Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan. - We say thank you to the teacher in the library.

kami = we (excluding the listener)
→ The speaker and some other people, but not the person being spoken to.
kita = we (including the listener)
→ The speaker, the listener, and possibly others.

In Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan, the sentence implies:

We (some group) thanked the teacher,
and the listener is not part of that group.

If the listener was part of the group that thanked the teacher, you would use kita:

Kita mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= We (including you) thanked the teacher in the library.

What does mengucapkan mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Mengucapkan comes from the root ucap (to say/utter). It is formed like this:

ucap = say, utter
meng- + ucap + -kan → mengucapkan

Meaning of mengucapkan:

literally: to say / to express (something)
in this sentence: to express / extend (thanks)

So mengucapkan terima kasih is like:

to express thanks, to give thanks, to say thank you.

You normally need to say what you are expressing:

mengucapkan terima kasih (express thanks)
mengucapkan selamat (offer congratulations)
You cannot say: ✗ kami mengucapkan kepada guru
→ you must say what you are expressing: mengucapkan terima kasih / selamat / salam, etc.

Is terima kasih one word or two, and what does it literally mean?

It is two words: terima + kasih.

terima = receive
kasih = (in this context) favor / kindness

So literally, terima kasih means receive (my) kindness or accept my favor, but in modern usage it simply means thank you.

Important points:

Write it as terima kasih, not terimakasih.
It functions as a fixed expression: terima kasih = thank you.
In the sentence, mengucapkan terima kasih = to say thank you / to express thanks.

Why do we use kepada before guru? Could we say untuk guru instead?

Kepada and untuk are both translated as to / for, but they are used differently:

kepada is used mainly for people (or personified things) as the indirect object:
- mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru
  = express thanks to the teacher
- memberi hadiah kepada teman
  = give a present to a friend
untuk is more like for (the benefit of), and often used with things, purposes, or beneficiaries:
- kue untuk guru = a cake for the teacher
- uang untuk perjalanan = money for the trip

So:

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru is the natural and correct form.
Kami mengucapkan terima kasih untuk guru is grammatically possible but sounds less natural or slightly off; kepada is strongly preferred with mengucapkan terima kasih to a person.

Does di perpustakaan mean that we were in the library, or that the teacher is the library teacher?

The phrase kepada guru di perpustakaan is slightly ambiguous, and context usually clarifies it. It can mean:

We thanked the teacher in the library
(The act of thanking took place in the library.)
- Structure: [mengucapkan terima kasih] [kepada guru] [di perpustakaan]
We thanked the teacher who is in the library / the teacher at the library
(The phrase di perpustakaan describes guru.)

In everyday interpretation, many speakers will first understand it as the action happened in the library unless they know there is a specific “library teacher”.

If you want to be clearer:

To emphasize the place of the action:
- Di perpustakaan, kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru.
To emphasize that it’s the teacher of the library:
- Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru perpustakaan.
- Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru yang ada di perpustakaan.
  (We thanked the teacher who is in the library.)

Is guru here “a teacher” or “the teacher”? Why is there no article?

Indonesian does not use articles like a/an or the. The noun guru by itself can mean:

a teacher
the teacher
teachers in general (depending on context)

In Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan, guru could be:

the teacher (a specific one the speakers and listener already know about)
a teacher (some teacher in the library; context would explain which)

If you want to make it clearly definite, you can add itu (“that”):

kepada guru itu = to that teacher / to the teacher

Can I move di perpustakaan to another position in the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible with location phrases like di perpustakaan. All of these are possible and natural:

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
Kami mengucapkan terima kasih di perpustakaan kepada guru.
Di perpustakaan, kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru.

Nuances:

Version 1 is very common and neutral.
Version 2 slightly highlights the place just before the person.
Version 3 front-loads the place: “In the library, we thanked the teacher.”

All still mean basically: We thanked the teacher in the library.

Could I say Kami berterima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan instead of using mengucapkan terima kasih?

Yes, you can, but there is a small nuance difference:

mengucapkan terima kasih
- focuses on the act of expressing thanks (saying it, formally stating it).
- like to express thanks / to say thank you.
berterima kasih
- literally “to be thankful / to feel thankful and express it”.
- sounds slightly more general and sometimes a bit more formal or written.

So:

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= We (formally) expressed thanks to the teacher in the library.
Kami berterima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= We were thankful to the teacher in the library / We thanked the teacher in the library.

Both are correct; mengucapkan terima kasih is perhaps more common in everyday speech when describing a specific thanking action.

How do we know the tense? Does this sentence mean past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Mengucapkan by itself has no past, present, or future marking.

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan can mean:

We thanked the teacher in the library. (past)
We are thanking the teacher in the library. (present)
We will thank the teacher in the library. (future, but less likely without time words)

The actual time is usually made clear by context or by adding time expressions, for example:

Tadi kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= Earlier, we thanked the teacher in the library.
Sekarang kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= Now we are thanking the teacher in the library.
Nanti kami akan mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.
= Later we will thank the teacher in the library.

Can the subject kami be left out?

Yes. Indonesian often omits pronouns if the subject is already clear from context. You could say:

Mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan.

In writing, this might sound like a note, instruction, or part of a list (e.g., in a report: “(We) expressed thanks to the teacher in the library.”).

In normal conversation, whether you can drop kami depends on whether it’s already obvious who is doing the action. If there is any risk of confusion, it’s safer to keep kami.

Is this sentence polite and natural? Would native speakers say it like this?

Yes, the sentence is:

grammatically correct,
polite,
and natural in many contexts (especially in writing, narration, or formal speech).

In very natural spoken Indonesian, people might add titles to guru to be more respectful:

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Pak guru di perpustakaan.
(to a male teacher; Pak ≈ Mr./Sir)
Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Bu guru di perpustakaan.
(to a female teacher; Bu ≈ Mrs./Ms./Madam)

Or, if they know the name:

Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Pak Andi di perpustakaan.

But as a general sentence, Kami mengucapkan terima kasih kepada guru di perpustakaan is perfectly fine.