Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.

My cat sits between me and my dog on the sofa.

Breakdown of Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.

• duduk: to sit
• kucing: the cat
• anjing: the dog
• dan: and
• saya: my
• di: on
• saya: me
• sofa: the sofa
• di antara: between

Questions & Answers about Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.

Why is it kucing saya and not saya kucing for my cat?

In Malay, possessives normally come after the noun.

• kucing saya = my cat (literally: cat my)
• anjing saya = my dog
• rumah saya = my house

Putting saya before the noun, like saya kucing, is ungrammatical in this meaning.

So the pattern is:

Noun + possessor pronoun
kucing saya, buku kamu, kereta dia, etc.

Why is saya repeated: di antara saya dan anjing saya? Can I just say di antara saya dan anjing?

You can say di antara saya dan anjing, and people will still understand you, but:

• di antara saya dan anjing saya is clearer: between me and *my dog*.
• di antara saya dan anjing could be heard as: between me and *a/the dog* (whose dog? not specified).

Because Malay has no articles like a/the, repeating saya before anjing makes the ownership explicit and natural. It’s common and sounds very normal in everyday speech.

What is the difference between antara and di antara? Could I just say antara saya dan anjing saya?

Both antara and di antara are used in modern Malay:

• antara = between / among
  
  • antara saya dan anjing saya – perfectly acceptable.
• di antara – literally at between, but in practice functions the same, and is very commonly used as a set phrase.

In your sentence, all of these are grammatically okay:

• Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.
• Kucing saya duduk antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.

di antara is slightly more formal or “bookish” in some people’s perception, but both are common, and you will see and hear both.

Is di antara one word or two? I’ve seen dianatara or diantara written sometimes.

Standard Malay spelling keeps them separate:

• di antara ✅ (correct)
• diantara / dianatara ❌ (non‑standard / spelling mistake)

This is the same with other locative prepositions:

• di rumah, di sekolah, di sofa – always written as two words when di is a preposition of place.

Why do we use di for both between and on in this sentence (di antara, di sofa)? Isn’t that confusing?

In this sentence, di is used twice, but in slightly different ways:

1. di antara saya dan anjing saya

   • Many people treat di antara almost as a fixed phrase: in between / between.
   • Here, di
     • antara together indicate a location in between two things.

2. di sofa

   • Here di is the basic preposition meaning at / on / in, depending on the context.
   • di sofa = on the sofa (or at the sofa, but in practice it means on).

Malay uses di broadly for location, and the exact English equivalent (in / on / at) is chosen from context, not from different Malay words.

Why do we say di sofa and not di atas sofa for on the sofa?

Both are correct; they differ slightly in emphasis:

• di sofa – very natural, everyday way to say on the sofa.
• di atas sofa – literally on top of the sofa; a bit more explicit.

Speakers often drop atas when the surface relationship is obvious:

• di kerusi – on the chair
• di katil – on the bed
• di meja – at/on the table

So di sofa is perfectly natural and is what most people would say in casual speech.

Why is there no word for is like in English My cat *is sitting…*?

Malay does not use a linking verb (to be) the way English does in this kind of sentence.

In Malay:

• Kucing saya duduk di antara…
  Literally: My cat sit between…

The verb duduk itself carries the meaning of to sit / is sitting. You don’t need an extra is.

Similarly:

• Dia tidur. – He/She is sleeping. (literally: He/She sleep.)
• Mereka makan. – They are eating.

Is duduk here more like to sit or to be sitting?

Malay verbs generally don’t change form for tense or aspect. duduk can mean:

• sit / sits
• is sitting / are sitting
• was sitting, etc., depending on context.

So:

• Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.
  Could correspond to:
  • My cat sits between me and my dog on the sofa.
  • My cat is sitting between me and my dog on the sofa.

If you need to emphasise aspect, you can add adverbs:

• sedang duduk – in the middle of sitting / currently sitting
  
  • Kucing saya sedang duduk… – My cat is (currently) sitting…

Why is saya used instead of aku? Would Kucing aku duduk… be okay?

Both saya and aku mean I / me, but they differ in formality:

• saya – polite, neutral, used in most situations (with strangers, at work, in writing).
• aku – informal or intimate, with close friends, family, or in casual speech; can sound rude if used in the wrong context.

So:

• Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa. – neutral / polite.
• Kucing aku duduk di antara aku dan anjing aku di sofa. – very casual; fine with close friends, in informal writing, lyrics, etc.

Grammatically both are fine; the choice depends on who you are talking to and the tone you want.

Could I rearrange the sentence and say Kucing saya duduk di sofa di antara saya dan anjing saya?

Yes, that is still grammatical and understandable:

• Kucing saya duduk di sofa di antara saya dan anjing saya.

However, native speakers often prefer the original order because it flows more naturally:

• Kucing saya duduk di antara saya dan anjing saya di sofa.

Malay word order is fairly flexible with location phrases, but you generally place the main location information close to the verb and keep related location phrases together so the sentence is easy to follow.

Why isn’t there any word for the in di sofa? How do you say on the sofa vs on a sofa?

Malay does not have articles like a / an / the.

• di sofa can mean:

  • on the sofa
  • on a sofa

  The exact meaning comes from context:

• If both speakers know which sofa, di sofa is understood as on the sofa.
• If it’s just any sofa, it’s understood as on a sofa.

If you really need to be specific, you can add extra details:

• di sofa itu – on that sofa / the sofa (just mentioned or pointed to)
• di sebuah sofa – on a sofa (introducing a sofa for the first time, more literary/formal)

Can kucing saya mean my cats as well as my cat?

Yes. Malay nouns normally don’t change form for plural:

• kucing – cat / cats
• anjing – dog / dogs

So kucing saya can mean:

• my cat (one)
• my cats (more than one)

Context usually makes it clear. If you need to emphasise plurality, you can add:

• banyak kucing saya – many of my cats
• kucing-kucing saya – my cats (plural marked by reduplication)
• semua kucing saya – all my cats

Could I say di antara saya dengan anjing saya instead of di antara saya dan anjing saya?

Yes. Both are used:

• di antara saya dan anjing saya – between me and my dog
• di antara saya dengan anjing saya – also between me and my dog

dan is the standard word for and.
dengan normally means with, but in this structure antara X dengan Y, it functions similar to between X and Y.

You will hear both patterns. With antar(a), dengan is extremely common:

• antara saya dengan dia
• antara sekolah dengan rumah

Is the possessive structure anjing saya always like this? Are there other ways to say my dog?

The most common way is:

• anjing saya – my dog (neutral/polite)
• anjing aku – my dog (informal)

There is also a short, clitic form in some registers (more colloquial / regional / older style):

• anjingku – my dog
• anjingmu – your dog
• anjingnya – his/her/their dog

In everyday modern Malay, anjing saya and anjing aku are much more commonly used than anjingku, but you will still see -ku / -mu / -nya in writing, songs, and some dialects.