Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar. - My white rabbit sleeps in the corner of the room.

You do not say saya kelinci putih for “my white rabbit”; that would sound like “I (am) a white rabbit” or just be ungrammatical in normal speech. The possessive pronoun (saya) comes after the noun phrase it owns.

What exactly does saya mean here? Is it “I”, “me”, or “my”?

The word saya is a general first‑person pronoun. It can mean:

I (subject): Saya makan. = I eat.
me (object): Mereka melihat saya. = They see me.
my (possessive): kelinci saya = my rabbit.

Indonesian doesn’t use a separate word like “my”; instead, it uses the same pronoun (saya) after the noun to show possession: NOUN + saya = my NOUN.

Why is there no word for “is” before tidur? Shouldn’t it be like “kelinci putih saya is tidur”?

Indonesian does not use a separate verb like “to be” (is/are/am) before action verbs.

tidur is already a full verb meaning to sleep / is sleeping / sleeps.
So Kelinci putih saya tidur covers both “My white rabbit sleeps” and “My white rabbit is sleeping”, depending on context.

You only say:

Kelinci putih saya tidur.
Not: Kelinci putih saya *adalah tidur. (This is wrong. *adalah is used for noun = noun or noun = adjective structures, not with action verbs.)

How do I show that the rabbit is sleeping right now, like “is currently sleeping”?

You can add sedang or lagi before the verb to show a currently ongoing action:

Kelinci putih saya sedang tidur di sudut kamar.
Kelinci putih saya lagi tidur di sudut kamar. (more informal / conversational)

Both mean roughly: My white rabbit is (currently) sleeping in the corner of the room.

Without sedang/lagi, tidur is neutral for tense; context tells you whether it’s now, usually, or just happened.

How can this sentence talk about present, past, or future if there’s no tense ending on tidur?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. tidur stays tidur in all tenses. Time is shown by time words or context:

Kemarin kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar.
= Yesterday my white rabbit slept in the corner of the room.
Sekarang kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar.
= Now my white rabbit is sleeping in the corner of the room.
Besok kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar. (more natural with a future marker like akan)
= Tomorrow my white rabbit will sleep in the corner of the room.

So the base verb doesn’t change; you add time expressions or markers (like sudah, akan, tadi, nanti, kemarin) to clarify.

Why is putih (white) after kelinci (rabbit)? Could you say putih kelinci saya?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun:

kelinci putih = white rabbit
kamar besar = big room
buku baru = new book

So kelinci putih saya = rabbit white my = my white rabbit.

You do not say putih kelinci to mean “white rabbit”; that sounds like “white (is) a rabbit” or just unnatural as a noun phrase. The default pattern is:

NOUN + ADJECTIVE

When you add possession:

NOUN + ADJECTIVE + POSSESSIVE
kelinci putih saya = my white rabbit

What’s the difference between kelinci putih saya and kelinci saya putih?

They mean different things grammatically:

kelinci putih saya
= my white rabbit (one noun phrase; “white” is describing which rabbit)
Kelinci saya putih.
= My rabbit is white. (a full sentence; “putih” is a predicate describing the rabbit)

Structure:

[kelinci putih saya] tidur
→ one specific rabbit (the white one) sleeps.
[Kelinci saya] [putih].
→ subject = my rabbit; predicate = (is) white.

So in your sentence, putih belongs inside the noun phrase as a description, not as a separate predicate.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in kelinci putih saya?

Indonesian generally does not use articles like “a/an” or “the”.

kelinci can mean a rabbit or the rabbit, depending on context.
kelinci putih saya clearly means my white rabbit, so it’s already specific without “the”.

If you really need to emphasize “one rabbit (as a unit/animal)”, you can add a classifier:

seekor kelinci putih = a white rabbit (one animal)

But in everyday speech, people often just say kelinci putih or kelinci putih saya and let context do the work.

Can I say seekor kelinci putih saya to mean “my one white rabbit”?

Not in that exact form. You normally put the classifier before the whole noun phrase and leave out the possessive or move it:

Seekor kelinci putih milik saya.
= One white rabbit that belongs to me.
Seekor kelinci putih (context: mine)
= One white rabbit (and it’s understood it’s yours).

If you want to keep it simple and natural, kelinci putih saya is the normal way to say “my white rabbit”, and classifier words like seekor are optional unless you need to stress the number.

How do you say “my white rabbits” in Indonesian? Is there a plural form?

Indonesian nouns usually do not change form for plural.

kelinci putih saya can mean my white rabbit or my white rabbits, depending on context.

If you really want to emphasize plurality, you can:

Use reduplication:
- kelinci-kelinci putih saya = my white rabbits (clearly plural).
Add a number + classifier:
- tiga ekor kelinci putih saya = my three white rabbits.

Often, people just rely on context or numbers; saying kelinci putih saya in a context about “all my pets” will be understood as plural.

What does di sudut kamar literally mean? How does this structure work?

Breakdown:

di = at / in / on (location preposition)
sudut = corner (more “angle”/formal word)
kamar = room (usually bedroom, but can be “room” in general)

di sudut kamar = at/in the corner (of the) room.

Structure:

di + NOUN1 + NOUN2
di sudut kamar = at the corner (of the) room

Indonesian often uses NOUN1 NOUN2 where English uses NOUN1 of NOUN2 or NOUN2’s NOUN1:

pintu kamar = the room’s door / the door of the room
sudut kamar = the corner of the room

What’s the difference between sudut and pojok for “corner”?

Both can be translated as corner, but they have different flavors:

sudut
- More formal/neutral.
- Can also mean angle in math/geometry.
- Common in written Indonesian or careful speech.
pojok
- More colloquial / everyday.
- Very common in spoken Indonesian.

So you could also say:

Kelinci putih saya tidur di pojok kamar.
= My white rabbit sleeps/is sleeping in the corner of the room.

Both are correct; pojok just sounds a bit more casual.

Can I move di sudut kamar to the front, like Di sudut kamar kelinci putih saya tidur?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible for adverbials of place/time.

All of these are grammatically correct:

Kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar.
Di sudut kamar, kelinci putih saya tidur.

The meaning is the same. Putting di sudut kamar first adds a bit of emphasis to the location (“In the corner of the room, my white rabbit sleeps”) but it’s still natural.

What’s the difference between saya and aku for “I / my” in a sentence like this?

Both refer to “I / me / my”, but differ in formality and relationship:

saya
- More formal / polite / neutral.
- Good for talking to strangers, older people, in class, at work, etc.
- kelinci putih saya = my white rabbit.
aku
- More informal / intimate.
- Used with friends, family, people your own age in casual settings.
- Possessive form is usually -ku attached to the noun:
  - kelinci putihku = my white rabbit (casual).

So the sentence in a casual context could be:

Kelinci putihku tidur di sudut kamar.
But your original Kelinci putih saya tidur di sudut kamar is polite and universally acceptable.