Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru menjelaskan bahwa setiap anak punya hak untuk merasa aman di sekolah. - The teacher explains that every child has the right to feel safe at school.

Context tells you whether it’s specific or general. Here it’s naturally understood as the teacher (some teacher already known in the situation), but the sentence itself doesn’t mark that grammatically.

If you really want to emphasize one teacher, you can say seorang guru, but it’s not required.

What is the nuance of menjelaskan? How is it different from mengatakan or berkata?

menjelaskan = to explain, to make something clear
- Focus: giving a clearer understanding.
- Example: Guru menjelaskan pelajaran. – The teacher explains the lesson.
mengatakan = to say, to state
- Focus: the content of what is said, not necessarily explaining.
- Example: Dia mengatakan bahwa dia lelah. – He said that he was tired.
berkata = to say, to speak (intransitive)
- Often followed by bahwa or kepada (to someone).
- Example: Dia berkata kepada saya. – He spoke to me.

In this sentence, menjelaskan is used because the teacher is explaining a principle (about children’s rights), not just saying a random statement.

What does bahwa do here? Can it be left out?

bahwa introduces a that-clause, similar to English that in:

The teacher explained *that every child has the right…*

So:

Guru menjelaskan bahwa setiap anak punya hak…
→ The teacher explained *that every child has the right…*

Can you omit bahwa?

In casual speech, people often drop it, especially after bilang, ngomong, kata:
- Dia bilang setiap anak punya hak…
After more formal verbs like menjelaskan, menyatakan, menegaskan, bahwa is very common and usually sounds better kept in neutral or formal contexts.

So you might hear:

Guru menjelaskan setiap anak punya hak…
This is understandable, but with menjelaskan, many speakers prefer the version with bahwa.

What is the difference between setiap and semua?

Both relate to “all/every”, but they work differently:

setiap = every / each (focus on individuals one by one)
- setiap anak – every child / each child
semua = all (focus on the group as a whole)
- semua anak – all (the) children

In this sentence:

setiap anak punya hak… = every child has the right…
This emphasizes that each individual child has this right.

If you said:

semua anak punya hak… = all children have the right…
The meaning is very close, but it’s slightly more about the group of children as a whole.

Does anak here mean “child” or “student”? Why not use murid?

Literally, anak means child. But in real contexts:

anak can mean children in general, not tied to the family relationship.
At school, people often say anak-anak to mean students / kids.

murid means pupil / student in a more school-specific sense.

So:

anak → children / kids (possibly students, but more general)
murid → students (as in pupils at school)

The sentence is talking about children’s rights, so anak is natural because it’s about them as children, not just as students in an academic role.

What is the nuance of punya? How is it different from memiliki or mempunyai?

All of these can translate as “to have / to possess”, but they differ in register:

punya
- Very common, informal–neutral.
- Used all the time in speech.
- Example: Saya punya buku. – I have a book.
mempunyai
- More formal/neutral than punya.
- Often used in writing or formal speech.
- Example: Setiap orang mempunyai hak.
memiliki
- Also formal, often used in official/academic texts.
- Slight nuance of ownership/possession.
- Example: Anak memiliki hak atas pendidikan.

In your sentence, punya keeps the tone neutral and natural, like how a teacher would talk to students. A more formal written version could be:

Guru menjelaskan bahwa setiap anak memiliki hak untuk merasa aman di sekolah.

Why is it punya hak, not hak punya?

Basic Indonesian word order for possession is:

[Subject] + punya + [object]

So:

setiap anak punya hak – every child has rights
saya punya mobil – I have a car

If you said hak punya, it would sound wrong in this structure. hak is the thing being possessed, so it comes after punya.

Another common pattern is:

hak anak – children’s rights (literally rights of child)

But that’s a noun phrase, not a clause with punya.

Is hak singular or plural here? How do you say “rights” in Indonesian?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with an ending like -s. hak can mean:

a right
the right
rights (in general)

Context tells you. In:

setiap anak punya hak untuk merasa aman…

we understand it as “has the right” (a particular right).

To emphasize plural “rights”, you can say:

hak-hak (reduplication)
- Anak mempunyai hak-hak dasar. – Children have basic rights.
Or: berbagai hak, segala hak, hak asasi, etc., depending on context.

Why is untuk used before merasa? Could we just say hak merasa aman?

untuk here links hak (a noun) to a verb phrase:

hak untuk merasa aman
≈ the right *to feel safe*

Pattern: hak untuk + verb is very common:

hak untuk berbicara – the right to speak
hak untuk memilih – the right to vote/choose

You can sometimes see hak merasa…, but:

hak untuk + verb sounds more natural and standard, especially in formal or semi-formal language.
hak merasa… can sound a bit compressed or less standard in many contexts.

So hak untuk merasa aman is the usual, clear expression.

What exactly does merasa mean? How is it different from rasa or terasa?

rasa (noun) = feeling / taste / sense
- rasa sedih – a feeling of sadness
- rasa manis – sweet taste
merasa (verb) = to feel (emotion or sensation)
- Saya merasa sedih. – I feel sad.
- Saya merasa lapar. – I feel hungry.
terasa (stative verb/adjective-like) = to be felt / to feel (in a passive or descriptive sense)
- Udara terasa dingin. – The air feels cold.
- Rasa pedasnya tidak terlalu terasa. – The spiciness is not really felt.

In your sentence:

merasa aman = to feel safe (what the child experiences)

So untuk merasa aman → to feel safe.

Is aman an adjective or an adverb here? Why not something like “safely”?

aman is an adjective meaning safe.

Indonesian often uses adjectives directly after merasa:

merasa marah – feel angry
merasa lelah – feel tired
merasa aman – feel safe

There is an adverb-like form dengan aman – safely:

Mereka pulang dengan aman. – They went home safely.

But after merasa, we usually use the adjective:

merasa aman (feel safe), not merasa dengan aman.

So aman here is an adjective describing the child’s state.

Why is it di sekolah and not ke sekolah? What is the difference?

di = at / in / on (location, where something is)
ke = to (direction, where something is going)

In this sentence:

di sekolah – at school / in school (location)

The sentence is about feeling safe at the place (school), not about going there:

merasa aman di sekolah – feel safe at school

If you used ke:

ke sekolah – to school (movement towards school)
E.g. Saya pergi ke sekolah. – I go to school.

So di sekolah is correct for a location where the feeling happens.

How do we know the sentence is past (the teacher explained), since Indonesian doesn’t mark tense?

Indonesian verbs usually don’t change for tense. menjelaskan can mean:

explains
explained
is explaining
will explain

We understand the time from:

Context (previous sentences, situation)
Time words like tadi, kemarin, sekarang, nanti, etc.

For example:

Tadi pagi, guru menjelaskan bahwa…
– This morning, the teacher explained that…

Without any time marker, your sentence is time-neutral. When you translate into English, you choose the tense that fits the context best; here, “explained” is the natural choice.