When to use it
Use it to ask whether guests or relatives arrived the night before.
The sentence in English (“Did they arrive last night?”)
"Did they arrive last night?" uses "did" for the past question; "last night" is a fixed expression.
- Did
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: past · auxiliary that makes a question in the past
- they
- pronounpersonal pronoun, third person plural
- arrive
- verbarrive · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · after "did" the verb stays in its base form
- last
- adjectiveadjective; "last night" means the night before today
- night
- nounnoun
The sentence in Indonesian (“Apakah mereka sudah tiba tadi malam?”)
"Apakah mereka sudah tiba tadi malam?" uses "sudah" and "tadi malam" (earlier tonight) for the past.
- Apakah
- particleopens a yes/no question
- mereka
- pronoun"they"
- sudah
- adverb"already"
- tiba
- verbtiba · form: root · "arrive"
- tadi
- adverb"earlier"; "tadi malam" = last night
- malam
- noun"night"
What changes from one language to the other (English × Indonesian)
English changes the verb system (did + arrive); Indonesian adds time words and "sudah". "Last night" becomes "tadi malam".
Example conversation
— Apakah mereka sudah tiba tadi malam?
— Did they arrive last night?
— Sudah, sekitar jam sebelas.
— Yes, around eleven.