When to use it
Use it in the street to ask where to catch the bus. "Permisi" (excuse me) first sounds polite.
The sentence in English (“Where is the bus stop?”)
"Where is the bus stop?" opens with "where", then the verb "is", then the subject "the bus stop", a compound of two words.
- Where
- adverbquestion word asking about place
- is
- verbbe · tense: present · person: third · number: singular · form of "to be"; here it says where something is
- the
- determinerdefinite article
- bus
- nounnoun; it says what kind of stop
- stop
- nounnoun; the main word of "bus stop"
The sentence in Indonesian (“Di mana halte busnya?”)
"Di mana halte busnya?" has no verb at all: Indonesian does not need "to be" here. "Di mana" means where, and the ending -nya on "bus" works like "the".
- Di
- prepositionpreposition of place: "at, in"
- mana
- pronounquestion word: "where"; "di mana" = "where"
- halte
- nounnoun: "stop"
- busnya
- nounbus + -nya, "the bus"; -nya makes it definite
What changes from one language to the other (English × Indonesian)
English needs the verb "is"; Indonesian leaves it out. English puts "the" before the noun; Indonesian adds -nya after it. In both, the word for the kind of stop (bus) sits next to "stop", but the order is reversed: "bus stop" and "halte bus".
Example conversation
— Permisi, di mana halte busnya?
— Excuse me, where is the bus stop?
— Di seberang jalan itu.
— Just across the street.