Pena itu hilang kelmarin, tapi nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.

That pen was lost the day before yesterday, but luckily I found another one.

Breakdown of Pena itu hilang kelmarin, tapi nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.

• saya: I
• adalah: to be
• itu: that
• lain: other
• hilang: lost
• yang: that/which
• jumpa: to find
• kelmarin: the day before yesterday
• nasib baik: luckily
• pena: the pen
• tapi: but

Questions & Answers about Pena itu hilang kelmarin, tapi nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.

What does itu mean in pena itu, and why does it come after the noun?

Itu is a demonstrative that usually means that or the.

• pena itu = that pen / the pen
• itu pena = that is a pen

In Malay, demonstratives like itu (that) and ini (this) normally come after the noun when they are simply describing it:

• buku itu = that book / the book
• kereta ini = this car

If you put itu before the noun (itu pena), it usually works more like that is a pen, a full sentence with itu as the subject.

So Pena itu is best understood as that pen / the pen, not that is a pen.

How do I know this sentence is in the past? There’s no past tense form of hilang or jumpa.

Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense. Instead, time is shown by:

1. Time words

   • kelmarin (yesterday / the day before yesterday, depending on variety)
   • semalam (yesterday / last night)
   • esok (tomorrow)

2. Optional aspect markers like sudah, telah, dah (already), akan (will), etc.

In your sentence:

• kelmarin makes it clear that the situation is in the past.
• hilang and jumpa keep their base forms.

So:

• pena itu hilang kelmarin = that pen was lost / disappeared yesterday
• saya jumpa yang lain = I found another one

Even without sudah/telah, the time word kelmarin is enough to show past time.

Does hilang mean “to lose” something, or “to be lost / disappear”? Who is doing the action?

Hilang is usually intransitive and means:

• to be lost
• to disappear
• to go missing

So pena itu hilang is more like:

• The pen is lost
• The pen disappeared / went missing

It does not explicitly say who lost it. If you want to say I lost the pen, you’d more likely say:

• Saya kehilangan pena itu. (I lost that pen – literally I experienced the loss of that pen.)
• Saya tertinggal pena itu. (I left that pen behind.) – depending on context.

In everyday speech, people often just say pena itu hilang, and the context makes it obvious that it’s their pen.

What exactly does kelmarin mean? How is it different from semalam?

In standard Malay (Malaysia):

• semalam = yesterday, and also commonly last night in casual speech.
• kelmarin = the day before yesterday (two days ago).

In Indonesian, kemarin (spelled without l) means yesterday.

Your sentence uses kelmarin, which is more naturally the day before yesterday in standard Malay. However, in casual speech some speakers may use it loosely for yesterday, influenced by Indonesian or local habits.

So depending on the variety:

• Standard Malay:
  pena itu hilang kelmarin ≈ that pen went missing the day before yesterday
• Indonesian-like usage:
  pena itu hilang kemarin = that pen went missing yesterday

What does tapi mean, and is it different from tetapi?

Both tapi and tetapi mean but / however.

• tetapi is more formal and is preferred in formal writing.
• tapi is more casual/colloquial and very common in speech.

Your sentence:

• ... kelmarin, tapi nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.

In a more formal style, you could write:

• ... kelmarin, tetapi nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.

The meaning is the same; only the level of formality changes.

What does nasib baik literally mean, and how is it used in a sentence?

Literally:

• nasib = fate / luck
• baik = good

So nasib baik literally means good luck, but in sentences it works like English luckily / fortunately:

• Nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain.
  = Fortunately, I found another one.

It can also appear as:

• Bernasib baik = to be lucky
  
  • Saya bernasib baik. = I am lucky.

But in your sentence, nasib baik is used as a set phrase introducing a positive turn of events, similar to:

• Luckily, ...
• Fortunately, ...

Why is it nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain and not something like saya nasib baik jumpa yang lain?

In this sentence, nasib baik acts like a sentence adverbial at the start of the clause:

• nasib baik = luckily / fortunately
• nasib baik saya jumpa yang lain = luckily I found another one

Placing nasib baik first highlights the idea of good luck.

You could say Saya bernasib baik sebab saya jumpa yang lain (I was lucky because I found another one), but that changes the structure:

• nasib baik (adverbial, “luckily”)
  vs
• bernasib baik (verb phrase, “to be lucky”)

Saya nasib baik jumpa yang lain is not natural standard Malay; if you want to say I was lucky, you’d normally use bernasib baik:

• Saya bernasib baik, saya jumpa yang lain.
  = I was lucky; I found another one.

What exactly does jumpa mean here? I thought jumpa could mean “to meet”.

Jumpa has two common uses, depending on context:

1. to meet (someone)

   • Saya jumpa Ali semalam. = I met Ali yesterday.

2. to find (something)

   • Saya jumpa kunci. = I found the key.

In your sentence:

• saya jumpa yang lain = I found another one

We know it’s find, not meet, because yang lain (“another one”) refers back to the pen.

More formal or derived verbs:

• berjumpa (usually meet someone)
• menemui / menjumpai (to find, more formal)

But jumpa alone is very common in speech for both meet and find, depending on context.

What does yang lain mean? Why do we need yang in front of lain?

• lain = other / different
• yang lain = the other one / another one / the others

In saya jumpa yang lain, yang lain functions like a noun phrase, standing in for another one (of that thing):

• Pena itu hilang ... saya jumpa yang lain.
  = That pen was lost ... I found another one (another pen).

Yang here is a kind of marker that turns lain into a more complete phrase, often used:

• to mark “the one(s) that is/are …”
  
  • yang besar = the big one
  • yang merah = the red one
  • yang lain = the other one / another one / the rest

If you said saya jumpa lain without yang, it would sound incomplete or unnatural in this context.

Why isn’t there a word for “one” in “another one”? Why not satu yang lain?

Malay often doesn’t need to say “one” explicitly when it’s clear from context.

• yang lain already covers another one / a different one when the noun is understood.
• The noun (pen) is already mentioned, so Malay just says yang lain.

You can say satu lagi to mean one more / another one:

• Pena itu hilang, tapi nasib baik saya jumpa satu lagi.

This is also natural and common. Rough guide:

• yang lain – another one / a different one (emphasising difference)
• satu lagi – one more (emphasising quantity or replacement)

Both can work here, but yang lain sounds like a different pen (as a replacement).

Can I omit itu and just say Pena hilang kelmarin? What changes?

Yes, you can say Pena hilang kelmarin, but there is a nuance difference:

• pena itu hilang kelmarin
  = that pen / the pen went missing the day before yesterday
  (a specific pen that both speaker and listener know about)

• pena hilang kelmarin
  = (a) pen went missing the day before yesterday
  or pens went missing yesterday depending on context
  (more general/unspecified – less clearly a particular, known pen)

So itu adds a sense of “that specific one we know about”.