Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf dan siapa yang mengeditnya. - Our lecturer explains who is responsible for sending the draft and who edits it.

Direct question:
- Siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf?
  Who is responsible for sending the draft?
Indirect/embedded question (as in your sentence):
- Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf...
  Our lecturer explained who is responsible for sending the draft...

In Indonesian, using a question word like siapa, apa, di mana inside a larger sentence does not automatically make the whole sentence a question. The sentence becomes a question only if the main clause itself is interrogative (usually shown by intonation or a question mark and sometimes the word apakah).

Why is yang used after siapa? Can I say siapa bertanggung jawab without yang?

In this sentence, yang is functioning as a relativizer / linker that connects siapa to the descriptive phrase that follows.

siapa yang bertanggung jawab
literally: who that is responsible

The pattern siapa yang + description is extremely common and natural:

Siapa yang datang tadi? – Who came earlier?
Siapa yang mau ikut? – Who wants to join?

While you might hear siapa bertanggung jawab? in casual speech, siapa yang bertanggung jawab? is more standard and sounds smoother and clearer.

In embedded structures like your sentence, yang is strongly preferred and sounds much more natural:

Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab... ✅
Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa bertanggung jawab... ❌ (sounds wrong/foreign)

So for learners, it is safest to always use siapa yang + clause.

What exactly does bertanggung jawab mean, and how is it used?

Bertanggung jawab is a fixed expression meaning “to be responsible (for something)”.

tanggung jawab (noun) = responsibility
bertanggung jawab (verb/adjective) = to be responsible / responsible

Examples:

Dia bertanggung jawab atas proyek ini.
He/She is responsible for this project.
Siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf?
Who is responsible for sending the draft?

It can act a bit like a stative verb (“to be responsible”) or an adjective (“responsible”), depending on the sentence. You do not need an extra verb like “to be” in Indonesian.

Should there be untuk before mengirim? Why is it bertanggung jawab mengirim draf and not bertanggung jawab untuk mengirim draf?

Both forms are possible:

bertanggung jawab mengirim draf ✅
bertanggung jawab untuk mengirim draf ✅

Untuk here is optional and often dropped in speech and writing, especially when the sentence is not very formal or when the meaning is clear.

Patterns:

bertanggung jawab (untuk) + verb
- Dia bertanggung jawab (untuk) mengajar kelas pagi.
- He/She is responsible for teaching the morning class.

Without untuk, the sentence is a bit more direct and concise. Using untuk can feel slightly more formal or explicit, but both are correct.

In your sentence, bertanggung jawab mengirim draf is perfectly natural.

Why is it mengirim draf and not kirim draf or mengirimkan draf?

All three forms exist, but they differ in formality and nuance:

mengirim draf
- Very common, neutral.
- mengirim = to send.
- Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf.
kirim draf
- More casual, often in very informal speech or commands.
- Tolong kirim drafnya sekarang. – Please send the draft now.
mengirimkan draf
- Slightly more formal or emphasizes the delivery to someone.
- Dia mengirimkan draf itu kepada dosen. – He/She sent the draft to the lecturer.

In your sentence, mengirim draf is a natural default.
You could also say mengirimkan draf, especially in more formal or written contexts; it would still sound fine:

...yang bertanggung jawab mengirimkan draf... ✅

But kirim draf would feel too casual for this sentence.

What does the -nya in mengeditnya mean? What is it referring to?

The suffix -nya is a third-person pronoun that can mean “him/her/it/them” depending on context. In mengeditnya, it means “edit it”.

In this sentence, -nya refers back to draf (the draft):

...siapa yang mengeditnya.
literally: who edits it
meaning: who edits the draft

Indonesian often uses -nya to avoid repeating a noun:

Saya sudah membaca buku itu. Saya menyukainya.
I already read that book. I like it.
(-nya = the book)

So mengeditnya = to edit it (here: the draft).

Why does the first part say yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf, but the second part just says yang mengeditnya? Where did bertanggung jawab go?

