Dia memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

he/she

Breakdown of Dia memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

• dan: and
• tanah liat: clay
• roda tembikar: a potter's wheel

Questions & Answers about Dia memutar roda tembikar dan membentuk tanah liat.

What does dia mean here? Does it mean he or she?

Yes. Dia can mean he or she. Malay third-person singular pronouns do not usually mark gender the way English does.

A few useful notes:

• dia = he/she
• Dia is common in everyday language.
• In more formal writing, you may also see ia for he/she/it, but dia is very common in speech and general writing.

So in this sentence, dia could refer to either a man or a woman.

Why is it memutar and not just putar?

Putar is the root word, meaning something like turn, spin, or rotate.

The form memutar is a verb made with the prefix meN-, which often creates an active verb. So:

• putar = turn / rotate / spin
• memutar = to turn / to spin something

In this sentence, dia memutar roda tembikar means the person is actively turning the pottery wheel.

This is very common in Malay:

• baca → membaca = read
• bentuk → membentuk = shape / form
• putar → memutar = turn / spin