INI =
"this" (close to the speaker), ITU = "that" (close to the hearer), and they FOLLOW
the nouns they modify:
Orang itu tinggal di Dekalb.
"That person lives in DeKalb."
Orang ini bukan orang Jepang. "This
person is not a Japanese person."
HOWEVER, in some sentences, it looks like "ini" and "itu" come in front of the noun:
Apa itu?
"What is that?"
Ini becak.
"That's a pedicab."
Ini mobil siapa?
"Whose car is that?"
Itu mobil kakak saya. "That's my older
brother's car."
To think this through, consider the following:
There is a book on the chair next to your friend. You both can see it, but you’re not sure whose it is. In English, you might ask, "Whose book is that?" or "Is that your book?" Your friend checks, and says "This is John’s book," or maybe "This isn’t my book, it’s John’s book." When either of you say "that" or "this" it’s clear from the context that you’re both referring to the book. IF IT WEREN’T CLEAR -- say the book was under the chair, and you could see it but your friend couldn’t -- and you said "Is that your book?" your friend might not know what you meant, and might say "Is what my book? I don’t see any book?!" You could then make things clearer by saying "Is that book (pointing to the book under the chair) your book?" Also more clear would be your friend’s answer of "No, this book isn’t my book -- this book is John’s book." Saying "this book" or "that book" instead of "this" or "that" is still pointing out the same thing, but it spells things out and makes it clearer exactly what you’re talking about.
Now: In Indonesian, you can do the same sort of thing, only you have to remember that instead of saying "that book" or "this book" you say "buku itu" or "buku ini". You can also assume from context that your hearerHowever, it isn’t as obvious where the sentence divides up -- English has the word "is" to help make this clear.* This means you can have sentences where the word "itu" comes in front of the word "buku" -- but the two words are in different parts of the sentence. Most importantly, IT DOESN’T MEAN YOU CAN SAY "ITU BUKU" to mean "that book."
Study the following sentences:
| YOU SAY: | YOUR FRIEND SAYS: |
| Itu buku siapa? [Whose book is that?] | Ini buku John. [This is John’s book.] |
| (Apakah) itu buku Anda? [Is that your book?] | Bukan, ini buku John. [No, this is John’s book.] |
| Ini bukan buku saya, ini buku John.[This isn’t my book, this is John's book.] | |
| Buku itu buku siapa?[Whose book is that book?] | Buku ini buku John.[This book is John’s book.] |
| (Apakah) buku itu buku Anda?[Is that book your book?] | Bukan, buku ini buku John.[No, this book is John’s book.] |
| Buku ini bukan buku saya , buku ini buku John.[This book isn’t my book, this book is John's book.] |
* there IS a word for SOME kinds of "is" which we'll talk more about in Topic 2, specifically "adalah," which indicates that A is the same as B -- "A adalah B":
You don’t have to have adalah in the above sentences (although you could, because you are talking about a thing ["this book"] being the same as another thing ["your book"]):
Question: Answer:
Itu adalah buku siapa? [Whose book is that?]
Ini adalah buku John. [This is Johns book.]
(Apakah) itu adalah buku Anda?
Bukan, ini adalah buku John. [No, this is John’s book.]
[Is that your book?]
Ini bukan buku saya, ini adalah buku John.
[This isn’t my book, this is John’s book.]
Buku itu adalah buku siapa?
Buku ini adalah buku John.
[Whose book is that book?]
[This book is John’s book.]
(Apakah) buku itu adalah buku Anda?
Bukan, buku ini adalah buku John
[Is that book your book?] .
[No, this book is John’s book.]
Buku ini bukan buku saya , buku ini adalah buku John.
[This book isn’t my book, this book is John's book.]