The sentence uses parallel structure with ellipsis (leaving out repeated words):

siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf
dan siapa yang mengeditnya

Logically, it means:

siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf dan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengeditnya

But repeating bertanggung jawab would be long and clunky, so Indonesian simply drops it in the second clause. The meaning is clear from context.

English does something similar:

The lecturer explained who is responsible for sending the draft and who edits it.
(We don’t say “who is responsible for sending the draft and who is responsible for editing it” unless we want to be very explicit.)

So the sentence is still balanced; the second bertanggung jawab is just understood, not spoken.

What is the difference between dosen and guru?

Both can be translated as teacher, but they are used in different contexts:

dosen
- A lecturer / professor at a university or college.
- Used for higher education.
guru
- A teacher at school (kindergarten, primary/elementary, junior high, senior high).
- Also used metaphorically (e.g., guru spiritual – spiritual teacher).

So:

dosen kami = our lecturer (in a university context)
guru kami = our teacher (in a school context)

Using dosen tells you the speaker is talking about a university-level teacher.

Why is it dosen kami and not kami dosen? How does word order work with possession here?

In Indonesian, possession is usually shown by putting the possessed noun first, followed by the possessor:

buku saya – my book
rumah mereka – their house
dosen kami – our lecturer

So dosen kami literally means “lecturer we/us”, which is understood as “our lecturer”.

Kami dosen would be interpreted differently, closer to “we are lecturers” (and even that usually needs adalah: kami adalah dosen).

So:

dosen kami ✅ = our lecturer
kami dosen ❌ (wrong for “our lecturer”)

What is the difference between kami and kita here? Could it be dosen kita instead of dosen kami?

Both kami and kita mean “we / us”, but they differ in inclusivity:

kami = we (excluding the person being spoken to)
kita = we (including the person being spoken to)

So:

dosen kami = our lecturer, but not including you (the listener).
dosen kita = our lecturer, including you (the listener).

In real use:

Talking to a classmate about your own class’s lecturer:
- Dosen kita baik sekali. – Our lecturer is very nice. (You both share the lecturer.)
Talking to someone outside the class:
- Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf...
  Our lecturer explained who is responsible for sending the draft...
  (The listener is not necessarily a student of that lecturer.)

In your sentence, kami signals that the lecturer belongs to the speaker’s group, not necessarily to the listener’s.

What is the function of menjelaskan here, and how is it formed from jelas?

Menjelaskan means “to explain”.

jelas = clear (adjective)
menjelaskan = to make clear, to explain (verb)

This follows a common pattern:

meN- + adjective + -kan → “to make [adjective]”
- bersih (clean) → membersihkan (to clean / to make clean)
- jelas (clear) → menjelaskan (to explain / to make clear)

So:

Dosen kami menjelaskan ...
= Our lecturer explained ...

You might also see menerangkan (from terang, clear/bright) used similarly:

Dosen kami menerangkan siapa yang...
This also means “explained,” but menjelaskan is very common and neutral.

Could the second part be dan yang mengeditnya instead of dan siapa yang mengeditnya? What would change?

Yes, you could say:

Dosen kami menjelaskan siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf dan yang mengeditnya.

This is grammatical and understandable, but:

With dan siapa yang mengeditnya, you have two parallel embedded questions:
- siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf
- (dan) siapa yang mengeditnya
With dan yang mengeditnya, the second part becomes a relative clause attached to the first, and the structure is slightly less clear and feels a bit more formal or literary.

In everyday, clear speech, repeating siapa:

...siapa yang bertanggung jawab mengirim draf dan siapa yang mengeditnya.

is more natural and keeps the parallelism obvious.

The word draf looks like English “draft.” Is this a loanword, and is it common?

Yes, draf is a loanword from English “draft.” Indonesian borrows many technical or modern terms from English.

Spelling is adjusted to Indonesian conventions: draft → draf.
Meaning is very similar: a preliminary version of a document, paper, etc.

It is common in academic and professional contexts:

Kirimkan draf laporan itu besok.
Send the draft of the report tomorrow.

So in your sentence, draf is natural and widely understood, especially in academic settings.