# Indonesian: I have to find my key



## piotrekk_poland

Selamat siang,

Apakah kalimat ini betul?

"I have to find my key because I lost it yesterday"

"Saya harus mencari kunciku karena menghilangkannya kemarin"

Terima kasih


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## Mauricet

I vote for _kehilangan_ (to lose) instead of _menghilangkan_ (to make (something) disappear). Also I wonder if using _saya_ as subject pronoun would require _mencari kunci saya_, or otherwise _Aku harus mencari kunciku_. Note _cari_ is to search, to find would be _menemukan_ (from _temu_, an encounter). Now let's wait for natives' advice !


Selamat malam !


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## spystalker

Well, do you prefer formal or informal of indonesian?

if you want the informal way, your sentence is generally correct.

but if you want the formal way, it would suggest you follow Mauricet's advice


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## piotrekk_poland

Thank you. So would the following corrected sentences be correct in formal Indonesian?

- "I have to *find *my key because I lost it yesterday"

"Saya harus menemukan kunci saya karena kehilangannya kemarin"

- "I have to *look for* my key because I lost it yesterday"

"Saya harus mencari kunci saya karena kehilangannya kemarin"

And do they sound natural to Indonesian native speakers?

Thank you


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## spystalker

Actually the part "I lost it" can be translated into many forms.

But I think "Saya menghilangkannya" and "Saya kehilangannya" are both correct.

and yes your translations sound natural. Don't have to worry much about it.

By the way, are you learning Indonesian because you are doing business with Indonesian people or to communicate with people in Indonesia generally?

Me as Indonesian Born also don't really know the proper Indonesian language.
Most Indonesian people use Slang Indonesian language when talking with people (especially with friends). We also struggled when learning formal Indonesian language in primary & secondary school. Hahahahahaha


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## stupoh

As a native, to make it sounds more natural in my opinion you need to add the subject again (saya) in the second part, so

"Saya harus mencari kunci saya karena saya menghilangkannya kemarin"
"Saya harus mencari kunci saya karena saya kehilangannya kemarin"

And to Mauricet, I completely agree with you, when you use 'saya' as the subject then you usually have to use 'saya' also as the possessive pronoun. Or, use aku and -ku instead.


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## henriyo

piotrekk_poland said:


> "I have to find my key because I lost it yesterday"
> 
> Terima kasih




Saya harus mencari kunci saya karena kemarin hilang.

I give you another alternative.


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## theo1006

spystalker said:


> But I think "Saya menghilangkannya" and "Saya kehilangannya" are both correct.



They are both correct, but have a different meaning,
"Saya menghilangkannya" implies that the speaker lost the key on purpose, made it disappear.
"Saya kehilangannya" has the usual meaning that they key was lost accidentally.

Selamat tahun baru 2010!

Theo


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## Pierre Lucien

What about "Kunciku pasti kucari karena kehilangan kemarin" ?


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## wishbook

theo1006 said:


> They are both correct, but have a different meaning,
> "Saya menghilangkannya" implies that the speaker lost the key on purpose, made it disappear.
> "Saya kehilangannya" has the usual meaning that they key was lost accidentally.
> 
> Selamat tahun baru 2010!
> 
> Theo


"Kehilangannya" is somewhat uncommon in Indonesian.
I prefer "saya menghilangkannya" because it's rather commonly-used by Indonesians.

And "Saya menghilangkannya" doesn't mean that he lost the key by purpose. Is can also means that he lost the key accidentally because of his mistake.


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## theo1006

Pierre Lucien said:


> What about "Kunciku pasti kucari karena kehilangan kemarin" ?



If you mean 'pasti' as a translation for 'have to', this is not correct. 'Pasti' means 'certain, so the sentence would mean: I am certain to search for my key....

On the other hand 'kehilangan' without the suffix '-nya' is ok.  Pronouns are often omitted when it is clear what is implied.  So a natural sentence IMHO can be:

"Kunciku harus kucari karena kemarin kehilangan."

Putting 'kemarin' in front sounds better to me.


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## theo1006

wishbook said:


> "Kehilangannya" is somewhat uncommon in Indonesian.
> I prefer "saya menghilangkannya" because it's rather commonly-used by Indonesians.
> 
> And "Saya menghilangkannya" doesn't mean that he lost the key by purpose. Is can also means that he lost the key accidentally because of his mistake.



