Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami.

I cannot forget our teacher's advice.

Breakdown of Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami.

• saya: I
• tidak: not
• guru: the teacher
• bisa: can
• kami: our
• nasihat: the advice
• melupakan: to forget

Questions & Answers about Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami.

In this sentence, what is the function of tidak bisa? Does it just mean "cannot"?

Tidak bisa literally means cannot / am not able to.

In Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami, it has a more emotional sense: I just can’t (manage to) forget…, I’m unable to forget….

You could change the nuance with other options:

• Saya tidak mau melupakan … – I don’t want to forget …
• Saya tidak akan melupakan … – I will not / won’t forget … (a promise)
• Saya tidak akan pernah melupakan … – I will never forget … (very strong)

Why is tidak placed before bisa, instead of before melupakan?

In Indonesian, tidak usually comes before the whole predicate, and here the predicate is bisa melupakan (“can forget”).

• Saya tidak bisa melupakan …
  = I cannot forget … (no ability)

If you said:

• Saya bisa tidak melupakan nasihat guru kami,

this would mean something different: I am able to not forget our teacher’s advice (i.e. I’m capable of remembering it). Here tidak would negate melupakan only, giving not forget instead of forget.

So:

• tidak bisa melupakan = cannot forget
• bisa tidak melupakan = can manage to not forget (can remember)

What is the difference between bisa and dapat here? Could I say Saya tidak dapat melupakan …?

Yes, you can say:

• Saya tidak dapat melupakan nasihat guru kami.

Bisa and dapat are very close in meaning (“can / be able to”), and in this sentence they are interchangeable.

Nuances (general tendencies, not strict rules):

• bisa – the most common in everyday speech; very neutral.
• dapat – a bit more formal or written; also used in fixed expressions (e.g. dapat dibaca “can be read”).

In spoken Indonesian, bisa is more frequent. In essays, news, or formal writing, dapat appears more.

What is the difference between melupakan and lupa? Why not just say Saya tidak bisa lupa nasihat guru kami?

Both are related to “forget,” but they work a bit differently:

• lupa = to be in a state of having forgotten / to forget (often more intransitive)
• melupakan = to forget something, to let something go from memory (clearly transitive)

Examples:

• Saya lupa. – I forgot / I don’t remember.
• Saya lupa namanya. – I forgot his/her name. (very common and okay)
• Saya melupakan namanya. – grammatical, but sounds more like I (actively) forgot/ignored his/her name; a bit heavier.

In your sentence:

• Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami.
  sounds natural and strong: I cannot forget the advice… (I just can’t erase it).

Saya tidak bisa lupa nasihat guru kami is understandable, and some people would say it, but tidak bisa melupakan is more standard and idiomatic for this kind of emotional statement.

How is melupakan formed? What do the me- and -kan parts do?

Melupakan is built from the base word lupa (forget) plus the me-…-kan affix:

• lupa → melupakan

In general:

• me- often turns a base word into an active verb.
• -kan can make the verb:
  • clearly transitive (takes a direct object), or
  • have a sense of causing / directing something.

So:

• lupa – “to forget / be forgetful”
• melupakan sesuatu – “to forget something,” “to let something slip from mind,” even sometimes “to intentionally put something aside / ignore it.”

In this sentence, melupakan clearly takes nasihat guru kami as its direct object.

What exactly does nasihat mean, and how is it different from saran?

Both relate to “advice,” but they have slightly different flavors:

• nasihat

  • advice with a moral or serious tone
  • often from elders, teachers, parents, religious figures
  • can include guidance about right/wrong, life lessons, behavior
  • e.g. nasihat guru, nasihat orang tua, nasihat ustaz

• saran

  • suggestion, proposal, recommendation
  • more neutral, can be casual or formal
  • e.g. punya saran? – do you have any suggestions?

So nasihat guru kami fits well: it implies more serious, guiding advice from a respected teacher.

Why do we say nasihat guru kami instead of something like guru kami nasihat, like in English “our teacher’s advice”?

Indonesian shows possession using [thing] + [possessor], unlike English which often uses [possessor]’s [thing].

Pattern:

• [noun] + [noun/pronoun]
  = [the first noun] belonging to [the second].

So:

• nasihat guru kami
  literally: advice (of) our teacher
  = our teacher’s advice

Other examples:

• rumah saya – my house
• buku adik – little sibling’s book
• mobil teman saya – my friend’s car

You could also say:

• nasihat dari guru kami – advice from our teacher (slightly more explicit).

What does guru kami tell us about who “our” refers to? Why not guru kita?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of “we/our”:

• kami – we / our (excluding the listener)
• kita – we / our (including the listener)

So:

• guru kami = our teacher (the speaker’s group, not including the person being spoken to)
• guru kita = our teacher (the speaker’s group including the listener)

In Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami, guru kami implies:

• “our teacher” from the speaker’s group (e.g., my classmates and I), but the listener was probably not a student of that teacher.

Could I say guru saya instead of guru kami? What would change?

Yes:

• Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru saya.

This means I cannot forget my teacher’s advice.

Difference:

• guru kami – the teacher of a group including the speaker (our teacher, from our class, our batch, etc.).
• guru saya – specifically “my teacher,” focusing on the relationship between me and that teacher, without highlighting a group.

Context decides which is more appropriate. If you are talking about a shared class experience with classmates, guru kami fits very well.

Why is the subject Saya written? Can it be dropped?

You can often drop subject pronouns in Indonesian when the subject is clear from context.

So these are all possible, depending on context:

• Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami. – explicit I
• Tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami. – (I) can’t forget our teacher’s advice.
  Here, saya is understood from context (for example, if you just asked me about my memories).

Full sentence with Saya is neutral and clear, good for learners and for formal writing. Dropping Saya is common in casual conversation, as long as it doesn’t create confusion.

What is the difference between Saya and Aku? Could I say Aku tidak bisa melupakan …?

Yes, you can say:

• Aku tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami.

Differences:

• saya
  • more formal / polite / neutral
  • used with strangers, elders, in formal situations, in writing
• aku
  • informal, intimate
  • used with close friends, family, in casual speech, in songs, literature

In a typical polite or neutral context (e.g., speaking to a teacher, writing a school essay), Saya tidak bisa melupakan … is safer. Among close friends, Aku sounds more natural.

There is no word for “will” or “did” here. How do I know whether this means “I can’t forget” or “I couldn’t forget” or “I won’t be able to forget”?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Tidak bisa melupakan can cover several English possibilities; the exact time is understood from context.

Saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami could mean:

• I can’t forget our teacher’s advice (now, in general).
• I couldn’t forget our teacher’s advice (when it happened / whenever I tried).

If you want to specify time more clearly, you can add time markers:

• Dulu saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami. – In the past, I couldn’t forget…
• Sampai sekarang saya tidak bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami. – Until now, I still can’t forget…
• Saya tidak akan bisa melupakan nasihat guru kami. – I will not be able to forget… (future, very strong)