Breakdown of Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
Questions & Answers about Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
Yang is very common after question words like siapa (who) and apa (what) when you describe or specify something about them.
- Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
Literally: Who is it that wants to be a psychologist in your class?
Here, yang functions like “that / who” in English in a relative clause: the person *who wants to…*.
You can hear “Siapa mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?” in casual speech, and people will understand you, but:
- With yang → sounds more natural and complete, especially in neutral or careful speech.
- Without yang → very informal, a bit “clipped”, like rapid spoken language.
For a learner, it’s safer and more natural to use Siapa yang… in sentences like this.
In this sentence, mau mainly means “want (to)”, but it can also have a future / intention flavor depending on context.
Here:
- Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
→ Who wants to be a psychologist in your class?
(i.e., who has the desire / plan to become one.)
Mau often combines desire and intention, so it can feel a bit like “want to / plan to / be going to”. But the safest translation here is “want(s) to”.
Both are correct and mean “want to become”, but there are differences in formality and style:
mau jadi psikolog
- More informal / everyday spoken Indonesian.
- Very natural in conversation.
- jadi = “become / be (as a role)”.
mau menjadi psikolog
- Sounds more formal, often used in writing or careful speech.
- menjadi is the formal verb “to become”.
So you could also say:
- Siapa yang mau menjadi psikolog di kelasmu?
→ Correct, just a bit more formal.
For casual spoken Indonesian (which this sentence feels like), mau jadi is perfect.
They are different:
- psikolog → psychologist (person)
- psikologi → psychology (field of study / science)
So:
Saya mau jadi psikolog.
→ I want to be a psychologist.Saya mau belajar psikologi.
→ I want to study psychology.
In your sentence, psikolog is correct because you’re talking about a person someone wants to become.
In practice, there are two common pronunciations:
- Standard careful pronunciation:
- /psi-ko-log/ (the p is pronounced, like p
- si)
- /psi-ko-log/ (the p is pronounced, like p
- Very common everyday pronunciation:
- /si-ko-log/ (the p is dropped → sounds like sikolog)
Many Indonesians casually say something close to “sikolog” in everyday speech, even though it’s written psikolog.
As a learner, you can pronounce either:
- /psi-ko-log/ will be clearly understood and sounds careful/standard.
- /si-ko-log/ sounds more like natural casual speech.
di kelasmu breaks down like this:
- di = in / at (preposition)
- kelas = class
- -mu = your (informal “you” possessive suffix, from kamu)
So kelasmu = your class, and di kelasmu = in your class.
Indonesian often attaches -mu directly to a noun:
- kelasmu = your class
- bukumu = your book
- rumahmu = your house
You could also write di kelas kamu, with kamu as a separate word. This is also correct and common. Attaching -mu is slightly more compact and typical in writing, but both are very natural.
Grammatically, they mean the same thing: “in your class”.
di kelasmu
- Uses the suffix -mu.
- Looks a bit more “joined up” and is common in writing and speech.
di kelas kamu
- Uses the full pronoun kamu after the noun.
- Also very common, especially in speech.
In terms of meaning and politeness, there’s no real difference here. They’re both informal, because kamu/-mu is an informal “you”.
kamu / -mu is informal and is best used with:
- Friends
- Classmates
- People your age or younger
- People you’re close to
For more polite / neutral speech, you can use Anda (formal “you”) and its possessive Anda (kept separate, not attached):
- di kelas Anda = in your class (formal)
So a more formal version of the sentence:
- Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelas Anda?
With teachers, older people, or in professional settings, Anda (or the person’s name/title) is usually safer than kamu.
Yes, that sentence is also correct:
- Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
- Siapa di kelasmu yang mau jadi psikolog?
Both mean essentially the same thing: Who in your class wants to be a psychologist?
Subtle nuance:
Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
Focus feels more on “who wants to be a psychologist (in your class)”.Siapa di kelasmu yang mau jadi psikolog?
Feels a bit more like: “Among the people in your class, who wants to be a psychologist?”
In everyday conversation, both are natural. You can safely use either.
Verb forms in Indonesian do not change based on singular or plural subject.
- Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?
Can refer to:- one person: “Which student wants…?”
- several people: “Which students want…?”
mau stays the same either way. You don’t need to worry about verb agreement like you do in English (“wants” vs “want”).
If you want to make it clear that you’re expecting more than one person, you could add a plural marker like yang lain (others) or saja (all that), but in most cases context is enough, and the original sentence is fine as is.
Breakdown of “Siapa yang mau jadi psikolog di kelasmu?”:
- Siapa → “who” (question word, asking about a person)
- yang → linker / relativizer, ties “who” to the description
- mau → “want(s) to”
- jadi → “become”
- psikolog → “a psychologist”
- di → “in”
- kelasmu → “your class” (kelas + -mu “your”)
Rough structure:
- Siapa yang [mau jadi psikolog] [di kelasmu]?
→ Who is it that [wants to become a psychologist] [in your class]?
So the sentence is basically:
- Who
- (is it that)
- wants to become a psychologist
- in your class?
- wants to become a psychologist
- (is it that)