Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

That guard is standing near the entrance to the lake.

Breakdown of Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

• itu: that
• dekat: near
• pintu masuk: the entrance
• berdiri: to stand
• tasik: the lake
• penjaga: the guard

Questions & Answers about Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

What does itu mean in penjaga itu? Is it more like “the guard” or “that guard” in English?

Itu is a demonstrative that usually means “that”, but in many real-life sentences it works like a general definite marker, similar to “the”.

• penjaga = guard
• penjaga itu = that guard / the guard

Nuance:

• If the context is very specific (you and I already know which guard), penjaga itu is best translated as “the guard”.
• If you’re pointing or contrasting (e.g. not this one, that one), it can feel more like “that guard”.

Malay doesn’t have a direct equivalent of the English article “the”, so itu often fills that role when you want to refer to a specific, known noun.

Why is there no past tense marker like “stood” in Malay? How do we know if it’s “stood” or “is standing”?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense. Berdiri can mean:

• is standing
• was standing
• stood
• will stand (in future contexts)

In Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik, the time reference comes from context, not from the verb itself.

To make time clearer, Malay often adds time expressions:

• tadi – earlier / just now
  
  • Penjaga itu tadi berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.
    = The guard was standing near the lake entrance (earlier).
• sekarang – now
  
  • Sekarang penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.
    = The guard is standing near the lake entrance now.
• nanti – later
  
  • Nanti penjaga itu akan berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.
    = The guard will stand near the lake entrance later.

So your English translation “stood” or “is standing” depends on the surrounding context, not on a tense change in berdiri.

What exactly does berdiri mean? Is it a verb like “to stand” or an adjective like “standing”?

Berdiri is a verb formed from the root diri (self / body position) plus the prefix ber-.

Core meaning:

• berdiri = to stand / to be in a standing position

It can cover both:

• An action: to get into a standing position
  
  • Dia berdiri. = She/he stands up / stood up.
• A state: to be in a standing position
  
  • Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.
    = The guard is standing / was standing near the lake entrance.

Malay doesn’t sharply separate “action verb” vs “stative verb” the way English sometimes does; berdiri can express either, depending on context.

What does dekat mean here? Is it a preposition like “near”, or an adjective like “nearby”?

In this sentence, dekat functions as a preposition meaning “near / close to”.

• berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik
  = stand near the entrance of the lake

Some points:

• As a preposition:
  
  • dekat pintu = near the door
  • dekat sekolah = near the school
• You will also see dekat dengan as a slightly more explicit form:
  
  • Penjaga itu berdiri dekat dengan pintu masuk tasik.

As an adjective, dekat can mean “near/close (in distance)”:

• Rumah saya dekat. = My house is near / close by.

In your sentence it clearly goes with pintu masuk tasik, so it’s “near the lake entrance.”

What does pintu masuk literally mean? It looks like “door enter”.

Literally, yes:

• pintu = door
• masuk = to enter / entry

But together, pintu masuk is a fixed noun phrase meaning:

• entrance (literally “entrance door”)

Examples:

• pintu masuk utama = main entrance
• pintu masuk rumah = the entrance of the house / front door
• pintu masuk zoo = the zoo entrance

So in your sentence:

• pintu masuk tasik ≈ the lake entrance / the entrance to the lake area.

How does pintu masuk tasik mean “the entrance of the lake”? Why is tasik (lake) at the end?

Malay often uses noun + noun sequences where English uses “X of Y” or “Y’s X”.

Pattern:

• pintu masuk (entrance) + tasik (lake)
  = “lake entrance” / “entrance of the lake”

This is a noun-noun compound:

• baju anak = child’s shirt / shirt of the child
• guru sekolah = school teacher
• pintu masuk tasik = lake entrance

English uses “entrance of the lake” or “entrance to the lake”; Malay keeps the head noun first (pintu masuk) and the specifying noun (tasik) second.

You could also say:

• pintu masuk ke tasik = entrance to the lake

Both are understandable; pintu masuk tasik is a bit more compact.

Is tasik Malay for “lake”? I’ve seen danau as well—what’s the difference?

Yes:

• tasik = lake (standard in Malay, especially in Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore Malay)
• danau = lake (more common in Indonesian and certain regional Malay varieties)

Rough guide:

• In Malaysia / Brunei / Singapore: tasik is the normal word.
• In Indonesia: danau is more common in everyday language; tasik may appear in place names or older/poetic usage.

So in your sentence, tasik is the natural Malay choice for “lake.”

Could we drop itu and just say Penjaga berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik? What changes?

Yes, you can say:

• Penjaga berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

Difference in nuance:

• Penjaga itu…
  
  • Refers to a specific guard that the speaker assumes you know or can identify (like “the guard / that guard”).
• Penjaga… (without itu)
  
  • More generic or indefinite: “a guard” or simply “guard(s)”.
  • Could be describing some guard, not necessarily one already known in the conversation.

In practice, if you’re telling a story about a particular guard you’ve already mentioned, you’d normally keep itu:

• Ada seorang penjaga. Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.
  = There was a guard. The guard stood near the lake entrance.

Is the word order “Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik” fixed? Could I move things around?

The standard, neutral word order in Malay is similar to English: Subject – Verb – (Adverbials / Place / Time).

Here:

• Penjaga itu = Subject
• berdiri = Verb
• dekat pintu masuk tasik = Place phrase

So:

• Penjaga itu berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

This order is natural and the default. Other variants:

• Penjaga itu dekat pintu masuk tasik berdiri. – sounds strange / unnatural.
• Berdiri penjaga itu dekat pintu masuk tasik. – possible in poetry or very marked style, but odd in normal speech.

For everyday usage, keep Subject – Verb – Place as in the original sentence.

Why is there no “di” before dekat or before pintu masuk tasik? Shouldn’t it be di dekat or berdiri di pintu masuk tasik?

A few points:

1. dekat already functions as a preposition (“near”), so you don’t generally put di before it:

   • ✅ dekat rumah = near the house
   • ❌ di dekat rumah – sometimes heard, but usually feels redundant or less natural in standard Malay.

2. If you want to use di, you would use it instead of dekat, not together:

   • berdiri di pintu masuk tasik = stand at the lake entrance
   • berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik = stand near the lake entrance

3. Inside pintu masuk tasik, there’s no di because that’s a noun-noun compound, not a verb + location:

   • pintu masuk = entrance
   • tasik = lake
     Together: “lake entrance.”
     No preposition is needed inside that noun phrase.

So your sentence is fine as it stands: berdiri dekat pintu masuk tasik.

Is penjaga always a security guard, or can it mean other kinds of “guard”?

Penjaga is a general word meaning “keeper / person who looks after / guard”. It comes from:

• jaga = to watch / look after / guard
• penjaga = the person who does that (watcher, caretaker, guard)

Depending on context, penjaga could be:

• security guard (at a mall, gate, etc.)
• zookeeper (someone who looks after animals)
• caretaker (of a building or place)
• goalkeeper (in football), often penjaga gol

In your sentence, near a pintu masuk tasik (lake entrance), penjaga most naturally suggests a guard or caretaker of the lake area—someone responsible for watching the entrance or maintaining order there.