"Anda membaca buku."
Translation:You read a book.
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Anda is the (formal) singular form of 'you';
Kamu is the (informal) singular form of 'you';
Kalian is the (formal and informal) plural form of 'you'.
I hope this helps you!
You wrote this to help us wasting your own time thanks a lot....it helped me
Could this not be "You read THE book"? Indonesian doesn't have definite/indefinite articles, does it?
I think that "THE book" would be "buku itu", but sometimes they translate a "the" without "itu", so I'm not 100% sure.
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I agree. Couldn't this also be "You read the book"? I mean the other exercise has "Mereka membaca koran" to be "They read the newspaper." So, if it can be the there why can't it be the here?
"buku itu" is referring to a specific book that's not directly near the speaker: basically "that book". The sentence above is just a general "book".
It would be ini not itu because ini means this and so on and itu means that and so on
"Itu" means "that" but is sometimes used to translate "the". Indonesian doesn't have a definite article so this is optional.
They have several definite articles. As you said "itu" can be used for this (translating "the") or for translating "that".
But they also have "tersebut" that is only definite.
Indonesian does have definite and indefinite articles.
The only difference, is that they don't use them every time. So yes, it can also be "you read the book".
Unless you want to be very un-ambiguous, you would say "Kamu membaca buku itu", or "Kamu membaca bukunya" or "Kamu membaca buku tersebut". There are several possibilities to translate it.
For the indefinite article, it's the same, it's optional, and several ones exist, for instance: sebuah, seekor, etc...
It's very different than English or other languages, because you use the indefinite article according to what you are counting.
For instance "seorang" is for counting persons: a man: seorang pria.
"seekor" for animals: seorang kucing: a cat.
"sebuah" for things, for instance fruit: sebuah piring: a banana.
Etc...
So they do have indefinite and definite articles, the only thing is that they can be omitted.
You (Singular)= Anda (Formal).
You (Singular)= Kamu (Informal).
You (Plural)= Kalian (Formal & Informal).
Hope it hepls.!
Such things should be in the lesson introductions. Then such questions wouldn't be needed.
Questions are always needed. Even if it was in the lesson introduction, not everyone read them, and it's very good to make reminders here. It's the goal of this forum.
Yes, you are right, it can mean "you read books". (or even "the books" depending on some contexts).
I think they both just the same, it means 'You'. But '' Kamu'' is more to someone familiar with or someone with same age/younger. And 'Anda' is more formal than 'Kamu'.
I think formal/informal. Its both correct. It could also differ per region of indonesia. Im not sure, but i heard that Sumatran indonesian for example is often less formal than Javanese indonesian.
It should be accepted, as Indonesian people often omit the articles, even the definite article.
'the' book is not accepted only 'a' book. Can you tell me why please?
Yes and no. Because the use the progressive form is not as strict as it is in English. So, you can have a "I am reading a book" translated with the same kind of sentence than the one that would translate "I read a book" in Indonesian.
But if you really want to mean right now, you have to use "sedang", that will be an equivalent to the English progressive present.
I am reading books: Saya sedang membaca buku (or buku-buku if you want to be clear about the plural).
Correct me if I am vrong. When you speak about a specific item, I have noticed that they add ‘nya’. So to be ‘the book’ should it be bukunya?
I thought that "bukunya" = "buku + (sa)ya" = "my book" / "the book of mine" (the possessive form). But please correct me, native speakers, if I'm wrong.
You are half right, -nya is the possessive form, but it's also used sometimes for translating "the".
So, Saya membaca bukunya, could mean I read his/her book, or sometimes, I read the book (and it could mean plural too).
