Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru sebelum ujian.

The student asks the teacher about the exam rules before the exam.

Breakdown of Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru sebelum ujian.

• guru: the teacher
• sebelum: before
• murid: the student
• kepada: to
• ujian: the exam
• menanyakan: to ask about
• aturan ujian: the exam rule

Questions & Answers about Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru sebelum ujian.

Does the noun bolded in the sentence, murid, mean one student or multiple students? How can I make it clearly singular or plural?

Indonesian nouns don’t mark number by default, so murid can mean “student” or “students,” depending on context.

To make number explicit:

• Singular: seorang murid (one/a student)
• Plural (humans): para murid (the students, formal/collective) or murid-murid (reduplication for plural)
• With numbers/quantifiers: tiga murid, banyak murid, beberapa murid

Notes on synonyms:

• murid and siswa are common for school students (K–12).
• pelajar can mean “learner/student,” often used for secondary-school level or in general.
• mahasiswa is specifically a university student.

How do I say “the student” vs. “a student” and “the teacher” vs. “a teacher” in Indonesian, since there are no articles?

You mark definiteness with demonstratives or -nya:

• “a student/teacher”: seorang murid / seorang guru
• “the student/teacher”: murid itu / guru itu or more formal murid tersebut / guru tersebut
• Another way to make “the” sense for a previously known referent is gurunya (“the/that teacher; his/her/their teacher,” depending on context).

Example:

• Seorang murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru itu sebelum ujian.

Why use menanyakan here? What’s the difference between bertanya, menanyakan, and menanyai?

They differ in transitivity and what they treat as the direct object:

• bertanya = to ask (intransitive). Structure: bertanya (kepada [person]) (tentang [topic]).
  • Example: Murid bertanya kepada guru tentang aturan ujian.
• menanyakan = to ask about something (transitive; the direct object is the thing asked about).
  • Example: Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru.
• menanyai = to ask someone (transitive; the direct object is the person being asked).
  • Example: Murid menanyai guru tentang aturan ujian.

All are grammatical; choose based on what you want to highlight (topic vs. recipient) and register (see below).

Is menanyakan tentang acceptable, or is it redundant?

Many style guides consider menanyakan tentang pleonastic because menanyakan already means “to ask about.” In careful/formal Indonesian, prefer:

• menanyakan [topic] (kepada [person]), or
• bertanya tentang [topic] (kepada [person]).

In everyday speech you will still hear menanyakan tentang, but avoid it in formal writing.

Why is it kepada guru and not ke guru or pada guru? What’s the difference?

• kepada is the standard preposition for a human/animate recipient (“to [a person]”), especially in formal contexts: kepada guru.
• ke means “to/toward (a place),” but in casual speech people often say ke [person]; it’s informal: ke guru.
• pada is generally used for inanimate/abstract objects (“on/at/in/to”), but some formal texts use pada with people; safe rule for learners: use kepada for people.
• Very colloquial: sama (“with/to”): sama guru.

For formal clarity here, kepada guru is best.

Can I change the word order and move sebelum ujian to the front?

Yes. Time expressions are flexible:

• End (neutral): Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru sebelum ujian.
• Fronted (emphasis on time): Sebelum ujian, murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru.
• You can also insert a verb phrase: Murid menanyakan aturan ujian sebelum ujian kepada guru (less common; end-placing the time phrase usually reads smoother).

Is repeating ujian twice (in aturan ujian and sebelum ujian) natural, or should I avoid that repetition?

It’s natural in Indonesian; lexical repetition is common and not awkward.

If you want to reduce repetition, options include:

• Replace the first mention with a pronoun if context is clear: Murid menanyakannya kepada guru sebelum ujian. (Here, -nya = “it,” referring to “the exam rules.”)
• Expand the time phrase: ... sebelum ujian dimulai.
• Use a demonstrative once: Murid menanyakan aturan ujian itu kepada guru sebelum ujian.

What’s the nuance difference between aturan and peraturan?

Both mean “rules/regulations,” but:

• aturan is slightly more general/informal (“rules”).
• peraturan feels more formal/institutional (“regulations,” as in official documents). In this sentence, either works: aturan ujian or peraturan ujian.

Could I use tes instead of ujian? What about ulangan?

• ujian = exam/assessment (often higher-stakes or formal).
• tes = test; can be any scale, often less formal; widely used.
• ulangan = quiz/unit test (school context), often smaller or routine.

Choose the term that matches the context; the sentence remains grammatical with each:

• Murid menanyakan aturan tes...
• Murid menanyakan aturan ulangan...

How do I make the sentence more polite toward the teacher?

Use titles and/or names:

• Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada Ibu Guru sebelum ujian.
• ... kepada Bapak Andi ... (if you know the teacher’s name). For university instructors, use dosen:
• Mahasiswa menanyakan aturan ujian kepada dosen sebelum ujian.

You can also add softeners in real dialogue, e.g., permisi, maaf, tolong.

What are the passive-voice equivalents, and when would I use them?

Use passive to foreground the object or the person asked:

• Object-focused: Aturan ujian ditanyakan murid kepada guru sebelum ujian.
• Recipient-focused: Guru ditanyai murid tentang aturan ujian sebelum ujian.
  • Note the suffix -i in ditanyai when the person is the object. Colloquial passive also exists: Guru ditanya murid tentang aturan ujian...

How would people say this casually in everyday conversation?

Common colloquial versions:

• Murid nanya aturan ujian ke guru sebelum ujian.
• Anak-anak nanya aturan ujian ke Bu Guru sebelum ujian. Features: nanya (colloquial), ke/sama (instead of kepada), titles like Bu/Pak.

How do I clearly show that there are multiple students?

Use plural markers or quantifiers:

• Para murid menanyakan... (formal/collective)
• Murid-murid menanyakan...
• With a number/quantifier: Beberapa murid menanyakan..., Banyak murid menanyakan... Avoid combining para with reduplication (para murid-murid is ungrammatical).

Why can’t I say something like Murid menanyakan guru aturan ujian (double object), like in English “ask someone something”?

In Indonesian, menanyakan takes the thing asked about as its direct object; the person asked must be introduced by a preposition:

• Correct: Murid menanyakan aturan ujian kepada guru. If you want the person as the direct object, switch to menanyai:
• Murid menanyai guru tentang aturan ujian.