Semalam, saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah.

Yesterday, I left my phone at home.

Breakdown of Semalam, saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah.

• saya: I
• di: at
• rumah: the house
• semalam: yesterday
• telefon: the phone
• meninggalkan: to leave

Questions & Answers about Semalam, saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah.

Why is there a comma after Semalam

In Malay, you can place a time adverbial like Semalam at the beginning of the sentence to highlight when something happened. The comma is optional in everyday writing but helps to set off the time phrase clearly. You could also write Semalam saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah without changing the meaning.

What part of speech is Semalam

Semalam functions as a time adverb (adverb of time), equivalent to “yesterday.” It tells you when the action took place. In Malay, time adverbials can appear either at the start or end of a sentence.

What’s the difference between tinggal and meninggalkan

Tinggal alone means “to stay” or “to remain” (intransitive). When you add the prefix meN- and suffix -kan, it becomes meninggalkan, a transitive verb meaning “to leave behind” something or someone. The -kan suffix indicates that the verb takes a direct object.

How does the meN-...-kan affix work in meninggalkan

The pattern meN-...-kan is one of Malay’s active verb constructions. You start with the root tinggal, add the nasal prefix meN- (which triggers a consonant mutation of the initial t), and then attach -kan to show the action affects an object. The result is meninggalkan (“to leave behind”).

Why is it di rumah and not ke rumah

Di marks a static location (“at”), so di rumah means “at home.” In contrast, ke indicates movement or direction (“to”), so ke rumah would mean “to the house.” Since you’re saying where the phone was left, you use di.

Can you omit saya in this sentence

Yes. Malay often drops subject pronouns when the meaning is clear from context.
Menjinglekan telefon di rumah semalam
would still mean “I left the phone at home yesterday,” though including saya makes it more explicit and formal.

Is the word order fixed in this sentence

Malay generally follows Subject–Verb–Object, but it’s flexible with time markers. You can say:

• Semalam, saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah.
• Saya meninggalkan telefon di rumah semalam.
• Saya semalam meninggalkan telefon di rumah.
  All are grammatically correct; placing Semalam first emphasizes the time element.