[Deleted]
ambiguous meanings of "kemarin" and "besok" Is it correct that "kemarin" and "besok" can go beyond their meaning of "yesterday" and "tomorrow"? I sometimes heard the word being used to refer to a point in time much earlier than "yesterday" or much later than "tomorrow". So can I use "kemarin" in the contexts of "last week/ month/ year/ time" and "besok" in the context of "next week/ month/ year/ time"? I am just not sure how far back/ ahead in time these words go and when to use them, so I tend to state "last/ next month etc." clearly, instead of using "kemarin" or "besok". I only use the latter two when I really mean "yesterday" or "tomorrow".
Mar 1, 2015 9:58 PM
Answers · 3
2
yes, "kemarin" means yesterday and "besok" means tomorrow that's not fully incorrect. sometimes indonesian people use "kemarin" referring to the past time/activity they had, like "kemarin saat aku ke jakarta" which literally means "yesterday when I went to jakarta". that doesn't always mean that she visited jakarta yesterday but maybe last month. she refers to the last time when she went to jakarta. it's rather similar to the use of tomorrow. we sometimes say "besok-besok jika ada waktu luang" literally means "tomorrow if I have free time". in that context "besok" means next time which is we don't know when we will have free time, maybe next week, maybe next month. hope it helps. if you still confuse, feel free to ask :)
March 2, 2015
Still haven’t found your answers?
Write down your questions and let the native speakers help you!