Saya menaruh uang receh di celengan kecil di meja belajar.

Taruh is the base form/root. Menaruh is the normal active verb form made with the meN- prefix.

A very common pattern in Indonesian is:

• taruh → base/root
• menaruh → active verb, to put/place

There is also a sound change here:

• meN- + taruh becomes menaruh
• the initial t drops after the prefix

So in a full, standard sentence, menaruh sounds natural:

• Saya menaruh uang receh ... = I put spare change ...

Using taruh by itself is more like:

• an informal style
• a command: Taruh di sini. = Put it here.

Menaruh is a very natural everyday verb for put/place.

Roughly:

• menaruh = to put/place
• meletakkan = to place/put down, often a bit more formal or deliberate
• menyimpan = to store/keep/put away

So:

• Saya menaruh uang receh di celengan kecil ... sounds like a normal everyday action.
• Saya meletakkan uang receh ... is also possible, but a bit more formal or deliberate.
• Saya menyimpan uang receh di celengan ... would emphasize keeping/saving the coins there, not just the physical act of putting them there.

Uang receh usually means small change, loose change, or coins/small-denomination money.

Word by word:

• uang = money
• receh = small change / low-value money

In everyday use, uang receh often refers to coins, but it can also mean small-value cash more generally.

So this is a set phrase, and learners should treat uang receh as a common expression rather than trying to translate receh too literally every time.

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun.

So:

• celengan kecil = small piggy bank
• meja besar = big table
• rumah bagus = beautiful house

This is one of the most basic word-order differences from English.

So:

• English: small piggy bank
• Indonesian: celengan kecil

Yes. Celengan is a noun meaning piggy bank or money box.

It is related to the suffix -an, which often forms nouns. In modern Indonesian, learners usually just memorize celengan as a complete word meaning piggy bank.

What matters most here is:

• di celengan kecil = in the small piggy bank

Even if you know the history of the word, in real usage it functions as a normal noun.

Because there are two location phrases:

• di celengan kecil = in the small piggy bank
• di meja belajar = on/at the study desk

Indonesian often stacks location phrases like this.

So the structure is basically:

• Saya menaruh
  • uang receh
    • di celengan kecil
      • di meja belajar

That means:

• I put the spare change
• in the small piggy bank
• on the study desk

The second di phrase usually describes where the piggy bank is located.

Good question. There are two different things:

1. di as a preposition = in, on, at

   • written separately
   • example: di meja, di rumah, di celengan

2. di- as a passive verb prefix

   • written attached
   • example: ditaruh = is put / was put

So in your sentence:

• di celengan kecil
• di meja belajar

both are prepositions, so they must be written separately.

A learner mistake would be writing something like dimeja. The correct form is di meja.

Meja belajar is a noun + noun combination.

• meja = table/desk
• belajar = study/studying

Together, meja belajar means study desk or desk for studying.

Indonesian often uses this compact noun structure where English might use:

• a compound noun
• for
• or a longer phrase

Examples:

• meja makan = dining table
• kamar tidur = bedroom
• uang sekolah = school money/tuition-related money, depending on context

So meja belajar is a very normal Indonesian way to say study desk.

There is a slight structural ambiguity if you analyze it very strictly, because Indonesian often relies on context rather than extra markers.

The most natural reading is:

• the spare change is put in the small piggy bank
• and the small piggy bank is on the study desk

That is because di meja belajar most naturally attaches to the nearest noun phrase, celengan kecil.

If you want to make it clearer, you could say:

• Saya menaruh uang receh ke dalam celengan kecil yang ada di meja belajar.

This more explicitly means:

• I put the spare change into the small piggy bank that is on the study desk.

So the original sentence is normal, but a more detailed version can remove ambiguity.

Indonesian often uses menaruh X di Y for put X in/on Y, especially when the focus is on the final location.

So:

• Saya menaruh uang receh di celengan kecil is natural.

But if you want to emphasize motion into something, you can use:

• ke dalam = into

For example:

• Saya menaruh uang receh ke dalam celengan kecil.

That sounds slightly more explicit because a piggy bank is a container.

So both are possible:

• di = natural, location-focused
• ke dalam = clearer about movement into the inside

Indonesian does not use articles like a/an/the the way English does.

So:

• uang receh can mean spare change, the spare change, or some spare change
• context tells you which meaning is intended

Also, Indonesian does not always mark plural explicitly. You only mark plural when it matters.

So:

• uang receh can already refer to a mass of small change
• you do not need a separate plural marker

If you really wanted to emphasize plurality in another context, Indonesian might use repetition or another clue, but here it is unnecessary.

Yes, in many contexts.

• saya = neutral/polite
• aku = more informal and personal

So:

• Saya menaruh uang receh di celengan kecil di meja belajar.
• Aku menaruh uang receh di celengan kecil di meja belajar.

Both are grammatical.

Use saya when you want to sound:

• more neutral
• more polite
• more standard

Use aku when speaking:

• casually
• with friends
• in a more intimate or relaxed tone