Dua murid absen hari ini karena hujan deras.

Two students are absent today because of heavy rain.

Breakdown of Dua murid absen hari ini karena hujan deras.

• adalah: to be
• hari ini: today
• karena: because
• hujan: the rain

Questions & Answers about Dua murid absen hari ini karena hujan deras.

What is the role of absen here—verb, adjective, or noun?

It functions as the sentence predicate meaning “to be absent” (a stative verb/adjective). Indonesian often uses adjectives or stative verbs as predicates without any “to be.” So Dua murid absen = “Two students are absent.” Note: absensi is the noun “attendance (record),” and mengabsen means “to take attendance.”

Do I need adalah before absen?

No. Adalah is used mainly to equate two nouns (e.g., Dia adalah guru). With predicate adjectives/stative verbs like absen, you do not use adalah. Dua murid absen is correct and natural.

Should it be dua orang murid instead of dua murid?

Both are correct. Orang is a classifier for people and is optional with roles/occupations:

• Dua murid (very common, concise)
• Dua orang murid (emphasizes counting individuals; also very common) You can also say dua (orang) siswa. The meaning doesn’t change.

Why isn’t it pluralized as murid-murid?