Log inSign up

Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.

Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
I sit at the table and read a history book.

Breakdown of Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.

saya
I
duduk
to sit
di
at
buku
the book
sejarah
the history
membaca
to read
dan
and
meja
the desk
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Malay grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Malay now

Questions & Answers about Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.

What does duduk mean here? Does it mean sit, am sitting, or live (like “I live in…”)?

In this sentence, duduk means to sit / be sitting:

  • Saya duduk di meja ≈ I sit / I am sitting at the table.

Malay verbs do not change form for tense, so duduk can mean:

  • sit (habitual)
  • am sitting (right now)
  • sat (past)

Context usually tells you which one is meant.
Duduk can also mean live / reside in other sentences, for example:

  • Saya duduk di Kuala Lumpur. = I live in Kuala Lumpur.

Here, because of di meja and membaca buku sejarah, it clearly means sit / be sitting, not live.

Why is it di meja and not something like di atas meja? How do I say “at the table” vs “on the table”?

Malay uses di quite flexibly, and one preposition can cover both English at and on, depending on the object.

  • di meja most naturally means at the table (your body is at the table, probably on a chair).
  • di atas meja means on (top of) the table (physically on the surface).

So:

  • Saya duduk di meja. = I am sitting at the table.
  • Buku itu di atas meja. = The book is on the table.

You could say Saya duduk di atas kerusi di meja (“I sit on a chair at the table”), but in normal speech di meja is enough to imply “at the table”.

In English I say “I am sitting at the table.” Why is there no word like “am” in Saya duduk di meja?

Malay does not use a separate verb like “to be” for continuous actions.

  • English: I am sitting at the table.
  • Malay: Saya duduk di meja. (literally “I sit at table”)

The verb itself (duduk) covers the idea of “am sitting”. If you want to make the “right now” feeling very clear, you can add sedang:

  • Saya sedang duduk di meja. = I am (currently) sitting at the table.

But even without sedang, Saya duduk di meja is usually understood as “I am sitting at the table” if the context is present-time.

How do I know if this sentence is in the past, present, or future? There’s no tense in duduk or membaca.

Malay verbs do not conjugate for tense. Time is shown by:

  1. Time words:

    • semalam (yesterday)
    • tadi (earlier)
    • esok (tomorrow), etc.

  2. Aspect markers (optional):

    • sudah / telah = already (completed)
    • sedang = in the middle of (ongoing)
    • akan = will (future)

Applied to your sentence:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    Can mean:

    • I sit / am sitting and read / am reading
    • I sat and read (context decides)

  • Tadi saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    = Earlier I sat at the table and read a history book.

  • Sekarang saya sedang duduk di meja dan sedang membaca buku sejarah.
    = Now I am sitting at the table and reading a history book.

So the bare verb form is neutral; time comes from context or added words.

Why is it Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah and not Saya duduk di meja dan saya membaca buku sejarah? Can you drop the second saya like that?

Yes. In Malay, when two verbs share the same subject, it’s very normal to say the subject once and then list the actions:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    = I sit at the table and (I) read a history book.

This is natural and not considered incomplete.
If you repeat saya, it’s still grammatically correct:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan saya membaca buku sejarah.

Repeating saya can sound:

  • a bit heavier/more emphatic, or
  • like you want to stress the second action.

In everyday conversation, people usually omit the repeated subject if it’s clear.

What’s the difference between saya and aku? Could I say Aku duduk di meja… here?

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

  • saya

    • Neutral, polite, safe in almost all situations
    • Used with strangers, older people, formal settings, and also often with friends

  • aku

    • Informal, intimate
    • Used with close friends, siblings, sometimes to children or in casual speech

So:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    = polite/neutral; appropriate almost anywhere.

  • Aku duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    = casual; fine among close friends or in writing like diaries, songs.

For a learner, default to saya until you understand local norms.

Why is it membaca and not just baca? Are both possible?

The base verb is baca (to read).
Membaca is the meN- form of the verb (me + baca → membaca), often used in:

  • more formal or standard sentences
  • when the verb clearly takes an object

In your sentence, both are grammatically possible:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
  • Saya duduk di meja dan baca buku sejarah.

