sampai

Sampai is a common word in Indonesian and Malay that functions as a preposition, an adverb, and a conjunction. It expresses endpoints in space or time and can indicate a limit or extent. In everyday usage, it conveys meanings such as “to,” “toward,” or “until,” and it appears in many time-related phrases and destination expressions.

As a preposition, sampai follows a place or a time expression to mark reach or destination. Examples include “sampai rumah” (to reach home), “sampai Bandung” (to Bandung), and temporal phrases like “sampai malam” (until night) or “sampai jam dua belas” (until twelve o’clock). It can stand alone after a verb to indicate the end point of an action, such as “kami berjalan sampai pantai” (we walked until we reached the beach).

As a conjunction, sampai links two clauses to express a limit or outcome. Examples are “Saya menunggu sampai dia datang” (I waited until he arrived) and “Mereka bekerja sampai selesai” (they work until finished). In many contexts, a more formal synonym like hingga can be used, especially in writing, but sampai remains very common in spoken Indonesian.

Usage notes and varieties: the context determines whether sampai denotes destination, duration, or extent. It is more prevalent in everyday speech, while hingga is often preferred in formal or literary contexts. Common phrases include sampai sekarang (until now), sampai nanti (see you later), and hingga nanti as a more formal variant. The word is versatile across Indonesian and Malay, with similar meanings in both languages.