Saya minta bantuan kepada petugas.

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Breakdown of Saya minta bantuan kepada petugas.

• kepada: to
• petugas: the officer
• bantuan: the help

Questions & Answers about Saya minta bantuan kepada petugas.

What does the preposition kepada do here, and why not ke?

• kepada marks a recipient (a person or entity you address/appeal to) with verbs like meminta, mengatakan, memberi. It corresponds to “to” in “ask to someone.”
• ke is mainly for physical direction/motion (“to a place”). In casual speech you will hear ke with people (e.g., ngomong ke dia), but in neutral/formal Indonesian with asking/saying verbs, kepada is preferred: minta … kepada X.

Can I drop kepada and just say Saya minta bantuan petugas?

Yes. Saya minta bantuan petugas is very common. Here, bantuan petugas is a noun phrase meaning “the officer’s help.” The meaning is practically the same; with kepada you emphasize the addressee (“ask to the officer”), without it you emphasize the help you want (“the officer’s help”). Both are natural.

Is minta too informal? Should I use meminta?

• minta = colloquial/neutral and very common in speech and everyday writing.
• meminta = more formal/polished (good for official writing). Your sentence is fine either way: Saya minta bantuan… (neutral) vs Saya meminta bantuan… (formal).

Which sounds more natural: minta bantuan or minta tolong?