either known from context or not important.
So oleh Ibu is optional; it’s only there to specify that Mother is the one doing it.
Yes. The active version would be:
- Ibu menyisir rambut adik perempuan saya pelan-pelan.
Differences:
Active (menyisir):
Focus on Ibu as the subject/doer.
Very straightforward, common structure.Passive (disisir … oleh Ibu):
Focus on the hair (the thing affected).
Sounds a bit more formal or descriptive, and is often used in written Indonesian or when you want to highlight the object.
Both express the same basic event, but the focus changes.
You could say:
- Rambutnya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.
= Her/his hair is combed slowly by Mother.
However, -nya is ambiguous:
- It could mean his, her, its, or sometimes that person’s.
- It doesn’t show that the person is your younger sister.
Rambut adik perempuan saya is more specific:
- tells you the relationship (adik = younger sibling),
- tells you the gender (perempuan = female),
- and shows that she is mine (saya).
So use rambutnya when the owner is already clear, and use the full phrase when you want to specify exactly who.
The sentence is grammatically standard and sounds slightly formal or written-style because of:
- the passive di- form with oleh,
- the full noun phrase rambut adik perempuan saya.
In everyday spoken Indonesian, many people might say instead:
- Ibu nyisir rambut adik saya pelan-pelan.
- Rambut adik saya disisir pelan-pelan sama Ibu. (colloquial agent marker sama instead of oleh)
Your original sentence is perfectly correct and natural in standard Indonesian, and is very suitable for writing, storytelling, or careful speech.
Both work in this sentence and both mean “slowly”:
- pelan-pelan: very common in everyday speech, slightly more informal/neutral.
- perlahan-lahan: often feels a bit more formal or literary, and can suggest “slowly and gradually.”
You could say:
- Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir pelan-pelan oleh Ibu.
- Rambut adik perempuan saya disisir perlahan-lahan oleh Ibu.
The basic meaning is the same; the nuance is very small.