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Sudah Membaca Surat, Belum? which means Has He Read the Letter Yet?
Written by Maryati
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Voice of Indonesia presents Let’s Speak Indonesian, a program that introduces the Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to speak in the language. Mari Berbahasa Indonesia or Let’s Speak Indonesian is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development Agency of the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. Today’s topic is about Kerja dari Rumah which means Work from Home.
Here is the conversation entitled Sudah Membaca Surat, Belum? which means Has He Read the Letter Yet? Kevin and Ayu are working from home. They are having an online meeting. Kevin wants to know if the director has read letter of agreement that is discussed in the meeting or not. Let’s read to the conversation.
|
Kevin |
Bu Ayu, maaf, Pak Direktur sudah membaca suratnya, belum? |
|
Ayu |
Sudah. Pak Direktur setuju dengan isi suratnya. |
After reading to the conversation, now I am going to introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic of the day.
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direktur |
(2x) which means director |
|
sudah membaca |
(2x) which means has read |
|
suratnya |
(2x) which means the letter |
|
belum |
(2x) which means not yet |
|
setuju |
(2x) which means agree |
|
dengan |
(2x) which means with |
|
isi |
(2x) which means the content |
|
Pak Direktur sudah membaca suratnya, belum? |
(2x) which means Has the director read the letter yet? |
|
Sudah. Pak Direktur setuju. |
(2x) which means Yes, he has. He agrees on it. |
In the dialog, you hear a question Pak Direktur sudah membaca suratnya, belum? which means Has the director read the letter yet? In the question, there is the word belum which is placed in the end with high note. It is usually used to know if someone has done something. In the dialog context between Ayu and Kevin, Kevin wants to know if the director has read the letter of agreement that they are discussing in the meeting or not.
Let’s read to the other examples to know if someone has done something or not.
Ayu :Pak Kevin sudah makan siang, belum?which means Mr. Kevin, have you had lunch yet?
Kevin : Sudah, Bu which means Yes, I have, ma’am
Kevin : Apakah Ibu sudah makan siang? which means Have you had lunch yet, ma’am?
Ayu : Belum which means Not yet
In writing, a position is not preceded by honorifics. Honorific is better to be followed by name. However, in daily speech, the speaker sometimes does not mention the name of a person who is a state official or has a higher rank than him. He just mentions the position preceded by honorific. For example, Pak Direktur and Ibu Menteri which means Mr. Director and Ms. Minister.
That was “Let’s Speak Indonesian” for today. Hopefully, this edition can be useful for those of you who want to know more about Indonesian language.
