Breakdown of Kamar saya kemasukan air tadi malam karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat.
Questions & Answers about Kamar saya kemasukan air tadi malam karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat.
Why does air mean water here? I thought air meant air.
In Indonesian, air means water, not air in the English sense.
- air = water
- udara = air
So kemasukan air means water got in or the room got water inside, not air got in.
Also, Indonesian air is pronounced roughly ah-eer, so it does not sound like the English word air.
What does kemasukan mean, and why isn’t it just masuk?
Kemasukan comes from the root masuk (to enter/go in) with the circumfix ke-...-an.
In this kind of sentence, ke-...-an often gives the idea of:
- something happening to someone or something
- often accidentally
- often with an unwanted result
So:
- masuk air = water enters
- kamar saya kemasukan air = my room got water in it / my room was entered by water
This makes kemasukan air sound more natural than just masuk air in this context, because it emphasizes that the room was affected by the water.
You can compare it with similar patterns:
- kecurian = to have something stolen / be robbed
- kehujanan = to get caught in the rain
- kemasukan maling = to have a thief get in
Does kamar saya simply mean my room?
Yes. Kamar saya means my room.
The order is:
- kamar = room
- saya = I / me / my
In Indonesian, possession is often shown by putting the possessor after the noun:
- rumah saya = my house
- buku saya = my book
- kamar saya = my room
So literally it is something like room of mine, but in natural English we say my room.
What exactly does tadi malam mean?
Tadi malam means last night.
Breakdown:
- tadi = earlier / just now / earlier today, depending on context
- malam = night
Together, tadi malam is a very common expression for last night.
Examples:
- Saya bertemu dia tadi malam. = I met him/her last night.
- Hujan deras tadi malam. = It rained heavily last night.
So in your sentence, it tells you when the water got in.
Why is it karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat and not an active sentence like karena saya tidak menutup jendela?
Indonesian often uses passive constructions when the result or state is more important than who did it.
- jendela tidak ditutup rapat = the window was not closed tightly/properly
- saya tidak menutup jendela = I did not close the window
The sentence you gave focuses on the cause of the problem: the window wasn’t properly shut. It does not need to say who failed to close it.
This kind of passive is very common in Indonesian, especially when:
- the doer is unknown
- the doer is obvious
- the doer is not important
- the speaker wants to focus on the condition or result
What is the function of di- in ditutup?
The prefix di- usually marks the passive voice in Indonesian.
- menutup = to close
- ditutup = to be closed
So:
- jendela ditutup = the window is closed / was closed
In your sentence:
- jendela tidak ditutup rapat = the window was not closed tightly
This is a very common pattern in Indonesian grammar.
What does rapat mean here?
Here, rapat means tight, closely, or properly shut.
So:
- ditutup rapat = closed tightly / shut properly
In this sentence, rapat describes how the window was closed.
A few related examples:
- Pintu ditutup rapat. = The door was shut tightly.
- Tolong tutup botolnya rapat. = Please close the bottle tightly.
Be careful: rapat can also mean meeting as a noun in another context.
- Saya ada rapat. = I have a meeting.
So the meaning depends on context.
Is kemasukan air the same as saying flooded?
Not exactly, though it can be translated that way depending on context.
Kemasukan air literally means:
- had water get in
- got water inside
- was entered by water
It suggests that water came into the room, but it does not always mean a full serious flood. It could be:
- rainwater leaking in
- water seeping in from outside
- water entering through a gap or open window
In English, possible translations include:
- My room got water in it last night...
- Water got into my room last night...
- My room leaked / got flooded last night... — only if the situation was bad enough
So flooded may be too strong in some contexts.
Why is there no word for the in jendela?
Indonesian does not have articles like the or a/an.
So jendela can mean:
- a window
- the window
The exact meaning depends on context.
In this sentence, English naturally uses the window because the speaker probably means a specific window connected to the room. But Indonesian does not need a separate word for the.
Could jendela have been written as jendelanya?
Yes, jendelanya would also be possible in some contexts, but it changes the nuance slightly.
- jendela = window / the window
- jendelanya = the window / his-her-its window / the window in question
The suffix -nya can make something sound more definite or refer back to something known.
So:
- karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat = because the window wasn’t closed tightly
- karena jendelanya tidak ditutup rapat = because the window wasn’t closed tightly / because its window wasn’t closed tightly
Both can work, but the version without -nya is perfectly natural.
Why is tidak used here, not bukan?
Use tidak to negate:
- verbs
- adjectives
- some adverb-like expressions
Use bukan mainly to negate:
- nouns
- noun phrases
- identification/classification
Here, ditutup is a verb form, so you say:
- tidak ditutup = not closed
Not:
- bukan ditutup — this would be wrong in this context
Compare:
- Jendela tidak ditutup. = The window was not closed.
- Itu bukan jendela. = That is not a window.
What is the basic word order of the whole sentence?
The sentence is:
Kamar saya kemasukan air tadi malam karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat.
A helpful breakdown is:
- Kamar saya = my room
- kemasukan air = got water in it / had water enter
- tadi malam = last night
- karena = because
- jendela tidak ditutup rapat = the window was not closed tightly
So the overall structure is roughly:
[subject] + [what happened] + [time] + [reason]
That is very normal Indonesian word order.
Could I say this in a more direct way, like Air masuk ke kamar saya?
Yes, you could say Air masuk ke kamar saya tadi malam karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat, and it would be understandable.
But the nuance is a little different:
- Air masuk ke kamar saya = Water entered my room
- Kamar saya kemasukan air = My room got water in it
The version with kemasukan sounds more natural if you want to emphasize that the room was affected by an unwanted event. It often feels more idiomatic in everyday Indonesian for this kind of situation.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning IndonesianMaster Indonesian — from Kamar saya kemasukan air tadi malam karena jendela tidak ditutup rapat to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions