Dr. Anna Latour on Nostr: Okay, I'll try to clarify. I understand what the words mean. I just have never before ...

Okay, I'll try to clarify.

I understand what the words mean. I just have never before seen "sudah" and "belum" used together in this particular way.

I can construct sentences that are syntactically and semantically correct, but that doesn't mean that those sentences are actually *used* in (vernacular) Bahasa Indonesia.

I am just trying to figure out if there is a specific grammatical reason or cultural reason or "nuanced meaning" reason for phrasing the question in this particular way.

Like, if I say "Bon kami sudah terbayar?", is it correct but not often used? Is it rude or culturally wrong? Is it perfectly fine? And same questions for if I say "Bon kami sudah terbayar atau belum?"

I know that Bahasa Indonesia is a very context-dependent language, and that details are often omitted if those details can reasonably be inferred from context or if they don't matter. This is tricky while learning, because you have to interpret the context correctly in order to understand the meaning, and the way in which phrases are presented to you in textbooks is often without much context. That's why I am having a lot of questions about the actual use of the language.

In this particular case, I am surprised to find both "sudah" and "belum" in the same sentence, since the presence of one eliminates the need of the presence of the other. Hence, I would suspect that there is a particular reason to emphasize both options in this sentence. That would suggest some cultural reason behind it, and it would still leave me confused about the sentence structure.

I am just trying to understand if this sentence reflects a particular *rule* of the language, or rather a custom in the *use* of the language.