Root word Root verb Plural form Other Austronesian languages (especially those in western Indonesia) commonly use
reduplication to create plural forms. However, Sundanese inserts the
ar infix into the stem word. If the stem word starts with
l, or contains
r following the infix, the infix
ar becomes
al. Also, as with other Sundanese infixes (such as
um), if the word starts with vowel, the infix becomes a prefix. Examples: •
Mangga téh, tarahuna haneut kénéh. "Please ma'am, the bean curds are still warm/hot." The plural form of
tahu 'bean curd, tofu' is formed by infixing
ar after the initial consonant. •
Barudak leutik lalumpatan. "Small children running around."
Barudak "children" is formed from
budak (child) with the
ar infix; in
lumpat (run) the
ar infix becomes
al because
lumpat starts with
l. •
Ieu kaén batik aralus sadayana. "All of these batik clothes are beautiful." Formed from
alus (nice, beautiful, good) with the infix
ar that becomes a prefix because
alus starts with a vowel. It denotes the adjective "beautiful" for the plural subject/noun (batik clothes). •
Siswa sakola éta mah balageur. "The students of that school are well-behaved." Formed from
bageur ("good-behaving, nice, polite, helpful") with the infix
ar, which becomes
al because of
r in the root, to denote the adjective "well-behaved" for plural students. However, it is reported that this use of
al instead of
ar (as illustrated in (4) above) does not to occur if the 'r' is in onset of a neighbouring syllable. For example, the plural form of the adjective
curiga (suspicious) is
caruriga and not *
caluriga, because the 'r' in the root occurs at the start of the following syllable. The prefix can be reduplicated to denote
very-, or the plural of groups. For example, "b
ararudak" denotes many, many children or many groups of children (
budak is child in Sundanese). Another example, "b
alalageur" denotes plural adjective of "very well-behaved".
Active form Most active forms of Sundanese verbs are identical to the root, as with
diuk "sit" or
dahar "eat". Some others depend on the initial phoneme in the root: • Initial , , , , , , , , , can be put after prefix
nga like in
ngadahar. • Initial , , , , can be put after prefix
ng like in
nginum "drink".
Negation There are several words to negate a statement in Sundanese. These are also different by the polite (
lemes) and casual (
loma) registers, as well as dialect.
Polite In Priangan Sundanese, Polite negation is done by adding a
henteu (the shorter form,
teu is also commonly used) to negate most verbs (akin to adding a "not" to English "do" or "does"). To negate clauses where the subject is linked to adjectives or nouns (where, in English, it would normally require a linking verb like "be"),
sanés is used. •
Abdi teu acan neda. "I have not eaten yet." In this sentence, "acan" is used to signpost that the speaker has not done something, but they will do it in a short notice. •
Buku abdi mah sanés nu ieu. "My book is not this one." Other words that can be used to negate clauses are
moal (to signpost that the speaker is not going to do something) and
alim (to show that the speaker does not want to do something). Other Sundanese dialects may have different ways to negate statements.
Casual There are a wide range of casual negation helper words. In Priangan Sundanese, this can be done with a number of words. •
Urang acan dahar. "I have not eaten yet." The shorter version,
can, is also commonly used especially in spoken speech. •
Buku Urang mah lain nu ieu. "My book is not this one." The word
lain can be used as a casual variant of
sanés.
Moal and its longer variant
moal waka can also be used casually. Other words include
teu hayang (which can also sound aggressive depending on context) and
embung (which is somewhat a casual counterpart of
alim).
Question Dupi
(for polite situation)/Ari
(for formal situation)-(question) example: Polite: •
Dupi Tuang Rama nyondong di bumi? "Is your father at home?" •
Dupi bumi di palih mana? "Where do you live?" Formal: •
Ari Bapa aya di imah? "Is your father at home?" •
Ari imah di beulah mana? "Where do you live?"
Interrogatives Passive form Polite: •
Buku dibantun ku abdi. "The book is brought by me."
Dibantun is the passive form
ngabantun "bring". •
Pulpén ditambut ku abdi. "The pen is borrowed by me." •
Soal ieu dipidamel ku abdi. "This problem is done by me." •
Kacasoca dianggo ku abdi. "Glasses worn by me." Formal: •
Buku dibawa ku aing. "The book is brought by me."
Dibawa is the passive form
mawa "bring". •
Pulpén diinjeum ku aing. "The pen is borrowed by me." •
Soal ieu digawékeun ku aing. "This problem is done by me." •
Tasma dipaké ku aing. "Glasses worn by me."
Adjectives Examples:
teuas (hard),
tiis (cool for water and solid objects),
tiris (cool for air),
hipu (soft),
lada (hot/spicy, usually for foods),
haneut (warm), etc.
Prepositions Place Sundanese has three generic prepositions for spatial expressions: •
di: 'in', 'at' etc., indicating position •
dina/na: 'on', 'at' etc., indicating specific position •
ka: 'to', indicating direction (from places like city, country, buildings, rooms, street, human, entities, etc. and treating the noun as a place where something happens) •
kana: 'to', indicating specific direction (from things, tools, containers, plants, organs or parts of body, etc. and treating the noun as an object) •
ti: 'from', indicating origin •
tina: 'from', indicating specific origin Using different type of prepositions can result in different meanings. di cai: at the bathroom/toilet dina cai: inside of water ka cai: going to a bathroom/toilet kana cai: into water ti cai: (someone) comes from the bathroom/toilet tina cai: (something) made of water, or (something) comes from water ka mobil: going inside a car kana mobil: something is done/happened to a car To express more specific spatial relations (like 'inside', 'under' etc.), these prepositions have been combined with locative nouns:
Di gigir/luhur/handap/tukang/hareup (also
ka gigir,
ti gigir etc.) are absolute adverial expressions without a following noun. To express relative position, they have to add the suffix
-eun, e.g.: Polite: •
di luhur bumi – 'on top of the house' •
dina luhur lomari – 'on top of the cupboard' •
ti pengker bumi – 'from behind the house', alternative version: pengkereun bumi •
tina pengker lomari – 'from behind the cupboard' Formal: •
di luhur imah – 'on top of the house' •
dina luhur lomari – 'on top of the cupboard' •
ti tukang imah – 'from behind the house' •
tina tukang lomari – 'from behind the cupboard'
Di jero, di luar and the polite forms
luhur &
pengker can be used both with and without a following noun.
Time Miscellaneous ==Sample text==