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Questions & Answers about Saya mau belajar di Indonesia.
What does Saya mean, and can I leave it out?
Saya means “I” or “me.” It’s the polite first-person pronoun in Indonesian. In casual conversation you can omit pronouns if the subject is clear, so “Mau belajar di Indonesia” is fine among friends. In formal or more precise contexts, include Saya to avoid ambiguity.
What is the nuance of mau here? Is it the same as “want”?
Yes, mau literally means “want” or “intend to.” It’s the most common way to express desire in everyday speech. It’s less formal than ingin, which also means “want” but sounds more polite or literary.
Can I replace mau with ingin here?
Absolutely. Saya ingin belajar di Indonesia is perfectly correct and more formal. In spoken language you’ll hear mau far more often, whereas ingin may appear in writing or polite requests.
Why is belajar not followed by an object? Doesn’t “study” need something to study?
Belajar can be intransitive (“to study” in general) or transitive (“to study something”). If you want to specify a subject, you add it: Saya mau belajar bahasa Indonesia di Indonesia. In your sentence, belajar simply means “to study” as an activity.
Why do we say di Indonesia instead of ke Indonesia?
Di marks a static location (“in Indonesia”), showing where the studying happens. Ke marks direction or movement (“to Indonesia”). If you want to emphasize the movement, you’d say Saya mau ke Indonesia untuk belajar (“I want to go to Indonesia to study”).
Could I say Saya mau belajar ke Indonesia?
That sounds like “I want to study to Indonesia,” which is ungrammatical. If your focus is travel plus study, rephrase: Saya mau ke Indonesia untuk belajar (“I want to go to Indonesia in order to study”).
What’s the difference between belajar and kuliah?
Belajar is a general verb meaning “to study” (any subject or skill). Kuliah specifically means “to attend university/college.” If you mean you want to enroll in higher education, say Saya mau kuliah di Indonesia.
Is this sentence formal or informal?
This is neutral everyday Indonesian. It’s neither very formal nor extremely casual. For more formality (e.g., in writing or a polite request), you might use ingin instead of mau, but otherwise the sentence works in most registers.