Saya suka saran sederhana dari guru.

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Breakdown of Saya suka saran sederhana dari guru.

• suka: to like
• guru: the teacher
• sederhana: simple

Questions & Answers about Saya suka saran sederhana dari guru.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in Saya suka saran sederhana dari guru? How do I know if it means “a simple suggestion” or “the simple suggestion”?

Indonesian normally has no articles like a/an or the. The bare noun saran can mean:

• a suggestion / some advice
• the suggestion / the advice

Context decides which English article you use in translation.

If you specifically want to show:

• “a simple suggestion”: often still just saran sederhana, or you can say sebuah saran sederhana (more explicitly “one suggestion”).
• “the simple suggestion” (something already known in context): still saran sederhana, or you can add itu: saran sederhana itu = that/that particular simple suggestion.

So the Indonesian sentence is flexible; you choose the English article based on context.

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Why is the adjective sederhana after saran, not before it like in English (simple suggestion)?

In Indonesian, the usual order is:

Noun + Adjective

So:

• saran sederhana = simple suggestion
• rumah besar = big house
• film menarik = interesting movie

Putting the adjective first, like sederhana saran, is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian. The natural order is saran sederhana.

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What’s the difference between suka and menyukai? Why do we say and not ?