Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Seorang tetangga perempuan sangat sopan dan sering membantu. - A female neighbor is very polite and often helps.

se- means “one/a(n)” and orang means “person.” Together seorang is a classifier used before human nouns to mean “a/one (person).”
It makes the subject clearly singular and indefinite: “a (certain) female neighbor.”
You can drop it: Tetangga perempuan sangat sopan… is also grammatical, but without context it could be read more generically. Seorang helps signal “one specific (but not yet identified) person.”

Can I use sebuah instead of seorang?

No. Sebuah is the classifier for inanimate things. For people use seorang; for animals use seekor. So not: ✗ sebuah tetangga.

Why is it tetangga perempuan and not perempuan tetangga?

In Indonesian the head noun comes first and modifiers (including descriptive nouns) follow it.

tetangga perempuan = “female neighbor” (neighbor + female)
perempuan tetangga is unnatural in this meaning. Same pattern with adjectives: rumah besar (“big house”), not ✗ besar rumah. Some special modifiers do come before (e.g., mantan “former,” para “plural for people”): mantan tetangga, para tetangga.

Do I have to specify gender? Could I just say tetangga?

You don’t have to. Tetangga is gender-neutral. Add gender only if relevant.

Female neighbor: tetangga perempuan or tetangga wanita (more formal).
Male neighbor: tetangga laki-laki or tetangga pria. Colloquial: cewek/cowok (informal; avoid in formal contexts).

Why is there no “to be” verb like “is” before sopan?

Indonesian typically has no copula before adjectives. Adjectives can function as predicates:

Dia sopan. = “She/He is polite.” Use adalah mainly before noun predicates, not adjectives:
Dia seorang guru. or Dia adalah guru.
Not: ✗ Dia adalah sopan.

What does sangat mean and where does it go?

Sangat means “very” and it goes before the adjective: sangat sopan. Alternatives:

After the adjective (more formal/neutral): sopan sekali.
Colloquial: sopan banget. Note: terlalu = “too (excessively),” not just “very.”

Where does sering go, and can it move?

Sering (“often”) normally comes before the verb: sering membantu.

You can front it for emphasis or style: Sering dia membantu, but the most natural everyday order is subject + sering
- verb: Dia sering membantu.

Does membantu need an object? In English “help” usually takes one.

It can take an object but doesn’t have to if it’s clear or general.

With object: Dia sering membantu saya/orang-orang.
Without object (general habit): Dia sering membantu. No preposition is needed before the object (don’t say ✗ membantu kepada/untuk someone).

What’s the difference between membantu, bantu, menolong, and tolong?

membantu: standard active verb “to help/assist.”
bantu: root form; common in imperatives and casual speech: Tolong bantu saya. / Aku bantu.
menolong: also “to help,” often with a nuance of aiding/rescuing someone in need.
tolong by itself is a request marker “please (help)”: Tolong tutup pintunya. Colloquial: bantuin (Jakarta-style), e.g., Dia sering bantuin saya.

Does sangat modify both sopan and sering membantu here?

No. As written, sangat modifies only sopan, and sering modifies membantu. If you want “very often helps,” say:

sangat sering membantu or sering sekali membantu. For balance you could write: sangat sopan dan sangat sering membantu.

How do I make it definite, like “that female neighbor is very polite…”?

Put the demonstrative after the noun phrase:

Tetangga perempuan itu sangat sopan dan sering membantu. (“that…”)
Tetangga perempuan ini… (“this…”) Don’t combine seorang with itu/ini in this way: ✗ Seorang tetangga perempuan itu. Use tetangga perempuan itu or, for “one of my…,” see below.

How do I say “my female neighbor” or “a female neighbor of mine”?

“My female neighbor”: Tetangga perempuan saya…
“A female neighbor of mine” (one among several): Seorang tetangga perempuan saya… Both are natural, with the second highlighting it’s one out of your neighbors.

How do I make it plural: “(Some) female neighbors are very polite and often help”?

Options:

General plural (by context): Tetangga perempuan sangat sopan…
Explicit “some”: Beberapa tetangga perempuan…
“Many”: Banyak tetangga perempuan…
Human-plural marker: Para tetangga perempuan… (formal-ish)
Reduplication: Tetangga-tetangga perempuan… (less common in speech; used for emphasis or clarity).

How do I pronounce tetangga and what does the doubled g mean?

tetangga: te-TANG-ga. The ngg sequence is the nasal ng [ŋ] plus a hard g sound [g] (not just a plain “ng”).
sopan: SO-pan (short o, like in “soft”).
membantu: mem-BAN-tu (final u like “oo” in “food”).