Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat. - My curiosity about ancient animals is still strong.

In this sentence, rasa ingin tahu saya = my curiosity.
It’s a natural, idiomatic way in Indonesian to talk about curiosity, especially in slightly formal or neutral contexts (writing, presentations, essays, etc.).

Is there a more “single-word” way to say rasa ingin tahu like English curiosity?

Yes: keingintahuan.

keingintahuan saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat
means essentially the same thing as the original sentence.

Differences in feel:

rasa ingin tahu
- Slightly more “everyday” sounding, though still neutral/formal enough.
- Breaks the concept into “feeling + want to know”, which is very transparent.
keingintahuan
- More compact, a single abstract noun, often used in books, articles, or more formal writing.

Both are correct; neither is “wrong” or strange here.

How is rasa ingin tahu different from penasaran? Can I say Saya penasaran tentang hewan purba?

Penasaran roughly means curious, but the usage is a bit different:

rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat
= My curiosity about prehistoric animals is still strong.
(Sounds neutral/formal, like a statement about a lasting interest.)
Saya penasaran tentang hewan purba
is understandable but a bit unusual. More natural would be:
- Saya masih penasaran dengan hewan purba.
- Saya masih penasaran soal hewan purba.

Nuance:

rasa ingin tahu / keingintahuan
- Refers to the quality or trait of curiosity.
- Good for talking about a long-term interest, a characteristic, or something you “have”.
penasaran
- More like “I’m dying to know / I’m really wondering”.
- Often used when you’re actively puzzled or can’t stop thinking about something.
- More colloquial.

So you can use penasaran, but it slightly changes the feeling: it becomes less like a stable interest, more like an itch you want to scratch.

Why is it rasa ingin tahu saya and not saya rasa ingin tahu?

Structure:

rasa ingin tahu saya = “my curiosity”
- rasa ingin tahu = curiosity (noun phrase)
- saya after the noun = my

In Indonesian, possessive pronouns normally go after the noun:

buku saya = my book
teman saya = my friend
rasa ingin tahu saya = my curiosity

If you say saya rasa ingin tahu, it would be interpreted as:

saya = I
rasa ingin tahu (as a verb phrase) = feel curious / have a desire to know

So Saya rasa ingin tahu tentang hewan purba would mean something like “I feel curious about prehistoric animals,” which is grammatical but different in structure and style.

The original sentence talks about the strength of your curiosity as a thing, not just that you feel curious at this moment.

Could the word order be Rasa ingin tahu saya masih kuat tentang hewan purba?

That’s understandable, but it sounds less natural.

Typical, natural order is:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat.

Why?

The pattern is:
[subject] + [complement (tentang …)] + [predicate (masih kuat)]
Indonesians usually keep the tentang-phrase close to the noun it modifies:
- rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba = my curiosity about prehistoric animals

If you move tentang hewan purba to the very end, listeners may briefly expect “masih kuat” to be the end of the thought, so it feels a bit clunky in normal speech.

So the standard, smooth version is the original.

What exactly does tentang do here? Could I use mengenai, soal, or terhadap instead?

tentang means about / regarding / concerning.

In this sentence:

rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba
= my curiosity about prehistoric animals

Possible alternatives (with nuances):

mengenai
- More formal, often in writing: reports, articles, official contexts.
- Rasa ingin tahu saya mengenai hewan purba masih kuat. (OK, a bit more formal.)
soal
- More informal / conversational, like “about / on the topic of”:
- Rasa ingin tahu saya soal hewan purba masih kuat. (Colloquial but natural.)
terhadap
- Means “toward”, used more for attitudes or treatment:
  - sikap saya terhadap hewan = my attitude toward animals
- Rasa ingin tahu saya terhadap hewan purba is understandable but less natural; tentang is better with rasa ingin tahu.

For “curiosity about X,” tentang (and sometimes mengenai) are the most natural choices.

Is hewan purba singular or plural? How would I say “prehistoric animals” clearly?

Indonesian generally does not mark plural with -s like English.

hewan purba can mean a prehistoric animal or prehistoric animals, depending on context.

