Indonesian language is a very unique language. People use informal words for daily conversations a lot. The informal words sometimes confusing foreigners and sometimes hard to understand the meaning. The informal particles used also become characteristic of Indonesian people unconsciously. One of the memorable is word “sih”. This word become a unique characteristics of Indonesian language. Below is the example of an English joke about word sih in Indonesian:
- A: Do you speak English?
- B: Little-little sih I can (It should be Yes, but I can only speak a little bit of English)
What is the actual meaning and purpose of word “sih” in Indonesian? Read the explanation below to understand the meaning and the purpose.
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Using sih in a question to soften the question
Using sih is like a culture in Indonesia. People usually add sih in the end of a question or in the middle of the question to soften the question. Remember that this word is an informal word, so you should only use this in informal occasions. Below are several examples of using sih in a daily Indonesian question:
- Kamu kenapa sih?
What’s wrong with you?
- Kamu kapan akan datang sih?
When will you come?
- Kamu sih punya berapa kucing peliharaan?
How many cats do you have?
- Apa sih yang lagi kamu kerjakan?
What are you doing?
- Siapa sih yang kamu bicarakan?
Who are you talking about?
- Kenapa sih matahari bisa bersinar?
Why the sun shines?
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Using sih in a sentence to emphasize curiosity, anger, annoyance, doubtfulness etc
Word “sih” can be used in many sentences with various meaning. There are no exact meaning of word “sih”. The word is added as a particle to make the sentence more friendly and comfortable to say. Below are several examples of using sih in a daily Indonesian conversation sentence:
- Aku sih lebih suka warna putih daripada hijau.
I prefer white rather than green.
- Aku nggak lapar sih.
I am not hungry.
- Iya sih.
Yes.
- Mahal banget sih baju ini.
This shirt is very expensive.
- Baju ini bagus tapi terlalu mahal.
This shirt is very good but it’s too expensive.
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That’s all about “sih” meaning in Indonesian. Thank you for reading. Try to say the word “sih” on your Indonesian sentences to know more about how you should use it. I hope the information will be helpful for all of you.