Lesson 29  Questions beginning with Siapa

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A second reading (by Muhammad Nor Ismat, a native speaker)

Siapa orang itu? Itu kerani besar. Siapa yang telefon tadi? Encik Yusof. Siapa dia? Dia kawan saya.

Who is that person? That is the chief clerk. Who phoned just now? Mr. Yusof. Who is he? He is my friend.

kerani = clerk besar = big kerani besar = chief clerk yang = (a relative) orang yang telefon = the person who called tadi = just now

For those who want to know more:
I don't know if the word "clerk" is very widespread in your country (I sometimes see "office workers" being used instead but in Malaysia if you ask people what type of jobs they hold you'll often be told Saya kerani (I'm a clerk) so learn the word kerani well (at least know what it means when you hear it). Does that word ring a bell? Do you think you have come across that word already? In that case the chances are that you're confusing it with the word kerana which means "because" and which you have already learnt in Lesson 25.
While we're at it I guess there's no harm bringing up two more words quite similar so you won't ever mix them up. One is kereta meaning "a car" and the other kelabu meaning "grey" in colour.
And in case you have an enemy and want to make it known you might need to learn this sentence!
Dia bukan kawan saya. Dia musuh saya. (He is not my friend. He is my enemy).
There is a second word for enemy (starting with s) but I don't think you have that many enemies to need to learn another word for it!

Further examples with siapa:
(When answering the telephone) Helo, Peter di sini. Siapa itu? or Siapa di sana? (Hello, Peter here. Who is it?)
Siapa orang lelaki itu? - Dia guru bahasa saya. (Who is that man? - He is my language teacher.)
Siapa orang perempuan itu? - Dia isteri saya. (Who is that woman? - She is my wife.)
In all the above examples I have used Siapa at the beginning of the sentence. However it can also appear at the end, as in the following sentences:
Anda cari siapa? (Who are you looking for?)
Saya cari kawan saya. (I'm looking for my friend.)
cari or mencari means to search or to look for someone or something eg.
Dia sedang mencari kunci keretanya. (=He is searching for his car keys.)
Incidentally (as you will learn in Lesson 49) the pronunciation of the syllable "ca" in cari is not ka but cha as in cha-cha-cha so the word is pronounced as cha-ri.
Ini untuk siapa? (Who is this for?)
Ini untuk bapa saya. (This is for my father.)

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