Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Murid baru itu belajar menghitung harga barang di kelas matematika. - That new student learns to calculate item prices in math class.

So murid baru literally means “student new,” which we translate as “new student.” English is the reverse, but Indonesian prefers the adjective after the noun.

What role does itu play in murid baru itu?

itu is a post-nominal demonstrative pronoun meaning “that.” When you say murid baru itu, you’re specifying “that new student.” If you wanted to say “this new student,” you would use ini instead:

murid baru ini → “this new student”

Is there any difference between murid and siswa? Both mean “student,” right?

Yes, both murid and siswa can be translated as “student,” but:

• siswa is more commonly used for formal school contexts (primary, secondary).
• murid can refer to any learner in a teacher-student relationship (including private lessons).

In everyday speech they’re often interchangeable, but if you’re talking about a regular school setting, siswa is slightly more standard.

What’s the difference between belajar and mengajar? I often mix them up.

They’re opposites:

• belajar = “to learn”
• mengajar = “to teach” (from the root ajar + prefix meng-)

In your sentence, murid baru itu belajar… means the student is learning, not teaching.

Why does the verb belajar directly take another verb (menghitung) without a preposition like “to”?

In Indonesian, verbs like belajar (“to learn”) can be followed directly by another verb to express “learn to do something.” You don’t need an infinitive marker:

belajar + verb (with proper prefix)
belajar memasak → “learn to cook”
belajar menghitung → “learn to calculate”

You could insert untuk (“in order to”), as in belajar untuk menghitung, but it’s less natural in everyday usage.

How does the prefix meng- work in menghitung? Why not just hitung?

The prefix meN- (written meng- before certain roots) forms active transitive verbs. For the root hitung (“count”), the rule is:

meN- + hitung → menghitung

Here the initial h stays, and meng- signals “the subject actively does the counting.” The bare root hitung is a noun (“count” or “calculation”) or a command (“count!”), but to say “to count/calculate” as an action, you need menghitung.

Why is harga barang used for “price of goods”? What’s the rule for noun-noun combinations?

Indonesian uses a noun-noun structure where:

[head noun] + [modifier noun]

The head noun (harga = price) comes first, followed by what it describes (barang = goods/items). Together harga barang means “price of goods.” You could say harga dari barang (“price from/of goods”) for emphasis or formality, but the shorter harga barang is standard.

What does di do in di kelas matematika? Could we use a different preposition?

di is the locative preposition meaning “in” or “at.” It marks the place where the action happens:

di kelas matematika = “in (the) math class”

You could replace di with the more formal pada (pada kelas matematika), but di is far more common in everyday Indonesian.

Why are there no articles like “the” or “a” in the Indonesian sentence?

Indonesian doesn’t have definite or indefinite articles. Specificity comes from:

• Context
• Demonstratives (ini, itu)
• Quantifiers (sebuah, beberapa, etc.)

In your sentence, itu after murid baru makes it clear you mean “that new student,” so there’s no need for separate words equivalent to “the” or “a.”