Well, this shows the confusion about what is correct Indonesian that Spystalker is referring to.
If we are guided by the Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia published by Balai Pustaka, then:

Kehilangan = menderita sesuatu karena hilang

Menghilangkan = melenyapkan; membuat supaya hilang

On the other hand, if 'Kehilangannya' sounds uncommon, I think this is because usually the sufix '-nya' would be omitted (as I wrote in the previuos post).

Theo


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## wishbook

The truth is, KBBI (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (Grand Dictionary of Indonesian Language)) is not being commonly used as a basis of good Indonesian language in daily lives. Indonesian people nowadays tends to use informal Indonesian language as their primary language, often mixing it with some English (Example, we often use "Download" instead of "Unduh" because to most of us "Download" is better).

While most of Foreign speakers refers to dictionaries to speak right, us Indonesians seldom refers to KBBI for daily speaking. That what makes people from another countries often seen as funny when speaking Indonesian, because he/she is seen as "too formal".

For example, when we are using formal language, "I have to find my key because I lost it yesterday" becomes " Aku harus mencari kunciku karena menghilangkannya kemarin".

But Indonesian people nowadays (ecspecially the ones from Jakarta) translate it into " Gue mesti nyari kunci gue gara-gara kemaren gue nggak sengaja ngilangin tuh kunci"...

Very different, isn't it? I don't recommend using KBBI when trying to communicate casually with Indonesians (But it's ok when our intention is talking formally with someone).


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## Pierre Lucien

Very interesting remark, wishbook. One speaks _bahasa gaul_. The KBBI and "Indonesian grammar" are just for official use. But the _lingua franca_ cannot be the _bahasa gaul Jakarta_ nor _Betawi_... It must be a kind of reasonably grammatical (thus understandable) Indonesian. However, I'm always dreaming of a language which would be the same when spoken or written. 

Salam !


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## adrnstyd

piotrekk_poland said:


> Selamat siang,
> 
> Apakah kalimat ini betul?
> 
> "I have to find my key because I lost it yesterday"
> 
> "Saya harus mencari kunciku karena menghilangkannya kemarin"
> 
> Terima kasih



The supposedly correct translation is "Saya harus menemukan kunci saya karena menghilangkannya kemarin."
But I would prefer to say, "Saya harus menemukan kunci saya yang hilang kemarin". 
Because it simpler that way. Nobody would care who lost it. The important part of the sentence is that you want to find your key. And "yang hilang kemarin" would explain that key that you want to find is the one that lost yesterday.


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## endiyododo

indonesian people will understand what you say,and its ok.but i think you may do some variety like this one:


Saya_ harus[Have to] mencari[find] kunci-ku[my-key] karena[because] i[saya] lost[menghilangkan] nya[it] kemaren[yesterday]

Saya harus[have to] mencari[find] kunci[the key] saya[that belongs to me] karena[because] kunci-saya[my key] hilang[is lost] kemarin[yesterday_


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## Ridwan Nurhayat

Colloquially I would say: "saya harus mencari kunci karena kemarin hilang".


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## 南島君

Hi all,

I think i would probably say:

saya harus mencari kunciku kerananya terhilang kelmarin.
_I have to find my key for i lost it yesterday (accidentally)._

or

saya harus mencari kunciku kerana aku menghilangkannya kelmarin.
_I have to find my key for i lost it[literally: i make it lost / i cause it to be no where to be found] yesterday._


lc


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## stupoh

南島君 said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I think i would probably say:
> 
> saya harus mencari kunciku kerananya terhilang kelmarin.
> _I have to find my key for i lost it yesterday (accidentally)._
> 
> or
> 
> saya harus mencari kunciku kerana aku menghilangkannya kelmarin.
> _I have to find my key for i lost it[literally: i make it lost / i cause it to be no where to be found] yesterday._
> 
> 
> lc



Your sentences sound like Malaysian not Indonesian. I think _kerana_ is a Malaysian word, in Indonesian it's _karena_. And it's not _kelmarin_ but _kemarin_. Also, since you use _saya_ in the beginning, it sounds awkward to use _-ku_ after, it's more natural to also use _saya_ instead.


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## 南島君

Hi stupoh,

I am clearly aware of the difference of spelling regarding Malaysian Malay and Indonesian, however, I intentionally put it in Malaysian Malay spelling, to show that i am giving out a variant of Indonesian (or Malay), hoping that the readers would be aware of too.

Thank you for the "saya ~ aku" comment. I'll take it.


lc


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