Breakdown of Kucing saya duduk atas meja sambil menunggu saya pulang.
Questions & Answers about Kucing saya duduk atas meja sambil menunggu saya pulang.
duduk means “to sit.” In Malay, the bare verb can express both simple present (“I sit”) and present progressive (“I am sitting”). If you want to stress the ongoing action, you can add the aspect marker sedang:
– Kucing saya (sedang) duduk atas meja.
If you want the sense of “sat down” (completed action), you can use duduk with a time marker or context:
– Kucing saya sudah duduk atas meja. (“My cat has already sat on the table.”)
sambil means “while,” used to show two actions happening at the same time. It’s followed directly by a verb without any additional particles:
– sambil + menunggu (“while waiting”)
You cannot say sambil untuk menunggu – untuk isn’t needed after sambil.
Yes, both sementara and ketika can mean “while/when,” but with subtle differences:
• sementara often introduces a whole clause (subject + verb) and is slightly more formal:
– Kucing saya duduk atas meja, sementara saya memasak.
• ketika is more formal or written, meaning “at the time when”:
– Ketika saya pulang, kucing saya sudah duduk atas meja.
Only sambil lets you attach it directly to a verb to express simultaneous action by the same subject.
• pulang specifically means “to go or come back home” (it implies returning to one’s base or home).
• kembali means “to return” in a broader sense (return an item, go back somewhere).
Here, menunggu saya pulang focuses on the cat waiting for me to come home.
You can add aspect markers and formal locatives:
“Kucing saya sedang duduk di atas meja sambil menunggu saya pulang.”
This makes the progressive aspect (sedang) and the full preposition (di atas meja) explicit.