Questions & Answers about Pelajar itu belajar di perpustakaan.
What is the difference between pelajar and belajar? They look almost the same.
In Malay, small changes at the beginning of a word can change its grammatical role:
- belajar = to study (a verb)
- Example: Saya belajar. = I study.
- pelajar = student (a noun)
- Example: Dia seorang pelajar. = He/She is a student.
So in the sentence Pelajar itu belajar di perpustakaan.:
- pelajar (noun) = student
- belajar (verb) = studies / is studying
The sentence is basically: The student studies in the library.
What does itu mean here? Is it “that” or “the”? Why is it after pelajar?
itu literally means that (a demonstrative), but in many contexts it works like a definite marker, similar to “the” in English.
- Pelajar itu can mean:
- that student (when you are pointing to or talking about a specific student), or
- the student (when both speaker and listener already know which student is meant).
In Malay, itu usually comes after the noun:
- pelajar itu = that/the student
- = that/the book