Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia bercita-cita membangun karier di bidang kesehatan. - He/She aspires to build a career in the health field.

Dia is a third‑person singular pronoun that can mean he, she, or they (singular, gender‑neutral). Indonesian pronouns do not mark gender.

You usually find out the gender from context, for example:

Dia bercita-cita membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.
→ could be He or She aspires to build a career in health.

If the speaker wants to be explicit, they may add a noun:

Dia, seorang perempuan, bercita-cita… – She, a woman, aspires…
Dia, seorang laki-laki, bercita-cita… – He, a man, aspires…

Without extra information, you just translate dia according to context or keep it neutral in English if possible.

What exactly does bercita-cita mean, and how is it different from ingin or mau?

bercita-cita comes from cita-cita (aspiration, ambition, dream) plus the prefix ber-, which often means “to have / to engage in” something.

cita-cita = an ambition / life goal
bercita-cita = to have an ambition; to aspire

Nuance differences:

bercita-cita:
- Stronger, long‑term, often used for life goals or serious ambitions.
- Sounds more formal or serious.
- Example: Dia bercita-cita menjadi dokter. – He/She aspires to become a doctor.
ingin:
- Means to want, can be short‑term or long‑term.
- More neutral and very common.
- Example: Dia ingin menjadi dokter. – He/She wants to become a doctor.
mau:
- Also to want, often more casual or conversational.
- Example: Dia mau jadi dokter. – He/She wants to be a doctor.

In this sentence, bercita-cita emphasizes a serious, long‑term ambition to build a career, not just a passing wish.

Why is there a hyphen in bercita-cita? Is cita-cita one word or a repetition?

cita-cita is a reduplication of cita. Reduplication in Indonesian often indicates:

plurality: anak (child) → anak-anak (children)
intensity or emphasis: pelan (slow) → pelan-pelan (very slowly)

Here:

cita = idea / thought (often in older or more formal usage)
cita-cita = ambition, aspiration, life goal

So cita-cita (with a hyphen) is treated as one lexical unit meaning “ambition.” Then:

ber- + cita-cita → bercita-cita = to have ambitions / to aspire

The hyphen shows it’s a reduplicated form (cita-cita), not two separate words.

Can I say Dia bercita-cita untuk membangun karier…? Is untuk required?

Yes, you can say:

Dia bercita-cita untuk membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.

Both are correct:

Dia bercita-cita membangun karier…
Dia bercita-cita untuk membangun karier…

untuk is optional here. Adding untuk:

sounds a bit more formal or explicit
doesn’t change the core meaning

In everyday speech and writing, Indonesians often omit untuk after bercita-cita, ingin, berusaha, etc., when followed by a verb:

Dia ingin menjadi dokter. (more common than ingin untuk menjadi)
Dia berusaha memperbaiki nilainya. (not berusaha untuk memperbaiki—though that’s also possible)

So the original sentence without untuk is very natural.

What is the structure bercita-cita + verb? Is this like “aspire to + verb” in English?

Yes. The structure is:

bercita-cita + [verb phrase]

In this sentence:

bercita-cita = to aspire
membangun karier di bidang kesehatan = to build a career in health

So:

Dia bercita-cita membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.
≈ He/She aspires to build a career in the health field.

Other examples:

Saya bercita-cita menjadi pengajar.
I aspire to become an educator.
Mereka bercita-cita membuka usaha sendiri.
They aspire to open their own business.

You can think of bercita-cita as behaving like English “aspire (to)” where the “to” is often implicit in Indonesian.

What does membangun literally mean, and why is it used with karier?

membangun comes from the root bangun.

bangun can mean “to wake up,” but also “to build, to construct” (context decides).
With the prefix meN- (here mem- because of the initial b), it becomes membangun = to build, to construct, to develop.

Using membangun with karier:

membangun karier = to build a career
This is very similar to English. It suggests gradually developing a career with effort and time.

Other examples:

membangun rumah – to build a house
membangun hubungan yang baik – to build a good relationship
membangun reputasi – to build a reputation

Why don’t we say membangun sebuah karier? When do we use sebuah?

sebuah is an indefinite classifier, roughly like “a/an (one)” for countable, usually non-human nouns.

