Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Ayah memberi tahu saya tentang risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur. - Father tells me about the risk of playing games too long before sleeping.

Ayah – neutral, polite, usable in writing and speech. Often used by children and adults.
Bapak – more formal; also means sir/Mr. Used in very polite speech or official contexts.
Papa / Papi – casual, affectionate, like dad/daddy.
Abi – used in some Muslim families; comes from Arabic.

About capitalization:

When you are referring to your own specific father, especially like a name, it is often capitalized:
- Ayah memberi tahu saya… = Dad told me…
When used in a general sense, it’s usually lowercase:
- ayah saya bekerja di kantor = my father works in an office.

Why is it memberi tahu as two words? Is memberitahu one word also correct?

Both memberi tahu and memberitahu are understood and used, but there are some stylistic preferences.

memberi tahu = memberi (to give) + tahu (to know)
- Literally: “to give knowledge” → to inform / to tell.
- Many modern style guides and textbooks prefer memberi tahu (two words) because tahu is a full verb, not just a suffix.
memberitahu (one word) is also listed in major dictionaries and is widely used, especially in older or more formal writing.

For learners, it’s safe (and slightly more “textbook-correct”) to use:

Ayah memberi tahu saya…
You will also see:
Ayah memberitahu saya… – not wrong, just a variant.

What is the difference between memberi tahu, mengatakan, bilang, and berkata? Could I replace memberi tahu with one of those?

All of these have to do with saying or telling something, but they are not always interchangeable.

memberi tahu – to tell / to inform (someone about something)
Focuses on giving information to someone.
- Pattern: memberi tahu [someone] tentang [something]
- Example: Dia memberi tahu saya tentang rencana itu.
  He told me about that plan.
mengatakan – to say / to state
Focuses on the content of the words, often followed by what was said.
- Pattern: mengatakan bahwa… or mengatakan [something]
- Example: Ayah mengatakan bahwa bermain terlalu lama itu berbahaya.
  Dad said that playing too long is dangerous.
berkata – to say / to speak
More formal/literary, often followed by bahwa or kepada.
- Example: Ayah berkata kepada saya bahwa…
  Father said to me that…
bilang – informal, conversational “say / tell”.
- Example: Ayah bilang jangan main gim terlalu lama.
  Dad said don’t play games too long.

In your sentence, memberi tahu is natural because the structure is “tell someone about a risk”:

Ayah memberi tahu saya tentang risiko…
You could reformulate with other verbs, but you would have to change the structure:
Ayah mengatakan bahwa bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur itu berisiko.

Why is it memberi tahu saya and not memberi tahu kepada saya?

With memberi tahu, the person who receives the information is normally a direct object, so you say:

memberi tahu saya – tell me
memberi tahu dia – tell him/her
memberi tahu mereka – tell them

Using kepada is possible with other verbs like berkata or mengatakan:

Ayah berkata kepada saya… – Dad said to me…
Ayah mengatakannya kepada saya. – Dad said it to me.

With memberi tahu, kepada sounds redundant and less natural in everyday speech. The most natural pattern is:

memberi tahu [pronoun] tentang [something]

What exactly does tentang do here, and can it be left out or replaced?

tentang means about / regarding. It links the verb memberi tahu to the topic of the information:

memberi tahu saya tentang risiko…
= tell me about the risk(s)…

Alternatives:

mengenai – slightly more formal:
Ayah memberi tahu saya mengenai risiko…
soal – more casual/colloquial:
Ayah memberi tahu saya soal risiko…

Can you drop tentang?

In this exact sentence, dropping tentang would sound odd:
- ✗ Ayah memberi tahu saya risiko bermain gim… – feels incomplete/unnatural.
A more natural alternative without tentang is to change structure:
- Ayah memberi tahu saya bahwa ada risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur.
  (Dad told me that there is a risk of playing games too long before sleeping.)

Does risiko mean “risk” or “risks”? How do you make it clearly plural in Indonesian?

Indonesian nouns usually don’t change form for singular/plural. risiko can mean risk or risks, depending on context.

Your sentence:

tentang risiko bermain gim terlalu lama…
can be understood as about the risk or about the risks.

To make plurality explicit, you can say:

risiko-risiko – risk(s) (plural by duplication)
berbagai risiko – various risks
banyak risiko – many risks

Note: You may also see resiko in informal writing; risiko is the standard spelling.

