Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama, supaya murid berani jujur tentang topik sensitif. - The questionnaire does not ask for names, so that students dare to be honest about sensitive topics.

tanya – root word, often used in casual speech, e.g. Saya mau tanya. (I want to ask.)
bertanya – intransitive, “to ask (a question)” in general, often without a direct object:
- Dia bertanya kepada guru. (He/She asked the teacher.)
menanya – rare in everyday speech; you’ll usually see bertanya or menanyakan instead.
menanyakan – transitive, “to ask about / to ask for (something specific)”. It takes a direct object.

In this sentence, menanyakan nama = “to ask (for) the name”. There is a clear object: nama.

You would not usually say:

✗ Kuesioner itu tidak bertanya nama. (Ungrammatical / very odd: bertanya normally doesn’t take a direct object.)

You can say:

Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama. ✅ (correct: asks for what? → nama)
Kuesioner itu tidak meminta nama. ✅ (does not request the name)

So menanyakan is used because the questionnaire is asking for a specific piece of information (the name), making the transitive form natural.

Why is tidak used and not bukan in tidak menanyakan nama?

Indonesian has two main negators:

tidak – negates verbs and adjectives
bukan – negates nouns or equational sentences (A is not B)

Examples:

Saya tidak makan. (I do not eat / I'm not eating.) – verb → tidak
Dia tidak marah. (He/She is not angry.) – adjective → tidak
Itu bukan buku saya. (That is not my book.) – noun phrase → bukan
Dia bukan guru. (He/She is not a teacher.) – noun → bukan

In your sentence, menanyakan is a verb (to ask/ask for), so the correct negator is tidak:

Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama.
(The questionnaire does not ask for names.)

Using bukan here would be ungrammatical:

✗ Kuesioner itu bukan menanyakan nama. – wrong in this context, unless you’re contrasting with something else in a special structure.

What’s the function of itu in kuesioner itu? Could I leave it out or use ini instead?

Itu is a demonstrative that can mean:

“that” (pointing to something further away / already mentioned)
or act like a kind of definite article, similar to “the” in English.

In kuesioner itu, it probably refers to a specific questionnaire, known in the context:

kuesioner itu – “that questionnaire” / “the questionnaire (we’re talking about)”

Variations:

kuesioner ini – “this questionnaire” (closer to the speaker, or what you’re holding)
kuesioner (no ini/itu) – more general or indefinite: “a questionnaire / questionnaires (in general)”

So:

Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama…
→ A particular questionnaire (already introduced or understood).
Kuesioner tidak menanyakan nama…
→ Could sound like a general rule about questionnaires, or remain vague.

You can change it to ini if you mean this specific questionnaire near you:

Kuesioner ini tidak menanyakan nama…

Why is it just nama and not namanya or nama murid?

In Indonesian, bare nouns can be quite general and don’t always need possessive markers. Here:

menanyakan nama = “ask for (people’s) names”

The context (a questionnaire for students) makes it clear whose names are meant, so Indonesian can leave it implicit.

Possible variants and nuances:

menanyakan nama – neutral; “ask for names” (understood from context whose).
menanyakan nama murid – more explicit: “ask for the students’ names”.
menanyakan namanya – “ask for his/her/their name” (refers back to someone already mentioned).

The original sentence is natural because Indonesian often doesn’t mark possession when the owner is obvious from context.

Is murid singular or plural here? Why isn’t it murid-murid or para murid?

Indonesian nouns don’t have to show singular vs. plural. Murid can mean:

“student” (one student), or
“students” (students in general or in a group),

depending on context.

In this sentence:

supaya murid berani jujur
is understood as “so that (the) students dare to be honest”.

If you want to emphasize plurality:

supaya murid-murid berani jujur – repetition to mark plural
supaya para murid berani jujur – para also marks “(the) students” (plural, a bit more formal)

But native speakers often leave it simply as murid, especially when the group nature (a whole class / school) is obvious, like in a questionnaire context.

What exactly does supaya mean here, and how is it different from agar, sehingga, or jadi?

Supaya introduces a purpose or intended result, similar to:

“so that”
“in order that”

In your sentence:

… tidak menanyakan nama, supaya murid berani jujur …
→ “… does not ask for names, so that students will dare to be honest …”

Comparisons:

supaya – purpose / desired outcome:
Saya belajar keras supaya lulus ujian.
(I study hard so that I pass the exam.)
agar – very close in meaning to supaya, somewhat more formal in some contexts. Here you could replace supaya with agar with almost no change in meaning:
- … agar murid berani jujur … ✅
sehingga – more “as a result / so that (as a consequence)”, not always a purpose:
- Dia terlambat, sehingga rapat sudah selesai.
  (He was late, so by the time he arrived the meeting was already over.) Using sehingga here would sound like you’re describing an unintended result, not a deliberate purpose.
jadi – “so / therefore”, often starts a new sentence; it doesn’t mark purpose:
- Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama. Jadi murid berani jujur.
  (The questionnaire doesn’t ask for names. So the students dare to be honest.)

Supaya is correct here because it clearly expresses intentional purpose.

How does berani jujur work grammatically? Are berani and jujur both adjectives?

Both berani and jujur are adjectives, but Indonesian allows adjective sequences like this where the first adjective modifies the action/state of the second.

berani – brave, bold, having the courage
jujur – honest

berani jujur literally: “brave (enough to be) honest”.

This pattern is common:

berani bicara – brave enough to speak
berani mencoba – brave enough to try
berani berbeda – brave enough to be different
tidak berani jujur – not brave enough to be honest

Here, jujur behaves a bit like a “stative verb” (“to be honest”), and berani indicates having the courage to be that way. So:

murid berani jujur ≈ “students dare to be honest / are brave enough to be honest”.

Why is it topik sensitif and not sensitif topik? What is the usual word order?

In Indonesian, the typical word order is: noun + modifier (adjective).

So:

topik sensitif – “sensitive topic” (literally “topic [that is] sensitive”)
rumah besar – big house
masalah penting – important problem
film lucu – funny movie

Putting the adjective first, like sensitif topik, is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian and sounds wrong to native speakers.

So:

topik sensitif ✅
sensitif topik ✗

Why is there a comma before supaya? Could it be written without a comma?

The comma marks a pause between two clauses:

Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama,
supaya murid berani jujur tentang topik sensitif.

It’s similar to English:

“The questionnaire does not ask for names, so that students dare to be honest…”

In many modern Indonesian texts, you could either:

keep the comma (quite common and clear), or
omit it, especially in informal writing:
- Kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama supaya murid berani jujur…

Both are acceptable in everyday writing. Using the comma just makes the structure slightly clearer, especially in longer sentences.

How do we know the tense in this sentence? Could it also mean past or future?

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Menanyakan, berani, jujur stay the same whether the sentence is past, present, or future. The tense is inferred from context or from time words.

Your sentence as is is most naturally understood as present/general:

“The questionnaire does not ask for names, so that students dare to be honest…”

If you want to specify time more clearly:

Dulu, kuesioner itu tidak menanyakan nama…
(In the past, that questionnaire didn’t ask for names…)
Nanti, kuesioner itu tidak akan menanyakan nama…
(Later / in the future, that questionnaire will not ask for names…)

Key point: the verb forms themselves (menanyakan, berani) don’t change; context or extra words show time.