Ibu tidak hadir kemarin karena ada rapat lain.

not

Breakdown of Ibu tidak hadir kemarin karena ada rapat lain.

• karena: because
• rapat: the meeting
• kemarin: yesterday

Questions & Answers about Ibu tidak hadir kemarin karena ada rapat lain.

What does Ibu mean here—“mother” or “Ms./ma’am”?

It can mean either, depending on context:

• As a kinship term: ibu = mother. Then you’d usually say ibu saya (my mother).
• As an honorific/title for an adult woman (teacher, boss, respected lady): Ibu (often written uppercase when it’s a title or at sentence start), e.g., Ibu Sari = Ms./Mrs. Sari. You can also just say Ibu to refer to a known female superior.
• Colloquial short form: Bu.

Without more context, the sentence could mean “Mother wasn’t present…” or “Ma’am/Ms. (the female teacher/boss) wasn’t present…”.

Why is tidak used instead of bukan?

• tidak negates verbs and adjectives: tidak hadir = not present/did not attend.
• bukan negates nouns and pronouns: Itu bukan rapat = That is not a meeting. Since hadir is a verb-like predicate (“be present/attend”), you use tidak.

Is hadir a verb or an adjective? Could I use datang instead?

• hadir means “to be present/attend” (stative/verb-like). tidak hadir = didn’t attend/absent.
• datang = to come. tidak datang = didn’t come/show up. Nuance:
• hadir is slightly more formal and event/attendance-focused.
• datang is neutral/casual and movement-focused. Both work, but matches “attendance” contexts well.