Seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.

That artist explains that each statue in the exhibition has its own story.

Breakdown of Seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.

• itu: that
• di: in
• punya: to have
• cerita: the story
• bahwa: that
• sendiri: own
• menjelaskan: to explain
• setiap: each
• seniman: the artist
• patung: the statue
• pameran: the exhibition

Questions & Answers about Seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.

What does itu do in seniman itu? Is it like “the artist” or “that artist”? Could we say itu seniman instead?

Itu after a noun usually makes it specific/definite, similar to “the” or “that” in English, depending on context.

• seniman itu
  = the artist / that artist (the artist we’ve been talking about or one visible in context)

Putting itu before the noun (itu seniman) is less natural and usually sounds like pointing something out in a slightly unusual way, more like “that’s an artist” or a fragment of “that artist…”, and it often needs more context or a verb:

• Itu seniman yang terkenal. = That is a famous artist.

So for “the artist explained…”, you want seniman itu, not itu seniman.

What is the role of bahwa here? Can we just drop it like “The artist explained every statue…”?

Bahwa introduces a content clause, like “that” in English:

• menjelaskan bahwa… = explained that…

It marks what is being explained. In everyday Indonesian, especially spoken, bahwa can often be dropped without changing the meaning:

• Seniman itu menjelaskan setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.

This is similar to English where you can often omit “that”:

• The artist explained (that) every statue in the exhibition has its own story.

Using bahwa sounds a bit more careful, explicit, and is common in writing and formal speech, but it’s not strictly required here.

How does Indonesian show past tense in menjelaskan? It just looks present to me—how do we know it’s “explained” and not “explains”?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Menjelaskan itself can mean:

• explains / is explaining / explained / will explain

Tense is understood from context, time expressions, or sometimes optional markers like sudah, tadi, akan, etc.

Examples:

• Tadi seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa…
  Earlier the artist explained that…
• Besok seniman itu akan menjelaskan bahwa…
  Tomorrow the artist will explain that…

In your sentence, the English translation uses “explained” because that fits most naturally, but in Indonesian the form menjelaskan is neutral with respect to tense.

What’s the difference between menjelaskan, mengatakan, and bercerita? Could I use them interchangeably here?

They all involve speaking, but the nuances differ:

• menjelaskan = to explain
  Focus on making something clear, giving clarification or reasons.
  – Suits your sentence very well.

• mengatakan = to say / to state
  Neutral “say/tell (that)”. It doesn’t highlight the idea of explaining.
  – Seniman itu mengatakan bahwa… would be “The artist said that…”, slightly different nuance.

• bercerita = to tell a story / to narrate
  Focus on narrating, telling a story or anecdote.
  – Seniman itu bercerita bahwa… sounds more like “The artist told (a story) that…”, which is a bit odd with bahwa, and more natural with direct storytelling:
  Seniman itu bercerita tentang masa kecilnya.
  The artist told a story about his/her childhood.

So menjelaskan is the most accurate verb for “explained” in this context.

Why is it setiap patung and not patung-patung to show plurality? How do plurals work here?

Indonesian doesn’t usually add -s or change the noun form for plural like English does. Instead, plurality is shown by:

• context
• words like banyak (many), beberapa (several), semua (all)
• or reduplication (patung-patung)

In your sentence:

• setiap = each / every
• setiap patung already implies plurality (you’re talking about many statues, one by one).

You normally do not combine setiap with a reduplicated noun:

• ✔ setiap patung
• ✖ setiap patung-patung

So setiap patung is the natural way to say each statue / every statue here.

What’s the difference between setiap and semua here? Could it be semua patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri?

Yes, you can say that, but the nuance changes:

• setiap patung di pameran
  = each/every statue in the exhibition
  Focus on the individual statues, one by one.

• semua patung di pameran
  = all (the) statues in the exhibition
  Focus on the group as a whole.

Both can fit logically:

• Seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.
  Emphasizes that each individual statue has its own story.

