Breakdown of Adik saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
Questions & Answers about Adik saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
Adik means younger sibling, without specifying gender. It can be a younger brother or a younger sister.
If you want to be specific:
- adik lelaki = younger brother
- adik perempuan = younger sister
So the full phrase Adik saya literally means my younger sibling, and context usually makes the gender clear.
In Malay, the usual way to say “my X” is:
[noun] + [pronoun]
So:
- adik saya = my younger sibling
- ibu saya = my mother
- kereta saya = my car
Saya adik would instead mean something like I am a younger sibling (and even then, it sounds incomplete and unnatural without more context).
The verb tidur means to sleep.
When you add the prefix ter- → tertidur, it often carries a meaning like:
- to fall asleep (often unintentionally / by accident)
- end up sleeping
So:
- Adik saya tidur di sofa. = My younger sibling sleeps / is sleeping on the sofa.
- Adik saya tertidur di sofa. = My younger sibling fell asleep on the sofa (usually unexpectedly, like dozing off).
Context and the ter- prefix tell us it’s “fell asleep”, not just “sleep”.
What does the prefix ter- generally do in Malay verbs?
[ANSWERANSWER]
The prefix ter- has several common uses; one of them is to show something that happens accidentally, unintentionally, or suddenly. In this sentence:
- tidur → tertidur = to (accidentally / unknowingly) fall asleep
Other examples:
- buka (to open) → terbuka (to be open / get opened, not always intentional)
- jatuh (to fall) → terjatuh (to accidentally fall / drop)
So in Adik saya tertidur, it suggests the younger sibling didn’t plan to sleep; they just drifted off.
Malay normally does not change verb forms for tense (past, present, future). The verb stays the same, and time is understood from context or from time words.
Here, the past idea comes from:
- selepas menonton filem = after watching a movie
“After watching” implies the event is completed, so we naturally translate it in English as “fell asleep” (past).
If you wanted, you could make the past clearer with a time word:
- Tadi adik saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
= Earlier, my younger sibling fell asleep on the sofa after watching a movie.
Di is a general locative preposition meaning at / in / on, depending on context.
- di rumah = at home
- di sekolah = at school
- di meja = at the table
- di sofa = on the sofa / at the sofa
Malay doesn’t always distinguish as sharply between “in / on / at” as English does; di covers all of them, and the noun + context tells you which English preposition fits best. In this sentence, “on the sofa” is the most natural translation.
Yes, you can say both:
- di sofa
- di atas sofa
Di atas sofa literally means “on top of the sofa” and is a bit more explicit about physical position. Di sofa is shorter and very common in everyday speech; it already implies “on the sofa.” In most everyday situations, di sofa is perfectly natural.
Selepas means after (in the sense of after an event).
- selepas makan = after eating
- selepas kerja = after work
Lepas is a more informal / colloquial form often used in conversation:
- Lepas makan, saya tidur. (informal)
In more formal or neutral Malay (like writing or careful speech), selepas is preferred. In casual speech, both selepas and lepas are widely used.
In selepas menonton filem, there is no explicit subject; Malay often drops the subject when it’s clear from context.
The subject of menonton filem is understood to be the same as the subject of the main clause, i.e. Adik saya.
So the full idea is:
Adik saya tertidur di sofa selepas (adik saya) menonton filem.
But repeating adik saya is unnecessary, so it’s left out. This dropping of repeated subjects is very common and natural in Malay.
The base verb is tonton = to watch. With the prefix meN-, it becomes menonton, which is the standard active-verb form.
- menonton filem = to watch a movie (more standard/formal)
In conversation, you will also hear:
- tonton filem (dropping the prefix; still fine but less formal)
- tengok filem (very common in informal spoken Malay; tengok = look / watch)
So:
- menonton filem – good in writing, neutral/formal speech
- tengok filem – very common in everyday, casual speech
You just make the gender explicit:
Adik lelaki saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
= My younger brother fell asleep on the sofa after watching a movie.Adik perempuan saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
= My younger sister fell asleep on the sofa after watching a movie.
Adik saya alone is gender-neutral, so adding lelaki (male) or perempuan (female) makes it clear.
Yes. Malay word order is quite flexible with time clauses. Both are correct:
- Adik saya tertidur di sofa selepas menonton filem.
- Selepas menonton filem, adik saya tertidur di sofa.
Moving selepas menonton filem to the front just changes the emphasis a bit (you highlight the sequence “after watching a movie” first), but the meaning stays the same.
Malay does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”. Nouns appear without articles:
- sofa = a sofa / the sofa
- filem = a movie / the movie
Whether you translate it as “a” or “the” in English depends on context, not on a specific word in Malay. You can make it more specific with other words, e.g.:
- sofa itu = that / the sofa
- filem itu = that / the movie
But normally, just sofa and filem are fine.
Filem in Malay corresponds to English “film” / “movie”. It’s a direct borrowing and is used in pretty much the same way:
- tengok filem = watch a movie
- filem seram = horror film
- filem komedi = comedy film
In casual English translation, “movie” is usually the most natural choice.