Differences:

  • membaca: more formal/standard, textbook style.
  • baca: very common in casual conversation; still correct.

You will hear baca a lot in speech:

  • Saya baca buku sejarah. = I read a history book / I’m reading a history book.
How do I know if buku sejarah means “a history book”, “the history book”, or “history books” (plural)? There are no articles or plural markers.

Malay usually doesn’t mark:

  • articles (a, an, the)
  • plural (book vs books)

So buku sejarah can mean:

  • a history book
  • the history book
  • history books (in general/context)

Context decides which feels right in English.

If you want to be more explicit:

  • sebuah buku sejarah = a / one history book
  • buku-buku sejarah = history books (plural, more than one)
  • buku sejarah itu = that / the history book
  • beberapa buku sejarah = several history books

In your sentence:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    Normally translated as I am reading a history book, unless context says otherwise.
Why is the word order buku sejarah, not sejarah buku? Which one is the noun and which one is describing?

In buku sejarah:

  • buku = book
  • sejarah = history

Malay basic rule: describing words usually come after the main noun.

So:

  • buku sejarah = book (of) history → history book
  • buku merah = red book (merah = red)
  • guru bahasa = language teacher (bahasa = language)

Sejarah here works like a descriptive/qualifying noun that comes after the main noun (buku).
Sejarah buku would literally be something like “the history of a book”, and is not what you want for “history book”.

Can I change the word order of the whole sentence, like say Saya membaca buku sejarah di meja? Does it mean the same thing?

Yes, you can rearrange the adverbial part (di meja) without changing the basic meaning:

  • Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
    = I sit at the table and read a history book.

  • Saya duduk dan membaca buku sejarah di meja.
  • Saya membaca buku sejarah di meja.

All can mean that the reading happens at the table.

Subtle differences:

  • Putting di meja earlier can emphasize where you are (“at the table, I read…”).
  • Putting di meja at the end is very natural and common: place usually comes after the main action.

For beginners, it’s safe to keep place phrases like di meja near the end of the clause.

What is the difference between di as a separate word (like di meja) and di- attached to a verb (dibaca)?

Malay has:

  1. Preposition di (separate word) = at / in / on

    • Always written separately from nouns:
      • di meja (at the table)
      • di rumah (at home)
      • di sekolah (at school)

  2. Prefix di- attached to verbs = passive marker

    • Written together with the verb:
      • dibaca = is read / was read
      • ditulis = is written / was written
      • dimakan = is eaten / was eaten

Spelling rule:

  • Place word → di
    • space + noun: di meja
  • Passive verb → di- stuck to the verb: dibaca

Your sentence uses the preposition: di meja.

How formal or informal is this whole sentence Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah?

This sentence is neutral and appropriate almost anywhere:

  • Saya → polite/neutral “I”
  • duduk, membaca, buku sejarah → standard vocabulary
  • No slang

You could say this in:

  • writing (essays, exams)
  • polite conversation
  • everyday speech

To make it more casual, people might say:

  • Saya duduk kat meja dan baca buku sejarah.
    • kat = informal / colloquial for di in some regions
    • baca instead of membaca

But your original sentence is perfectly natural and safe.

How do I pronounce sejarah, and where is the stress?

Sejarah is pronounced: se-JA-rah

  • se: like sir without the r, a short neutral vowel (schwa)
  • ja: like “jah”, open a as in “father”
  • rah: ra with a light h at the end (not strongly aspirated)

Stress in Malay is usually on the second-last (penultimate) syllable, so here:

  • se-JA-rah (stress on JA)

Rough breakdown:

  • sa-: quick, light
  • -JAR-: strong
  • -ah: light, final

So when you say the sentence:

Saya duduk di meja dan membaca buku sejarah.
→ SA-ya DU-duk di ME-ja dan mem-BA-ca BU-ku se-JA-rah.

(Uppercase syllables show where the stress is slightly stronger.)