Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa.

My cat sleeps beside me on the sofa.

Breakdown of Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa.

• kucing: the cat
• tidur: to sleep
• saya: my
• di: on
• saya: me
• sofa: the sofa
• di sisi: at the side of

Questions & Answers about Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa.

Why is it kucing saya and not saya kucing if it means my cat?

In Malay, possessives normally come after the noun, not before it.

• kucing saya
  
  • literally: cat I / my
  • meaning: my cat

If you said saya kucing, it would sound like a sentence fragment meaning I (am a) cat, not my cat.

So the normal pattern is:

• noun + pronoun → kucing saya (my cat)
• noun + noun → rumah Ali (Ali’s house)
• noun + name → kereta Maria (Maria’s car)

Why is saya repeated? Can I say Kucing saya tidur di sisi di sofa?

You need saya the second time to show whose side it is.

• di sisi saya = by my side / beside me
  
  • di = at / in / on
  • sisi = side
  • saya = my / me

If you only say di sisi, it just means at the side, but doesn’t say whose side.

• Kucing saya tidur di sisi di sofa is ungrammatical, because sisi needs something after it (usually a pronoun or a noun):
  • di sisi saya (by my side)
  • di sisi kucing itu (by that cat’s side)

So you really do need saya twice:

• once to show my cat (kucing saya)
• once to show beside me (di sisi saya)

Does tidur mean sleeps or is sleeping? Where is the tense?

Tidur by itself has no tense. It just means sleep / to sleep.

Malay usually does not mark tense on the verb the way English does. Context (and sometimes time words) tells you whether it is past, present, or future.

This sentence can be understood as:

• My cat sleeps by my side on the sofa. (habitual)
• My cat is sleeping by my side on the sofa. (right now)

If you really want to emphasize right now, you can add sedang:

• Kucing saya sedang tidur di sisi saya di sofa.
  → clearly is sleeping (currently)

For past or future, you could add time words:

• tadi (earlier), semalam (last night), nanti (later), etc.

Why do we have di twice: di sisi and di sofa? Can we just use di once?

Each prepositional phrase in Malay normally needs its own di.

• di sisi saya = at/by my side
• di sofa = on/at the sofa

You can’t say ✗ di sisi saya sofa or ✗ di sisi saya di sofa with only one di governing both nouns; that would be confusing or ungrammatical.

So the pattern here is:

• tidur [verb] + di sisi saya [1st location] + di sofa [2nd location]

Think of it as:

• sleeps (tidur) + at my side (di sisi saya) + on the sofa (di sofa)
  Each location phrase gets its own di.

What exactly does di sisi saya mean? Is it the same as next to me?

Di sisi saya literally means at my side. In natural English, that’s usually beside me or next to me.

There are several similar expressions:

• di sisi saya – at my side (a bit more neutral/formal)
• di sebelah saya – next to me (very common, everyday)
• di samping saya – by my side / alongside me (can sound a bit more literary/polite)
• di tepi saya – at my side / at the edge by me (sometimes more physical, like edge/side)

In this sentence, di sisi saya is perfectly natural and means the cat is right next to you, not far away on the sofa.

Why is it di sofa and not di atas sofa? Don’t we normally say on the sofa?

Malay often uses di alone for locations where English would say on, in, or at, especially with common places like meja (table), katil (bed), sofa, kerusi (chair).

• di sofa can mean on the sofa or at the sofa, depending on context.

You can also say:

• di atas sofa = literally on top of the sofa

The difference:

• di sofa – usual, natural, enough for everyday speech.
• di atas sofa – a bit more explicit about being on top of it, useful when you want to contrast with, say, di belakang sofa (behind the sofa) or di bawah sofa (under the sofa).

In your sentence, di sofa is completely natural and normal.

How do I know if kucing is singular or plural? Does it mean cat or cats?

By itself, kucing is number-neutral. It can mean cat or cats, depending on context.

To make it clearly one cat, you can add a classifier:

• seekor kucing = one cat (animal classifier ekor)
• Kucing saya could be understood as my cat or my cats, but most people will assume one unless context says otherwise.

To make it clearly plural, you have options:

• beberapa ekor kucing = several cats
• kucing-kucing = cats (reduplication for plural)
• kucing saya semua = all my cats

In your sentence, Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa, most listeners will naturally picture one cat unless you’ve been talking about multiple cats already.

Could I say kucingku instead of kucing saya? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say kucingku, but the tone/register is different.

• kucing saya

  • neutral, standard, polite
  • suitable for almost any situation

• kucingku

  • -ku is a clitic pronoun for I/my
  • sounds more literary, poetic, or emotional, or sometimes old-fashioned in everyday speech
  • common in songs, poetry, or very affectionate speech: sayangku, hatiku, etc.

For normal conversation, kucing saya is the safest and most natural choice.
Kucingku would be more like my dear cat / my beloved cat in some contexts.

Why is it saya and not aku in this sentence?

Malay has two common words for I / me:

• saya – polite, neutral, used in most situations: talking to strangers, older people, formal contexts, and even many casual contexts.
• aku – more intimate, informal, used with close friends, family, or in lyrics, poetry, and when expressing strong feelings.

You could say:

• Kucing aku tidur di sisi aku di sofa.

That would be grammatical, but it sounds more casual/intimate and may feel a bit rough depending on context and who you’re talking to.

As a learner, using saya is safer and still completely natural.

Can I change the order of the location phrases, like Kucing saya tidur di sofa di sisi saya?

Yes, you can move the two di-phrases, and it will still be grammatical:

• Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa.
• Kucing saya tidur di sofa di sisi saya.

Both can be understood as:

• My cat sleeps / is sleeping next to me on the sofa.

Nuance:

• di sisi saya di sofa feels like: first focusing on the fact that it’s by your side, and that this happens on the sofa.
• di sofa di sisi saya sounds slightly more like: first placing the action on the sofa, then clarifying the position by my side.

The difference is subtle, and many native speakers wouldn’t feel a strong distinction here. The original order you have is very natural.

Where is the word for the or a in this sentence? How do articles work in Malay?

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

• Kucing saya can mean:
  • my cat
  • the cat of mine
  • a cat that belongs to me

There is no separate word for the or a; you infer definiteness and number from context.

If you really need to specify one cat, you can say:

• Seekor kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa. (one of my cats is sleeping by my side on the sofa)

But normally, Kucing saya tidur di sisi saya di sofa is enough to mean My cat is sleeping by my side on the sofa.

Is di in this sentence the same di- as the passive prefix in Malay verbs?

No. Here, di is a separate word functioning as a preposition meaning in / at / on.

• di sisi saya – at/by my side
• di sofa – on/at the sofa

The passive prefix di- attaches directly to a verb with no space:

• ambil (take) → diambil (is taken / was taken)
• buat (do/make) → dibuat (is done / was done)

In your sentence:

• di is followed by sisi (a noun) and sofa (a noun),
• there is a space,
  so these are prepositions, not passive verb prefixes.