Saya baru tiba di rumah.

I have just arrived home.

Breakdown of Saya baru tiba di rumah.

• saya: I
• di: at
• rumah: the home
• tiba: to arrive
• baru: newly

Questions & Answers about Saya baru tiba di rumah.

What does each word in Saya baru tiba di rumah literally mean?

Word by word:

• Saya = I / me
• baru = just / only recently (also “new” in other contexts)
• tiba = arrive
• di = at / in / on (a location preposition)
• rumah = house / home

So the sentence is literally: “I just arrived at home.”

Does baru here mean “new” like in “a new house”?

No. In this sentence baru means “just (now)” / “only recently” and describes when the action happened:

• Saya baru tiba di rumah. = I’ve just arrived home.

When baru comes before a verb, it usually means “just did (something)”.
When baru comes after a noun, it usually means “new”:

• rumah baru = a new house
• Saya tiba di rumah baru. = I arrived at the new house. (different meaning!)

Why is there no word for “have” like in “I have just arrived”?

Malay usually doesn’t use a separate verb like English “have” to form this kind of tense.
Instead, it uses time/aspect words such as:

• baru = just (now)
• sudah / telah = already
• akan = will

So Saya baru tiba di rumah already contains the idea of “have just” through baru, and Malay doesn’t need an extra “have” verb to say that.

Why is it di rumah and not ke rumah?

• di = at / in (location, where something/someone is)
• ke = to / towards (direction, where something is going)

With tiba (“arrive”), we talk about the place where you end up, so we use di:

• tiba di rumah = arrive at home

If you focus on the movement, you use ke with a motion verb like pergi (“go”):

• Saya pergi ke rumah. = I go to the house / I’m going home.

Can I leave out Saya and just say Baru tiba di rumah?

Yes, you can. In conversation it’s common to drop the subject when it’s obvious from context:

• Baru tiba di rumah. = (I) just arrived home.

However:

• Without Saya, it could theoretically mean “(He/She/They) just arrived home” depending on context.
• In writing or when you want to be very clear, keep Saya.

Is Saya formal? Could I say Aku baru tiba di rumah?

• Saya is polite and neutral; safe in almost all situations (work, strangers, older people).
• Aku is informal and intimate, used with close friends, siblings, sometimes your partner.

Both are grammatically correct:

• Saya baru tiba di rumah. (neutral/polite)
• Aku baru tiba di rumah. (casual, with people close to you)

With strangers, adults, or in writing, Saya is the better default.

What’s the difference between tiba and sampai?

Both can mean “arrive”, but there are some tendencies:

• tiba

  • Slightly more formal / neutral.
  • Often used in announcements, writing, or more careful speech.

• sampai

  • Very everyday / colloquial.
  • Extremely common in speech and messages.

Examples:

• Saya baru tiba di rumah. (neutral/formal)
• Saya baru sampai rumah. (very natural, casual)

Note: with sampai, di is often dropped in speech: sampai rumah, not necessarily sampai di rumah.

Is it correct to write dirumah as one word?

No, not in this sentence.

• As a preposition, di must be written separately:
  
  • di rumah = at home
• When di- is used as a prefix in passive verbs, it is written together with the verb:
  
  • dibaca = (is/was) read
  • ditulis = (is/was) written

Here, di is a preposition showing location, so it must be separate: di rumah, not dirumah.

Does di rumah mean “at a house” or specifically “at my house”?

Literally, di rumah just means “at (a/the) house”.
However, in normal conversation, when you say it about yourself, it almost always means:

• Saya di rumah. = I’m at home (my own home).

If you want to be very explicit:

• di rumah saya = at my house
• di rumah dia = at his/her house

How would I say “He has just arrived home” or “They have just arrived home”?

You keep the structure and change the subject:

• Dia baru tiba di rumah.
  = He/She has just arrived home.

• Mereka baru tiba di rumah.
  = They have just arrived home.

As in English, dia can mean either he or she; Malay doesn’t distinguish gender here.

How do I change this sentence to future or past without baru?

Use time words or aspect markers:

1. Simple past (no “just”)

   • Saya tiba di rumah semalam. = I arrived home yesterday.
   • Saya sudah tiba di rumah. = I have already arrived home.

2. Future

   • Saya akan tiba di rumah nanti. = I will arrive home later.
   • Saya akan tiba di rumah pada pukul 7. = I will arrive home at 7 o’clock.

Malay verb forms don’t change; you add words like semalam, tadi, sudah, akan, nanti to show time.

If I say Saya tiba di rumah baru, what does that mean?

That changes the meaning:

• Saya baru tiba di rumah.
  = I have just arrived home. (baru modifies the verb tiba)

• Saya tiba di rumah baru.
  = I arrived at the new house. (baru modifies the noun rumah)

Position of baru is important:

• baru + verb → just (did something)
• noun + baru → new (noun)

How do you pronounce Saya baru tiba di rumah?

A rough English-based guide:

• Saya → SAH-yah
• baru → BAH-roo
• tiba → TEE-bah
• di → dee
• rumah → ROO-mah

Malay syllables are usually pronounced clearly and evenly, with no strong stress like in English:

sa-ya ba-ru ti-ba di ru-mah (6 clear syllables).