Breakdown of Di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
Questions & Answers about Di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
Yes, you can absolutely say:
- Kami berdiskusi di perpustakaan tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
The meaning is the same. Indonesian word order is quite flexible.
Putting Di perpustakaan at the beginning:
- adds emphasis to the location (it’s like saying “In the library, we discussed...” in English)
- sounds very natural in written or more formal Indonesian, especially in narratives or reports.
So:
- Di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi... → Slight emphasis on where.
- Kami berdiskusi di perpustakaan... → More neutral, emphasis on the activity (discussing).
Indonesian does not use articles like “a” or “the”. The bare noun is used:
- perpustakaan = library / the library / a library (depending on context).
If you really need to specify, you use extra words:
- di perpustakaan itu = in that library / in the library (already known in context)
- di sebuah perpustakaan = in a library (non‑specific, introduces a new library)
- di perpustakaan kampus = in the campus library
But in most everyday sentences, di perpustakaan is enough, and context tells you whether it’s “the” or “a” library.
Both mean “we”, but:
- kami = we (not including the listener)
- kita = we (including the listener)
In this sentence:
- kami berdiskusi... implies the speaker and some others discussed, but the person being spoken to was not part of that group.
If the speaker wants to include the listener (for example, a teacher talking to the whole class that did the discussion), they might say:
- Kita berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
→ We (including you) discussed...
- diskusi (without ber-) is a noun → a discussion.
- berdiskusi is a verb → to have a discussion / to discuss.
The prefix ber- often turns a root into an intransitive verb (an action someone does):
- diskusi → berdiskusi (to discuss)
- jalan (road) → berjalan (to walk)
- main (play) → bermain (to play)
So:
- Kami berdiskusi... = We discussed... / We had a discussion...
If you just say Kami diskusi, it’s common in casual speech, but it is more informal and grammatically less standard than kami berdiskusi.
tentang is a preposition meaning “about / regarding / on”.
- berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru
= discuss (talk) about a new research topic
You can often replace tentang with mengenai or perihal:
- berdiskusi mengenai topik penelitian baru (slightly more formal)
- berdiskusi perihal topik penelitian baru (quite formal/literary)
In everyday academic contexts, tentang is very common and neutral.
You generally cannot drop tentang here; you need a linking word between berdiskusi and the thing being discussed, unless you change the verb (see the next question about mendiskusikan).
Word by word:
- topik = topic
- penelitian = research
- baru = new
In Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun. Here:
- topik penelitian = research topic
- topik penelitian baru = new research topic
Baru modifies the whole phrase topik penelitian, not just penelitian:
- topik penelitian baru = a research topic that is new
- penelitian baru on its own = new research (a new study)
- topik baru penelitian would sound odd; the natural order is topik penelitian baru.
So the phrase means “a new research topic”, not “a topic of new research” in some separate technical sense (though in practice those ideas often overlap).
Tugas akhir literally is “final task/assignment”, but in Indonesian academic context it usually refers to:
- a final project,
- a thesis,
- a dissertation (for certain levels),
- or another major capstone work at the end of a study program.
Exactly what it is depends on the school/university, but tugas akhir generally implies a big, formal, culminating project, not just a regular homework assignment.
If you want to be more specific, people might say:
- skripsi (bachelor’s thesis)
- tesis (master’s thesis)
- disertasi (PhD dissertation)
But tugas akhir is a broader, more general term.
untuk here means “for / for the purpose of”:
- topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir
= a new research topic for (the) final project/thesis
Alternatives:
- bagi = for (more like “for the benefit of / for someone”), more formal and less natural here.
- buat = colloquial form of untuk in speech.
So:
- topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir → natural and standard.
- topik penelitian baru buat tugas akhir → casual, informal speech.
- topik penelitian baru bagi tugas akhir → grammatical but sounds stiff / unusual in this context.
In academic writing, untuk is the best choice.
Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Berdiskusi can mean:
- We are discussing (present)
- We discussed (past)
- We will discuss (future)
The time is understood from context or from time words:
- Kemarin di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi...
→ Yesterday in the library, we discussed... - Sekarang di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi...
→ Now in the library, we are discussing... - Besok di perpustakaan, kami akan berdiskusi...
→ Tomorrow in the library, we will discuss...
You can also add sudah (already) or akan (will) to be explicit:
- Kami sudah berdiskusi... = we already discussed...
- Kami akan berdiskusi... = we will discuss...
Yes, but the structure changes slightly.
- berdiskusi tentang X = to have a discussion about X (intransitive verb + preposition)
- mendiskusikan X = to discuss X (transitive verb taking a direct object)
So you can say:
- Kami berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
- Kami mendiskusikan topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
Both are correct and natural.
Nuance:
- berdiskusi tentang focuses somewhat on the activity of discussing.
- mendiskusikan focuses a bit more on the object / content being discussed.
In practice, they’re very close in meaning; both sound fine in academic contexts.
The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and it’s appropriate for academic contexts.
Features that make it suitable for academic use:
- kami instead of very casual pronouns like kita (in some contexts) or kita-kita.
- berdiskusi rather than casual diskusi as a verb.
- Clear structure with di, tentang, untuk.
You could easily write this in:
- a report of activities,
- a thesis methodology section (with some tweaks),
- or a student reflection.
Very informal speech might shorten it to something like:
- Di perpustakaan, kita diskusi topik penelitian baru buat tugas akhir.
The comma after Di perpustakaan reflects a natural pause in speech when you front an adverbial phrase:
- Di perpustakaan, kami berdiskusi...
In practice:
- In careful writing, especially in school/academic contexts, this comma is recommended.
- In less formal writing (messages, chats), many people omit it:
Di perpustakaan kami berdiskusi... (still understandable and not “wrong” in everyday use).
So: the comma is stylistically correct and helpful, but in real-world writing it’s sometimes dropped without causing confusion.
You mainly need to change the pronoun kami to saya (I) or aku (I, informal):
- Di perpustakaan, saya berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
→ more neutral/formal - Di perpustakaan, aku berdiskusi tentang topik penelitian baru untuk tugas akhir.
→ more informal / personal
Note that berdiskusi usually implies at least two people, so it still means “I had a discussion (with someone)”, not talking to myself.