Can you help? I have a problem with the word "yang".

hello friends, I always get confused with the word "yang", when not using it, I very confusing word, thank you very much., terima kasih !!!

Hey! Yang is something that is quite an easy thing to understand but difficult to explain. A lot of foreingers I know have problems with this, so don't worry! For now, try to get the basic meaning of these following sentences. I have written a proper translation, followed by a literal translation so you can see what 'yang' really means (green coloured):

1) Bukumu yang mana?

Official translation: Which is your book?

Literal translation: Which is the one that is your book?

2) Yang itu!

Official translation: That one!

Literal translation: That is the one!

3) Siapa yang berbicara bahasa indonesia tadi? 

Official translation: Who spoke Indonesian just now?

Literal translation: Who is the one who spoke Indonesian just now?

4) Yang berbicara bahasa indonesia tadi itu Adit.

Official/Literal translation: The one who spoke Indonesian just now was Adit.

(Here the official and literal translations match).

4) Buku saya yang merah.

Offical translation: My book is the red one.

Literal translation: My book is the one that is red.

5) Pencuri yang datang ke rumahmu kemaren sudah ditangkap polisi. 

Offical translation: The thief who came to your house yesterday has now been caught.

Literal translation: The thief, the one who came to your house yesterday has now been caught.
 

I hope I'm not over-complicating things, but that the literal transnations are generally what yang means, and the various shades of meaning that 'yang' conveys.

Cheers and good luck!