(13) Relative Pronouns

Have you ever heard about Yang? Yes, Yang in Chinese thought is the strong active male energy of force in the world, the opposite of the female energy, Yin. Indonesian language has the word yang also, but it is pronounced a bit different from Yang: Indonesian yang sounds similar to young of English word. In Indonesian language yang is not a noun, it is used instead as a relative pronoun meaning who, whose, that, or which.
Let me give you some examples of the use of yang.

(1) Yang mana mobil kamu?    Which one is your car?

(2) Lelaki yang memakai kemeja merah itu (adalah) suaminya
      The man who wears the red shirt is her husband

(3) Orang yang rumahnya besar itu meninggal kemarin
      The person whose house is big died yesterday

(4) Buku yang jilidnya merah itu ada di atas meja
      The book whose cover is red is on the table.

(5) Buku yang anda pilih mahal
      The book (that) you chose was expensive

(6) Buku yang mahal itu karangan Stephen Hawkings
      The book, which is expensive, written by Stephen Hawkings

In examples 3 and 4 you may notice the construction: yang + noun + nya, which means whose + noun. In this case, yang rumahnya = whose house, and yang jilidnya = whose cover.

Good, you have learned the word yang and its use! It’s so simple because you use one word only to be used as a relative pronoun.

Regards,

Ika