How is the phrase risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur structured grammatically?

This whole string is a noun phrase headed by risiko, and the rest describes what kind of risk:

risiko – risk
bermain gim – playing games
terlalu lama – too long
sebelum tidur – before sleeping

So structurally it’s:

risiko [bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur]
= the risk of [playing games for too long before sleeping]

In Indonesian, a noun (risiko) can be directly followed by a verb phrase (bermain gim…) to specify the type of risk, without a preposition like “of”. You don’t need something like “risiko dari bermain…” here; the simpler form is natural.

Why is it bermain gim and not just main gim or bermain game? Are these different?

All of these exist, but they differ in formality and spelling:

bermain gim
- bermain is the standard verb “to play (a game)”.
- gim is the standardized Indonesian spelling of English game.
- This is the most standard/written style.
main gim
- main is a very common colloquial shortening of bermain.
- This is how people often speak casually:
  - Aku lagi main gim. – I’m playing a game (right now).
bermain game / main game
- game is the English spelling kept as-is.
- Very common in informal speech or casual writing, especially among younger speakers.

In your sentence, bermain gim is a natural, neutral choice that fits general, standard Indonesian.

What does terlalu add here? How is it different from sangat or sekali?

terlalu means too / excessively, implying that the amount is more than desirable or healthy.

terlalu lama – too long (longer than is good)

Compare:

sangat lama – very long (neutral, no strong “too much” judgment)
lama sekali – very long indeed (also neutral, just emphasizes).

In your sentence:

risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur
= the risk of playing games for too long before sleeping
→ It implies this duration is excessive and not good.

Why is sebelum tidur used without a subject? Shouldn’t it be sebelum saya tidur?

Indonesian often drops subjects when they are clear from context. sebelum tidur literally means before sleeping / before going to sleep, with the subject understood as “I” (or “you”, depending on context).

Both are grammatically possible:

sebelum tidur – before sleeping (subject implied)
sebelum saya tidur – before I sleep

Your sentence:

…terlalu lama sebelum tidur
is natural and concise; the saya is already established earlier (memberi tahu saya), so it doesn’t need to be repeated.

If you want to be extra explicit or emphatic, you can say:

Ayah memberi tahu saya tentang risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum saya tidur.

Can sebelum tidur be moved earlier in the sentence, like Ayah memberi tahu saya sebelum tidur tentang…? Does that change the meaning?

You can move sebelum tidur, but the focus shifts slightly.

Ayah memberi tahu saya tentang risiko bermain gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur.
Default reading: The playing games happens before sleep, and that’s what is risky.
Ayah memberi tahu saya sebelum tidur tentang risiko bermain gim terlalu lama.
Now sebelum tidur tends to attach to memberi tahu:
- Dad told me before (I) went to bed about the risk of playing games too long.

So:

Original: time phrase modifies bermain gim.
Moved version: time phrase more naturally modifies memberi tahu.

Both are grammatical, but they answer slightly different “before what?” questions.

There is no past tense marker in Ayah memberi tahu saya…. How do we know it means “told” and not “tells / is telling”?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for past, present, or future. memberi tahu is tense-neutral; it can mean tell / told / is telling / will tell, depending on context.

We infer past tense here because:

In English, the natural way to talk about this kind of situation is often in the past (“Dad told me…”).
There is a past-like context implied: the warning was given before some later action.

To be explicit about time, Indonesians use time words:

kemarin – yesterday
tadi malam – last night
nanti – later

Examples:

Tadi malam Ayah memberi tahu saya tentang risiko itu.
= Last night Dad told me about that risk.
Besok Ayah akan memberi tahu saya…
= Tomorrow Dad will tell me…

Why is saya used instead of aku? What’s the difference in tone?

Both saya and aku mean I / me, but their tone and usage differ:

saya
- More formal, polite, neutral.
- Common in writing, in polite conversation, and when speaking to people you don’t know well or to elders.
aku
- More informal, intimate, or casual.
- Common with friends, family, or in songs and poems.

Your sentence uses saya, which makes it suitable for neutral narration or polite conversation:

Ayah memberi tahu saya…

In a very casual context (e.g., telling a friend), you might say:

Ayah ngasih tahu aku tentang risiko main gim terlalu lama sebelum tidur.
(Here ngasih tahu is informal for memberi tahu, and main is the informal form of bermain.)