18 Comments
Hmm.... it seems that the possessives in Indonesian work different. Ini punya kamu sounds like "this is what you have".
Yes, you can say that. Indonesian is very flexible with word order. Normally I would say "kamu punya ini" (you have this), but Indonesians sometimes switch it up this way to emphasize the "ini" instead of the "kamu". THIS, you have; instead of YOU have this.
Thanks! I like that flexibility with word order. In spanish there is also a similar flexibility.
I once got in to an argument with my wife trying to figure out exactly how the grammar of this sentence works, and the lightbulb moment was when I realised that "punya" is not a verb, but a noun meaning "property". So the sentence reads "This (is) property you" = This is your property.
So "punya" is a base word meaning "property", so the verb "to own" is "mempunyai". In Casual speech, the affixes can be dropped back to "Punya" which is how we then can have the sentence "Kamu punya ini" = "You own this" - as opposed to "You (are) this's property"
Confusing. I Love It.
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Hmm... we could interpret "punya" as meaning two things at once perhaps? "Property" as in the object that is owned, and "property" as in the state of owning something? "Kamu punya ini" = "You are this property [this particular instance of ownership]." Anyway, thanks for the explanation! ^,^
Is it possible to translate it as here below as well?
1) Ini punyamu. 2) Ini punya Anda.
I don't think this is totally correct but I wrote "You have this" and it fits fairly good but didn't get the point
The difference is the focus of the sentence. In the Indonesian sentence, "This" is emphasised, whereas in "You have this", "You" is emphasised.
Yes because "ini" is the subject of the sentence. "You own this" changes the emphasis.
