Breakdown of Tugas utama saya adalah belajar bahasa Indonesia.
adalah
to be
belajar
to learn
tugas
the assignment
bahasa Indonesia
the Indonesian language
Questions & Answers about Tugas utama saya adalah belajar bahasa Indonesia.
What does tugas utama mean?
tugas means task or duty, utama means main or primary. Together, tugas utama means main task or primary duty.
Why is adalah used in this sentence and is it always necessary?
adalah functions like a linking verb to be, connecting the subject (tugas utama saya) with the predicate (belajar bahasa Indonesia). It's not strictly required in colloquial speech. You can say Tugas utama saya belajar bahasa Indonesia and it remains correct, but including adalah sounds more formal or complete.
Why is saya placed after tugas utama instead of before?
In Indonesian, the possessor follows the noun. So tugas saya means my task. When you add an adjective, you still place it between the noun and the possessor: tugas utama saya means my main task.
How can the verb belajar follow adalah? Is it functioning as a noun here?