If you want to be very explicit:

hewan-hewan purba
- Reduplication often marks plural: hewan-hewan = animals.
- So hewan-hewan purba emphasizes prehistoric animals (plural).

But in this sentence, because you talk about curiosity in general, hewan purba is naturally understood as “prehistoric animals” without needing plural marking.

Why is it hewan purba, not purba hewan? Where do adjectives go in Indonesian?

In Indonesian, adjectives almost always come after the noun:

hewan purba = ancient/prehistoric animals
buku baru = new book
rumah besar = big house

Putting the adjective before the noun (purba hewan) is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.

So the proper structure is:

hewan (noun) + purba (adjective)

What does masih add to the meaning? What if I remove it?

masih means still (continuing from the past until now).

masih kuat = still strong

So:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat.
= My curiosity is still strong. (It used to be strong, and it continues.)

If you remove masih:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba kuat.

This is technically understandable but sounds a bit odd in normal usage; it feels like something is missing (we rarely just say “curiosity strong” without “still” or an intensifier like “sangat”). More natural alternatives without masih would be:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba sangat kuat. (very strong)
Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba begitu kuat. (so strong)

So masih is important for the meaning “still (strong) up to now”.

Could I use tetap instead of masih in masih kuat?

You can, but the nuance changes slightly:

masih kuat
- Neutral “still strong”, focusing on the continuity from before until now.
tetap kuat
- “remains strong / stays strong”, often with a sense of despite change or obstacles.
- E.g. Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba tetap kuat, meskipun saya sudah dewasa.
  = My curiosity remains strong, even though I’m already an adult.

So:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba tetap kuat.
is okay and suggests that your curiosity stayed strong in spite of something that might have weakened it.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would people actually say it in conversation?

The sentence is in neutral to slightly formal Indonesian. It’s absolutely natural in:

Writing (essays, blog posts, school assignments)
Presentations, interviews
Polite conversation

In casual everyday speech, people might choose something simpler or more colloquial, for example:

Saya masih sangat tertarik sama hewan purba.
Saya dari dulu sampai sekarang tetap penasaran banget sama hewan purba.

But “Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat.” is perfectly fine in spoken Indonesian, especially when speaking politely or thoughtfully.

Can I drop saya and just say Rasa ingin tahu tentang hewan purba masih kuat?

You can, and people will understand:

Rasa ingin tahu tentang hewan purba masih kuat.

However:

Without saya, it’s not explicitly clear whose curiosity this is.
It could be interpreted as talking about curiosity in general (e.g. students’ curiosity, people’s curiosity) unless context makes it obvious you mean yourself.

If you want to clearly say “my curiosity”, keep saya:

Rasa ingin tahu saya tentang hewan purba masih kuat.

Dropping pronouns is common in Indonesian, but only when the context already makes the subject obvious.

Is there a more straightforward way to say this using a verb instead of rasa ingin tahu?

Yes, you can express the idea with verbs or adjectives instead of the noun phrase rasa ingin tahu. For example:

Saya masih sangat tertarik pada hewan purba.
- tertarik (pada) = interested (in)
- Very natural and commonly used.
Saya masih penasaran dengan hewan purba.
- More colloquial; suggests you’re still really curious/wondering about them.
Saya masih punya rasa ingin tahu yang kuat tentang hewan purba.
- “I still have strong curiosity about prehistoric animals.”

The original sentence, with rasa ingin tahu saya … masih kuat, sounds slightly more formal or reflective, emphasizing the strength of your curiosity as a quality.

Why isn’t there a verb like “to be” (am/is/are) in the Indonesian sentence?

Indonesian often omits a separate “to be” verb (am/is/are) when linking a subject to an adjective:

English: My curiosity is still strong.
Indonesian: Rasa ingin tahu saya … masih kuat.
- No word for “is”; you just place the adjective (kuat) after the subject.

Basic pattern:

Subjek + (adverb like “masih”) + Adjektiva
- Saya lapar. = I am hungry.
- Dia pintar. = He/She is smart.
- Cuaca hari ini panas. = The weather is hot today.

So here masih kuat plays the role of “is still strong” without needing a separate verb like “to be”.