- Forum >
- Topic: Indonesian >
- "Anda membaca buku."
49 Comments
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!
Anda is for one person, if you want to say "you-plural" you have to say "kalian"
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.
Dialect also. No Accents - dialects only - especially round Java region. Plus the educational /economic divide. Not only informal/formal - class.
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.
"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".
No. The use of the articles in Indonesian is not so strict than in other languages. This sentence could also be used for "the" book.
If you consider the presence of "the" is required in the Indonesian sentence to have this "the" in the English sentence, you will have great problems with translations, or reading Indonesian books, or even doing Duolingo exercises.
703
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?
It would be ini not itu because ini means this and so on and itu means that and so on
- 285
"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.
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.
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).
It's interesting that "membaca", or rather its root word "baca", sounds very similar to Polish "baczyć" (pronounced as "batchyit') which means "to look (out)", "to watch" (the latter English word also sounding oddly similar, if you affricate the "b" into "w" and do a vowel change a→o). It seems to be derived from the same root as the proto-Slavic "ob + ačit'" = "to look at from all around" ("to examine"), where "ači" = eyes ;) So there's clearly something going on here, they're all related to using your eyes to look at something from multiple sides / examining, and reading is basically that: you use your eyes to read the text by examining it letter by letter ;)
Textbook would be "buku pelajaran". Pelajaran means lesson (same root than belajar, to study).
It's kamu and kalian.
It was explained by other users on this page. Kamu is the normal you, singular, and kalian is the plural you.
For the formal you, sing or plur, it's Anda.
No "kita" is we, not you. It's the inclusive we, (we= we including the person with who you are talking to).
You all is kalian.
