"Pensil dia hitam dan merah."

Translation: His pencils are black and red.

[XavierLamb9]

Wouldn't the plural form be "pensil-pensil" or "para pensil"?

[Hans_Se]

Yes, i think it is the most correct grammar

but to be honest, indonesia people rarely say "pensil-pensil"

And "para" is usually for living things such as
1. Doctors = Para Dokter / Dokter - Dokter
2. Dogs = Para anjing
3. Men = Para pria
4. Women = Para wanita

Hope it helps

[Deinonysus]

The audio sounded a bit weird to me with a glottal stop in the middle of "dia".

[FaizalZahid]

Yes, should be "di-ya" instead of "di-a"

[duolingotfek]

The "pen" part at "pensil" should be pronounce like "pen" at English word.

There should be no stop in the middle of 'dia'.

[Rhicke1]

I said pensilnya. Why is that different from pensil dia?

[Liam-jamieson]

-nya is used as a possessive for a person or object where it is already clear what posser we are talking about (outside of I or you). Saya Sri owns the pencils in question, and it is already clear that we are talking about pencils that belong to Sri 'pencilnya' would be used. Just as with asking about prices. If asked a shop keeper how much they sell apples for you would ask "Berapa harga apel?" but if you had already established that you we looking to purchase apples and then decided to enquire about the price, you would say "Berapa harganya?" (how much it ITS price)

[EsperantoEthan]

That is a good question, I don't know why you were being downvoted.

[spter6]

How do i know if it is singular or plural?

[VirginiaCh617896]

The frustrating part is that you cannot tell from the sentence whether they are referring to ONE pencil or MANY pencils. The quantity is ambivalent in THIS particular context because usually Indonesians put a quantity in front of the noun or some type of qualifyer like "banyak" or "sedikit". I think it's confusing for new learners to understand that this sentence is automatically referring to "many" pencils.

[blobertcoltrane]

Indonesian is not a very specific-obsessed language like English.
Basically, if the context demands it, use the plural, "pensil-pensil dia".

Otherwise Indonesians will just avoid using plurals in day to day conversation. As for the translation, as people as just learning, they really should use the plural if they give the answer as plural.

[Jelena954348]

How do I know is it singular or plural?

[AVAX3M]

You can't. You need context.

[AVAX3M]

"Pensil dia hitam dan merah." has a variety of English translations:

• Her pencil is black and red.
• His pencil is black and red.
• Its pencil is black and red.
• Her pencils are black and red.
• His pencils are black and red.
• Its pencils are black and red.

[GordonDrum1]

How do I say His black and red pencils.

[Leo508578]

Could it also be "Her black and red pencils"? Or is the possessive word (here: dia) always at the end?

[Lucy65467]

i think that would be 'pencil hitam dan merah dia' or 'pencil hitam dan merahnya'

[AVAX3M]

I think both are correct. It's "pensil" btw.

[Nigel41004]

That would of been my question. Is it spelt with an S or a C?!

[toni557847]

Pensil can be singular too. so why is "his pencil is black and white" wrong? maybe it's striped or checkered.

[AVAX3M]

I think it's accepted now.