Questions & Answers about Dompet saya hilang di taman.
Why does saya come after dompet instead of before it? Why not saya dompet?
In Malay, possessives normally follow the noun they modify:
- dompet saya = my wallet
- rumah saya = my house
- kereta saya = my car
So the normal pattern is:
[noun] + [possessor-pronoun]
Putting saya before the noun (e.g. saya dompet) is ungrammatical in standard Malay when you mean my wallet. Saya before a noun is usually just the subject I, not a possessor.
So:
- Dompet saya hilang di taman. = My wallet is lost in the park.
- Saya hilang dompet di taman. = I lost a wallet in the park. (different structure and meaning)
Is hilang a verb or an adjective here? Is it more like is lost or lost?
Hilang in Malay can function both as:
- a verb: to disappear, to be lost
- a stative verb / adjective-like word: missing, gone
In Dompet saya hilang di taman, hilang is basically saying is lost / has gone missing. You do not need an extra verb like is:
- English: My wallet is lost.
- Malay: Dompet saya hilang.
There is no separate verb like here. itself carries the meaning .