Breakdown of Guru menjelaskan teks itu di perpustakaan.
itu
that
di
in
guru
the teacher
perpustakaan
the library
Questions & Answers about Guru menjelaskan teks itu di perpustakaan.
Does guru mean a teacher or the teacher? Why is there no word like a/the in Indonesian?
Indonesian does not use articles like a, an, or the.
The bare noun guru can mean a teacher, the teacher, or even teachers in general, depending on context.
If you really need to be specific, Indonesian uses other ways:
- seorang guru = a teacher / one teacher
- guru itu = that teacher / the teacher (already known in the context)
- para guru = the teachers (plural, more formal)
In this sentence, Guru menjelaskan teks itu di perpustakaan, guru is best understood as the teacher from context, but grammatically it’s just teacher without any article.
Is menjelaskan present tense or past tense?
Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Menjelaskan itself has no tense; it just means to explain / explains / explained depending on context.
To show time more clearly, Indonesian adds time words:
- Kemarin guru menjelaskan teks itu... = Yesterday the teacher explained that text...
- Sekarang guru menjelaskan teks itu... = Now the teacher is explaining that text...
- Besok guru akan menjelaskan teks itu... = Tomorrow the teacher will explain that text...
Without a time word, you understand the tense from the surrounding context or from the English translation you’re given.