Breakdown of Tolong ambilkan selotip dari laci meja.
Questions & Answers about Tolong ambilkan selotip dari laci meja.
Tolong is a politeness marker meaning please / could you help. It softens an imperative.
It’s not grammatically required; you can say Ambilkan selotip dari laci meja. and it’s still correct, just more direct.
Other common softeners include minta (more like I’d like to ask) and boleh…? (turns it into a question).
Ambil = take (it).
Ambilkan = take (it) for someone / fetch (it) (for me/us/the requester).
The suffix -kan here adds the idea that the action benefits someone else (often the speaker). So Tolong ambilkan selotip… sounds like Please fetch the tape (for me), even if for me isn’t stated.
You can add a pronoun/noun after the verb:
- Tolong ambilkan saya selotip dari laci meja. = Please fetch me the tape…
- Tolong ambilkan selotip untuk saya. = Please fetch the tape for me.
- Tolong ambilkan Ibu selotip… = Please fetch Mom/Ma’am the tape…
Often it’s left implicit because context makes it obvious.
Yes. selotipnya means the tape / that tape / the tape in question (the exact interpretation depends on context). -nya often marks something as definite/known.
- Tolong ambilkan selotipnya dari laci meja. = Please fetch the tape (that we’re talking about) from the desk drawer.
Selotip is a very common Indonesian word for sticky tape / Scotch tape / adhesive tape. It’s a loanword (adapted in spelling/pronunciation). In everyday speech, selotip is normal and widely understood.
Dari means from and marks the source location: from the desk drawer.
In this context, dari is the natural choice. You generally wouldn’t replace it with something else unless you restructure the sentence (e.g., using di to describe location rather than source).
Indonesian often uses noun + noun to express possession/association (similar to desk drawer in English).
So laci meja = (the) desk drawer / drawer of the desk.
Laci dari meja would sound like a drawer that came from a desk (odd), because dari is more about origin/source.
Yes. Indonesian word order is flexible, especially for adverbials like locations. For emphasis, you can front the location:
- Tolong, dari laci meja ambilkan selotip. = Please, from the desk drawer, fetch the tape.
The original (Tolong ambilkan selotip dari laci meja.) is the most neutral and natural.
To a friend, the original is fine and natural. To someone you want to be more formal with, you might add Bisa…? / Tolong… ya or use a more indirect phrasing:
- Bisa tolong ambilkan selotip dari laci meja? = Could you please fetch the tape…?
- Tolong ambilkan selotip dari laci meja, ya. = Please fetch the tape…, okay. (friendly softener)
- Mohon ambilkan… = More formal/written.
A rough guide (stress is fairly even in Indonesian):
- Tolong ≈ TOH-long
- ambilkan ≈ AHm-bil-kan
- selotip ≈ seh-LOH-tip
- dari ≈ DAH-ree
- laci ≈ LAH-chee
- meja ≈ MEH-jah
Note: c is like ch (so laci = lah-chee).
Yes. Passive is common when you want to sound less direct about the agent (the doer):
- Tolong selotipnya diambil dari laci meja. = Please have the tape taken from the desk drawer / Please take the tape from the desk drawer.
- Tolong diambilkan selotip dari laci meja. = Please fetch the tape from the desk drawer. (agent left implicit)
Active (Tolong ambilkan…) is still perfectly polite; passive can sound slightly more indirect.