The versatile -nya suffix

By Speak Indo, from the Speak Indo Indonesian course.

-nya can mean his/her/its, the, or act as an emphasis marker. Context decides.

How it works

-nya attached to a noun does several jobs: 1. His/her/its, rumahnya besar = his house is big 2. The (definiteness), makanannya enak = the food is delicious 3. Emphatic / nominalization, panasnya! = it's so hot! 4. Adverbial with adjectives, akhirnya = finally, biasanya = usually Indonesian doesn't distinguish 'his', 'her', 'its', context tells you which.

Examples

• Saya suka bajunya.
  I like his/her shirt. OR: I like the shirt.
• Akhirnya dia datang!
  Finally he came!
• Enaknya makan di sini.
  How nice it is to eat here.