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Questions & Answers about Kita berjalan di atas jambatan.
What does kita mean and how is it different from kami?
kita is the first-person plural inclusive pronoun (“we,” including the person you’re talking to). kami is the first-person plural exclusive pronoun (“we,” excluding the person you’re talking to).
Why is the verb berjalan used instead of just jalan?
jalan by itself is a noun (“road” or “way”) or a root verb. Adding the prefix ber- turns it into an intransitive verb meaning “to walk.”
Do Malay verbs like berjalan change form for past or future tense?
No, Malay verbs don’t inflect for tense. You add time-marker words or adverbs:
• Progressive: kita sedang berjalan di atas jambatan (“we are walking on the bridge”)
• Past: kita sudah/telah berjalan di atas jambatan (“we have walked on the bridge” or “we walked on the bridge”)
• Future: kita akan berjalan di atas jambatan (“we will walk on the bridge”)
Why is it di atas and not just atas when saying “on the bridge”?
di is the locative preposition “in/on/at,” and atas means “above/on top of.” Together di atas specifically means “on top of.” Without di, atas can’t introduce a location.
Why isn’t there a word for “the” before jambatan?
Malay generally has no articles like “a,” “an,” or “the.” Nouns stand alone, and specificity is understood from context or added words (e.g., jambatan itu for “that bridge”).
Can I drop kita and just say berjalan di atas jambatan?
Yes. Malay often omits subject pronouns when they’re clear from context. Berjalan di atas jambatan still means “(we) walk on the bridge.”
What is the basic word order in this sentence?
Malay follows Subject–Verb–Object or Subject–Verb–Adverbial patterns. Here it’s:
Subject (kita) + Verb (berjalan) + Adverbial phrase of place (di atas jambatan).
How do you pronounce jambatan?
It’s pronounced [ˈdʒam.ba.tan], with the stress on the first syllable: JAM-ba-tan.