Keputusan guru adil.

The teacher's decision is fair.

Breakdown of Keputusan guru adil.

• adalah: to be
• guru: the teacher
• keputusan: the decision
• adil: fair

Questions & Answers about Keputusan guru adil.

Why is there no word for is? Do I need to add adalah?

Indonesian doesn’t use a linking verb before adjectives. An adjective can directly function as the predicate, so Keputusan guru adil. is complete. Use adalah when the predicate is a noun phrase, not an adjective:

• Correct: Dia adalah guru. (He is a teacher.)
• Correct: Dia cantik. (She is beautiful.)
• Unnatural: Dia adalah cantik. Likewise, Keputusan guru adalah adil. is unnatural; use Keputusan guru adil.

Does this mean the teacher’s decision is fair or a teacher’s decision is fair? How do I show the vs a?

Without a word like ini/itu, Indonesian leaves definiteness to context. Keputusan guru adil. can mean the/a teacher’s decision is fair. To be explicit:

• The decision (of that teacher): Keputusan guru itu adil.
• This teacher’s decision: Keputusan guru ini adil.
• That decision (no possessor mentioned): Keputusan itu adil.

How do I show plural (teachers’ decisions are fair)?

Indonesian marks plural in a few ways:

• Human plural with para: Keputusan para guru adil.
• Reduplication: Keputusan guru-guru adil.
• Often, context alone: Keputusan guru adil. can be understood as plural if the context makes it clear.

Where do I put ini/itu in this noun phrase?

They follow the noun they point to.

• That teacher’s decision: Keputusan guru itu adil. (itu points to guru)
• That decision (regardless of who made it): Keputusan itu adil. (itu points to keputusan)
• This teacher’s decision: Keputusan guru ini adil.

Can I use -nya for the teacher’s or his/her teacher’s?

Yes. -nya marks third-person possession or definiteness:

• Keputusan gurunya adil. = The teacher’s decision is fair / His/her teacher’s decision is fair (context decides).
• Keputusannya adil. = His/her decision is fair / The decision is fair (definite). Note: -nya is intentionally ambiguous between the and his/her.

Why is the possessor after the noun (keputusan + guru), not before like in English?

Indonesian places modifiers (including possessors) after the noun:

• Head + possessor: keputusan guru (the teacher’s decision)
• Head + adjective: buku tebal (a thick book) So the order is typically noun + modifier.

Is adil an adjective? Does it change form for plural or gender?

Yes, adil means fair/just. Adjectives in Indonesian don’t change for number or gender. adil stays adil in all cases.

How do I say unfair?

Use tidak to negate adjectives:

• Keputusan guru tidak adil. Don’t use bukan here; bukan negates nouns, not adjectives.

When should I use yang with adjectives here?

Use yang when the adjective is attributive (modifying a noun inside a noun phrase) or you need clarity:

• Attributive: keputusan yang adil (a fair decision)
• Predicate (no yang): Keputusan guru adil. (The teacher’s decision is fair.) Be careful: Keputusan guru yang adil means the decision of the teacher who is fair (yang links to guru), not that the decision itself is fair.

Could this sentence be misread as a noun phrase like the decision of the fair teacher?

In isolation, Keputusan guru adil could be briefly ambiguous. In normal usage, a period and intonation mark it as a sentence with adil as the predicate. If you want the noun-phrase reading, make it explicit:

• The decision of the fair teacher: Keputusan guru yang adil
• The fair decision (of the teacher): Keputusan yang adil (dari guru itu)

How do I turn it into a yes–no question?

Several options:

• Formal: Apakah keputusan guru itu adil?
• Neutral: Keputusan guru itu adil? (rising intonation)
• Colloquial tag: Keputusan guru itu adil, kan?

How do I express time, like was fair?

Indonesian has no tense marking; use time words or context:

• Kemarin, keputusan guru itu adil. (Yesterday, the teacher’s decision was fair.) Avoid forcing a past form of is; just add a time adverb if needed. Note that sudah adil means already fair, not simply was fair.

What’s the difference between keputusan, putusan, and memutuskan?

• keputusan: decision (general; everyday use)
• putusan: ruling/verdict (legal/formal)
• memutuskan: to decide (verb) They come from the root putus (to be severed/ended), with different affixes.

Can I intensify or soften the adjective?

Yes:

• Very: sangat adil, adil sekali
• Quite/pretty: cukup adil, lumayan adil
• Somewhat: agak adil
• Less/not very: kurang adil
• Comparative/superlative: lebih adil, paling adil

Is the sentence natural as-is, or should I add something?

It’s grammatical. In real-life discourse, speakers often add a determiner for clarity:

• Keputusan guru itu adil. (more typical in isolation) But in context (e.g., when both speaker and listener know which decision), the short form is fine.

Does guru always mean school teacher? What if it’s a lecturer?

Typically:

• guru = school teacher (elementary–high school)
• dosen = university lecturer So for a lecturer’s decision: Keputusan dosen adil. You can add itu/ini for definiteness as before.