You could say:

Dia bercita-cita membangun sebuah karier di bidang kesehatan.

It’s grammatically correct, but in Indonesian:

Abstract nouns like karier, karier di bidang kesehatan, hubungan, reputasi often appear without a classifier, especially in general statements.
So membangun karier is more natural and idiomatic here.

Use sebuah when:

You want to emphasize “one particular” item, or
The noun is more concrete and countable.

Examples:

Dia membeli sebuah rumah. – He/She bought a house.
Saya punya sebuah ide. – I have an idea.

In membangun karier, the focus is on the process of career-building, not on “one specific career” as a countable object, so sebuah is normally omitted.

What does di bidang kesehatan mean literally, and how is bidang used?

Literally:

di = in / at / on (location or area)
bidang = field / area / discipline (figurative, not physical field)
kesehatan = health

So di bidang kesehatan ≈ in the field of health or in the health sector.

bidang is used for areas of work, study, or expertise:

di bidang pendidikan – in the field of education
di bidang teknologi – in the field of technology
di bidang hukum – in the field of law

Common pattern:

karier di bidang X – a career in the field of X
bekerja di bidang X – to work in the field of X

So membangun karier di bidang kesehatan = to build a career in the health field.

Could we use dalam bidang kesehatan or pada bidang kesehatan instead of di? What’s the difference?

Native speakers strongly prefer:

di bidang kesehatan

You may occasionally see dalam bidang kesehatan in more formal writing, but di bidang is the standard, natural collocation.

General tendencies:

di:
- basic preposition for place, area, or domain
- used in many fixed expressions: di bidang, di rumah, di sekolah
dalam:
- more like “inside / within” or “in the context of”
- used more in formal style: dalam konteks ini, dalam penelitian ini
pada:
- often “on, at, in” in formal contexts, especially with time or abstract objects:
  - pada hari Senin – on Monday
  - pada kesempatan ini – on this occasion

But for this phrase, di bidang kesehatan is the natural choice. dalam bidang kesehatan is possible but more formal; pada bidang kesehatan is unusual and generally avoided.

Is there any tense in bercita-cita membangun? How do we know it’s about the future?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense (past, present, future). So:

Dia bercita-cita membangun karier…
can, in theory, refer to present, past, or future context.

We know it’s about the future from the meaning of the verbs and real-world logic:

“Having an ambition (bercita-cita) to build a career” naturally refers to something that hasn’t fully happened yet, i.e., the future.

If you want to make the future time explicit, you can add time markers:

Suatu hari, dia bercita-cita akan membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.
One day, he/she aspires to build a career in the health field.
Di masa depan, dia bercita-cita membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.
In the future, he/she aspires to build a career in the health field.

But the base verb forms themselves don’t change.

How formal or informal is this sentence? Would people say this in everyday conversation?

The sentence:

Dia bercita-cita membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.

is neutral to slightly formal, mainly because of bercita-cita and the abstract phrase membangun karier di bidang kesehatan.

In everyday casual speech, someone might say:

Dia pengin (ingin) kerja di bidang kesehatan.
He/She wants to work in the health field.
Dia mau bangun karier di bidang kesehatan.
He/She wants to build a career in the health field.

However, the original sentence is very natural in:

written Indonesian (articles, essays, reports)
formal or semi-formal speech (presentations, interviews)
describing someone’s long‑term plans or profile

So it’s not overly formal or stiff; it just sounds more careful and standard than casual chat.

Could we say Dia bercita-cita menjadi dokter di bidang kesehatan instead? How does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Dia bercita-cita menjadi dokter di bidang kesehatan.
= He/She aspires to become a doctor in the health field.

Differences:

membangun karier di bidang kesehatan
- Focuses on building a career generally in the health sector.
- Doesn’t specify the exact job (could be doctor, nurse, researcher, administrator, etc.).
menjadi dokter di bidang kesehatan
- Focuses on becoming a doctor as a specific profession.
- Still in the same field (health), but now the role is clear.

So the original sentence is broader: it’s about a career in the health field without saying what exact job the person wants.