• Seniman itu menjelaskan bahwa semua patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.
  Emphasizes that all of them have stories (still possible, but the “one-by-one” feeling is a bit weaker).

For strong “one statue, one unique story”, setiap is slightly better.

Why use punya instead of memiliki or mempunyai? Is punya informal?

Yes, punya is the colloquial everyday verb for to have / to own, and is extremely common in speech:

• patung itu punya cerita sendiri
  that statue has its own story

More formal options:

• memiliki
  – setiap patung di pameran memiliki cerita sendiri.
• mempunyai
  – setiap patung di pameran mempunyai cerita sendiri.

Differences:

• punya: very common in conversation, neutral in many informal written contexts.
• memiliki / mempunyai: more formal / written, often used in essays, reports, news.

All three are grammatically fine here; the sentence as given feels natural in spoken or semi-formal Indonesian.

What exactly does sendiri mean in cerita sendiri? Is it like “own”, “self”, or “alone”? Could we say ceritanya sendiri instead?

Sendiri is versatile; here it means “own” (as in its own story).

In your sentence:

• cerita sendiri
  Literally “own story”, understood from context as “its own story”.

If you add -nya, you make it more explicit:

• ceritanya sendiri
  = its own story / their own story
  -nya is a third-person pronoun/definite marker; here it refers back to patung.

Nuance:

• cerita sendiri is a bit more concise and stylistic, but still clear.
• ceritanya sendiri feels slightly more explicit: each statue has its particular story.

Both are acceptable and natural:

• …setiap patung di pameran punya cerita sendiri.
• …setiap patung di pameran punya ceritanya sendiri.

Both would normally be understood the same way in this context.

Why is it di pameran and not pada pameran or dalam pameran? What’s the difference?

All three can appear with similar nouns, but they have different typical uses and formality levels:

• di pameran
  Literally “at the exhibition / in the exhibition”.
  di is the default preposition for location (“in/at/on”). Very common and natural here.

• pada pameran
  pada is more formal, often used with abstract objects (pada masalah ini, pada kesempatan itu), time (“pada hari Senin”), or in written language.
  pada pameran is not wrong, but sounds more formal and less common than di pameran for simple location.

• dalam pameran
  Literally “inside the exhibition / within the exhibition (as an event or program)”.
  Used more when emphasizing being inside the scope of something:
  – Dalam pameran ini, ada 50 patung.
  In this exhibition, there are 50 statues.

So in your sentence, di pameran is the most natural everyday choice.

Could we add yang and say setiap patung yang di pameran? I often see yang before phrases like this.

To sound natural, you’d say:

• setiap patung yang ada di pameran
  = every statue that is in the exhibition

Here’s how it works:

• yang introduces a relative clause (like “that/which/who” in English).
• Normally you include a verb after yang:
  • yang ada di pameran = that is/exists in the exhibition
  • yang dipamerkan = that is exhibited / being exhibited

Comparisons:

• setiap patung di pameran
  = every statue in the exhibition (simple location phrase)

• setiap patung yang ada di pameran
  = every statue that is in the exhibition (slightly more explicit/wordy, but quite natural)

• setiap patung yang dipamerkan
  = every statue that is exhibited (focus on the act of being exhibited)

All are grammatical; your original setiap patung di pameran is already natural and clear. You don’t need yang here.

There’s no word for “in the exhibition” as “the” in Indonesian. How is definiteness (“the” vs “a”) expressed in di pameran?

Indonesian generally doesn’t mark definite vs indefinite (the vs a) with articles like English. Pameran by itself can be:

• an exhibition
• the exhibition
• exhibitions (in some contexts)

Definiteness is usually understood from:

• context (we know which exhibition is being talked about),
• modifiers (pameran itu = that/the exhibition),
• or prior mention in the conversation.

In your sentence, di pameran is naturally translated as “in the exhibition” in English because we assume both speaker and listener know which exhibition is meant (e.g., the one they are visiting or talking about). If you wanted to be explicit, you could say:

• di pameran itu = in that exhibition / in the exhibition (previously mentioned).