Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas. - The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting is very clear.

penjelasan guru is shorter and very natural.
dari (“from”) adds a slight feeling of “coming from,” but in many contexts there’s little difference in meaning.

What does tentang mean here, and how is it used?

Tentang means about / regarding / concerning.

Structure:

penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat
= the teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting

Usage notes:

tentang + noun phrase: tentang tujuan rapat, tentang rencana baru, etc.
Close synonyms: mengenai, soal, perihal (slightly different levels of formality/feel, but all can mean “about”).
- tentang / mengenai: neutral, standard.
- soal: more casual, can feel like “about the issue of.”
- perihal: more formal/official.

In this sentence, tentang is perfectly neutral and common.

How does tujuan rapat work grammatically, and why is the order “purpose meeting” instead of “meeting’s purpose”?

Indonesian normally places the head noun first, then the modifier:

[head noun] + [modifier]

So:

tujuan = purpose
rapat = meeting
tujuan rapat = the purpose of the meeting (literally: “purpose meeting”)

This is the same pattern as:

pintu rumah = door (of the) house
jadwal rapat = schedule (of the) meeting

You could also say:

tujuan dari rapat = the purpose of the meeting

…but tujuan rapat is shorter and very common in neutral written and spoken Indonesian.

Why is there no word for “was” in Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas?

Indonesian doesn’t use a separate verb like “to be” (am/is/are/was/were) before adjectives.

Pattern: > [Subject] + [adjective]

So:

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat = the teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting
sangat jelas = very clear

Put together:

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.
Literally: “The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting very clear.”

English needs “was,” but Indonesian does not:

“The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting was very clear.”
Indonesian: Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.

Can I add adalah here: Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat adalah sangat jelas?

Normally, no. This sounds unnatural.

Guideline:

Adalah is used mainly between a subject and a noun (or a noun-like phrase), not usually between a subject and a plain adjective.

Natural:

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.
(no adalah)

More natural use of adalah:

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat adalah hal yang sangat penting.
= “The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting is a very important thing.”

Here hal yang sangat penting is a noun phrase, so adalah fits.

What is the subject and what is the predicate in this sentence?

Sentence: Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.

Subject: Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat
(“The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting”)
Predicate: sangat jelas
(“[is] very clear”)

Indonesian default word order is Subject–Predicate, so the long noun phrase comes first, and the describing part (sangat jelas) comes second.

What does sangat mean, and how strong is it compared to English “very”?

Sangat means very. It intensifies adjectives or adverbs.

jelas = clear
sangat jelas = very clear

Strength and usage:

It’s a neutral, standard intensifier—similar in strength to English “very.”
Common alternatives:
- amat jelas (formal/literary, also “very clear”)
- begitu jelas (often “so clear”)
- jelas sekali (“very clear,” literally “clear once” but used as an intensifier)

In this sentence, sangat jelas is natural and not overly strong or emotional.

How do I know if guru here means “a teacher” or “the teacher”? There’s no article.

Indonesian has no articles like “a” or “the.” Definiteness is usually understood from context.

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.

Could be translated as:
- “The teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting was very clear.”
  or
- “A teacher’s explanation about the purpose of the meeting was very clear.”

If you really want to highlight “a certain, one teacher” (indefinite), you can say:

Penjelasan seorang guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.
(seorang ≈ “a / one (person)”)

To emphasise a specific known teacher, context is usually enough. Sometimes itu (that) can be added:

Penjelasan guru itu sangat jelas. = That teacher’s explanation was very clear.

Could I say just Penjelasan guru sangat jelas? What changes in meaning?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Penjelasan guru sangat jelas.
= “The teacher’s explanation was very clear.”

Difference:

Penjelasan guru sangat jelas.
→ General: the teacher’s explanation (not saying what it was about) was clear.
Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.
→ More specific: it clarifies that the explanation was about the purpose of the meeting.

So the longer version just adds detail about the content of the explanation.

What’s the difference between rapat and pertemuan? Could I say tujuan pertemuan instead?

Both can be translated as meeting, but there are nuances:

rapat
- Often used for formal or organizational meetings:
  - office meetings, committee meetings, school meetings, etc.
- Very common in work/administration contexts.
pertemuan
- More general: any meeting/encounter.
- Can be formal or informal:
  - a meeting between friends, a conference session, a gathering.

In many contexts, you could say tujuan pertemuan, but:

For an official/organizational context like a work or school meeting, tujuan rapat sounds especially natural.

How would I rephrase this using a verb like “to explain,” for example “The teacher explained the purpose of the meeting very clearly”?

A natural active-verb version is:

Guru menjelaskan tujuan rapat dengan sangat jelas.

Breakdown:

Guru = the teacher
menjelaskan = explained / to explain
tujuan rapat = the purpose of the meeting
dengan sangat jelas = very clearly (literally “with very clear[ness]”)

Compare:

Penjelasan guru tentang tujuan rapat sangat jelas.
→ Focus on the explanation itself (a noun).
Guru menjelaskan tujuan rapat dengan sangat jelas.
→ Focus on the teacher’s action of explaining (a verb).