Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru kami berkata bahwa setiap manusia bisa belajar sepanjang hidup. - Our teacher said that every human can learn throughout life.

Guru kami literally means our teacher (not including you).
This suggests the teacher belongs to the speaker’s group only (for example, classmates talking to someone outside their class).

If the teacher were also the listener’s teacher, you’d more likely say guru kita (our teacher, including you).

So the sentence assumes the listener is not one of the teacher’s students.

What is the function of bahwa here, and can it be left out?

bahwa works like English that introducing a clause:

Guru kami berkata bahwa… = Our teacher said that…

In many everyday sentences, bahwa is optional:

Guru kami berkata setiap manusia bisa belajar sepanjang hidup.

This is also correct and very natural.
Leaving bahwa out usually doesn’t change the meaning; it just feels a bit less formal. You’ll see bahwa more often in writing, news, and formal speech.

Why is it setiap manusia instead of something like semua manusia or orang?

setiap manusia = every human (each person)
Focus is on each individual, one by one.
semua manusia = all humans / all people
Focus is on the group as a whole.
orang is the common everyday word for person / people.
manusia is more neutral/formal and literally means human being.

So:

setiap manusia bisa belajar = every single person has the ability to learn
semua manusia bisa belajar = all people can learn (as a group)

Using setiap manusia matches the idea that each individual person has this lifelong ability.

Is setiap manusia grammatically singular or plural?

Grammatically, Indonesian doesn’t mark singular/plural the same way English does.

setiap is followed by a singular form of a noun:
- setiap manusia, setiap orang, setiap hari
But the meaning is “each one (of many)”, very close to English every human.

So you can think of setiap manusia as like English every human: grammatically singular form, but referring to humans in general.

What exactly does bisa mean here, and how is it different from dapat or boleh?

In this sentence bisa means can / be able to (ability or possibility):

setiap manusia bisa belajar = every human can learn / is able to learn

Common contrasts:

bisa
- Ability or possibility: Dia bisa berenang = He can swim.
dapat
- Very similar to bisa; often a bit more formal or written.
- Here you could also say: setiap manusia dapat belajar sepanjang hidup (also correct).
boleh
- Permission: Dia boleh belajar di sini = He may/is allowed to study here.

In this sentence, bisa and dapat are both fine; boleh would be wrong because it means may / is allowed to, not is able to.

Why is it belajar sepanjang hidup and not belajar untuk sepanjang hidup like in English “for all (their) life”?

Indonesian doesn’t need a preposition like untuk here. The pattern is simply:

sepanjang + noun = throughout / for the whole of + noun

So:

sepanjang hidup = throughout (one’s) life
sepanjang hari = all day long
sepanjang tahun = all year long

If you said untuk sepanjang hidup, it would still be understandable, but it sounds less natural and a bit influenced by English. The simple belajar sepanjang hidup is the normal phrasing.

What is the difference between sepanjang hidup and selama hidup?

Both can often be translated throughout (one’s) life, but there’s a nuance:

sepanjang hidup
- Literally the whole length of life, from start to end.
- Fits well with actions that can be continuous or repeated:
  - belajar sepanjang hidup = keep learning all life long.
selama hidup
- Literally during life / in the time of life.
- Often used in expressions like:
  - selama hidup saya = in all my life / during my lifetime.

In this specific sentence, sepanjang hidup is slightly more natural because it emphasizes the continuous, lifelong nature of learning, but selama hidup wouldn’t be wrong.

Why is hidup used as a noun here? Isn’t hidup also a verb/adjective meaning “to live / alive”?

Yes, hidup can function as:

a verb: Dia masih hidup. = He is still alive / He still lives.
an adjective: ikan hidup = live fish.
a noun: hidup = life.

In sepanjang hidup, hidup is a noun meaning life:

sepanjang hidup = throughout life

Indonesian often uses the same root for different word classes, and the function is understood from context.

Why is there no word for “their” in “throughout their life”? Shouldn’t it be something like sepanjang hidupnya?

Indonesian often omits possessive pronouns when the meaning is clear from context.

sepanjang hidup in this sentence naturally means throughout one’s life / throughout their life.

You can say:

sepanjang hidupnya = throughout his/her/their life

but here it’s not necessary. The general rule “every human can learn throughout life” is clear without explicitly marking possession.

Both are grammatically correct, but sepanjang hidup without -nya is more generic and a bit more proverbial.

What’s the difference between berkata and mengatakan? Could we say Guru kami mengatakan bahwa…?

Both relate to saying, but they’re used slightly differently:

berkata = to say, to speak (intransitive; doesn’t take a direct object noun)
- Dia berkata bahwa… = He said that…
mengatakan = to say, to state (transitive; takes a direct object)
- Dia mengatakan hal itu. = He said/stated that thing.
- Very common with bahwa: Dia mengatakan bahwa…

In your sentence, you can say:

Guru kami berkata bahwa setiap manusia…
Guru kami mengatakan bahwa setiap manusia…

Both are correct. mengatakan is slightly more formal; berkata is very common in both speech and writing.

Could we use bilang instead of berkata? For example, Guru kami bilang…?

Yes, in informal Indonesian, bilang is very common:

Guru kami bilang setiap manusia bisa belajar sepanjang hidup.

Notes:

bilang is more colloquial than berkata or mengatakan.
In formal writing (essays, news, official documents), berkata or mengatakan is preferred.
In everyday conversation, bilang is perfectly natural.

How is tense handled here? How do we know if it means “Our teacher said” or “Our teacher says”?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. berkata can mean:

said (past)
has said
says (present)
Even will say (future), depending on context.

The sentence Guru kami berkata bahwa… could be translated as:

Our teacher said that every human can learn throughout life.
Our teacher says that every human can learn throughout life.

To make the time clearer, Indonesian can add time words:

Tadi guru kami berkata… = Earlier our teacher said…
Setiap hari guru kami berkata… = Every day our teacher says…

Is the word order Guru kami berkata bahwa… fixed, or could it be rearranged?

The most natural word order here is:

Guru kami berkata bahwa…
(Subject = guru kami, Verb = berkata, Clause = bahwa…)

You could say:

Kami punya guru yang berkata bahwa… = We have a teacher who said that…

but that’s a different structure and adds punya (have).
You cannot simply move pieces around like in English “Said our teacher…”; Indonesian generally keeps Subject – Verb – (Object/Complement):

Guru kami (subject)
berkata (verb)
bahwa setiap manusia… (complement clause)

So for this meaning, Guru kami berkata bahwa… is the standard, natural order.