Tembikar itu retak.

that

Breakdown of Tembikar itu retak.

• tembikar: pottery
• retak: cracked

Questions & Answers about Tembikar itu retak.

What does tembikar refer to exactly? Is it pottery, a clay pot, or ceramic?

Tembikar usually refers to pottery or earthenware—things made from baked clay. Depending on context, it can mean:

• pottery in a general/material sense
• a pottery item
• sometimes a clay pot / earthen vessel

So in this sentence, tembikar itu most naturally means that piece of pottery or the pottery item.

Why is itu after the noun? I expected it to mean that, so why not put it first like in English?

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) normally come after the noun:

• tembikar itu = that pottery / the pottery
• rumah itu = that house
• buku ini = this book

This is a very common Malay word order pattern. English puts this/that before the noun, but Malay usually puts ini/itu after it.

Does itu mean that or the here?