Questions & Answers about Buku harian saya ada di atas meja.
Why is my diary expressed as buku harian saya, with saya after the noun?
In Indonesian, possession is usually shown by putting the possessor after the thing possessed.
So:
- buku harian = diary
- saya = I / me / my
Putting them together:
- buku harian saya = my diary
This is different from English, where my comes before the noun.
A similar pattern:
- rumah saya = my house
- teman saya = my friend
What exactly does buku harian mean?
Buku harian is the normal Indonesian expression for diary.
Literally, it is made of:
- buku = book
- harian = daily / related to days
So the literal sense is something like daily book, but in natural English that becomes diary or sometimes journal.
This is a fixed, common expression. Native speakers understand buku harian as a diary, not just any book.
What does ada mean in this sentence?