Word
Kami menggunakan pelincir pada rantai basikal tanpa perlu menanggalkan gear.
Meaning
We use lubricant on the bicycle chain without having to remove the gear.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Kami menggunakan pelincir pada rantai basikal tanpa perlu menanggalkan gear.
pada
in
menggunakan
to use
menanggalkan
to remove
kami
we/us
Questions & Answers about Kami menggunakan pelincir pada rantai basikal tanpa perlu menanggalkan gear.
Why does the sentence start with kami? Why not kita?
Both kami and kita can mean we, but they are not interchangeable.
- kami = we, but not including the listener
- kita = we, including the listener
So Kami menggunakan... means the speaker is talking about their group, not the person being spoken to.
For an English speaker, this is an important distinction because English we does not normally show whether the listener is included.
What does menggunakan mean, and why is it so long?
Menggunakan means to use / using.
It comes from the base word guna (use) plus the affixes:
- meng-
- -kan
So:
- guna = use
- menggunakan = to use, to make use of
In careful or standard Malay, menggunakan is more formal and complete than just guna.
Compare:
- Kami menggunakan pelincir... = more formal / standard
- Kami guna pelincir... = more casual, very common in speech
Could the sentence use instead of ?