Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru kami hafal nama semua murid. - Our teacher knows all the students' names by heart.

In Guru kami hafal nama semua murid, kami means “we” but excludes the person being spoken to. So the teacher belongs to the speaker’s group, not to the listener’s group.

If the teacher was shared by both speaker and listener, you might say:

Guru kita hafal nama semua murid.
“Our (yours and mine) teacher knows all the students’ names.”

What exactly does hafal mean? How is it different from ingat, tahu, or kenal?

hafal means “to know by heart / to have memorized”.

Comparison:

hafal – knows something by heart (names, phone numbers, texts).
- Guru kami hafal nama semua murid.
  “Our teacher has memorized all the students’ names.”
ingat – “to remember” (not necessarily by rote).
- Saya ingat namanya. – “I remember his/her name.”
tahu – “to know (a fact)”.
- Saya tahu namanya. – “I know his/her name.”
kenal – “to be familiar with / to know (a person)”.
- Saya kenal dia. – “I know him/her (I’m acquainted).”

So hafal emphasizes memorization, not just knowing or remembering.

Could I say Guru kami menghafal nama semua murid instead? What’s the difference between hafal and menghafal?

Yes, you can say it, but the meaning changes:

hafal (stative) = “has (already) memorized / knows by heart”
→ focuses on the result / state.
menghafal (active verb) = “is memorizing / tries to memorize”
→ focuses on the ongoing action / effort.

So:

Guru kami hafal nama semua murid.
“Our teacher (already) knows all the students’ names by heart.”
Guru kami sedang menghafal nama semua murid.
“Our teacher is memorizing all the students’ names (now / these days).”

In your original sentence, hafal is better because the teacher has already achieved that state.

Why is there no word like “the” or “a” in guru kami or semua murid? How do articles work?

Indonesian has no direct equivalents of English “a / an / the”. Nouns are usually “bare,” and context gives the meaning.

guru kami can mean “our teacher” or “a teacher of ours,” depending on context.
semua murid means “all (the) students” – whether that’s “all the students in this class” or broader is also from context.

If speakers want to be extra specific, they may add other words, but there is no mandatory article like in English.

Why is it nama semua murid and not semua nama murid? Are both correct?

Both are grammatically correct, but they have a slightly different focus:

nama semua murid
Literally: “the names of all (the) students.”
→ Focus more on all the students as a group.
semua nama murid
Literally: “all the students’ names.”
→ Focus more on all the names (possibly in contrast to just some names).

In most everyday contexts they can overlap, but:

Guru kami hafal nama semua murid is the more natural way to say “(Our) teacher knows every student’s name.”

How do I know that guru and murid here are singular or plural if there’s no marker?

Indonesian nouns don’t change form for singular vs plural. You find the number from context or from extra words:

guru can mean “teacher” or “teachers”.
murid can mean “student” or “students”.

In your sentence:

Guru kami is naturally understood as one teacher (“our teacher”), unless context says otherwise.
semua murid clearly means all the students (plural), because semua = “all”.

If needed, speakers can clarify:

para murid = the students (group)
beberapa murid = some students
tiga guru = three teachers

Why is hafal used without any prefix or suffix? Is it an adjective or a verb here?

In Indonesian, many words can function as verbs or adjectives depending on context. hafal is one of these “stative verbs”:

Here, hafal acts as a verb:
Guru kami hafal nama semua murid.
Subject = Guru kami, Verb = hafal, Object = nama semua murid.

You don’t need an extra verb like “to be”. Indonesian often uses a single stative verb like hafal, tahu, kenal, suka, etc., in places where English uses “is/are + adjective/participle”:

Dia tahu jawabannya. – “He/She knows the answer.”
Saya suka kopi. – “I like coffee.”

Could I add adalah in this sentence, like Guru kami adalah hafal…?

No. adalah is not used before ordinary verbs like hafal.

adalah is mainly used to link:

A subject to a noun:
- Dia adalah guru. – “He/She is a teacher.”
Sometimes to a noun phrase / description, often in formal writing.

But with a stative verb such as hafal, you don’t insert adalah:

✔ Guru kami hafal nama semua murid.
✘ Guru kami adalah hafal nama semua murid. (incorrect)

What’s the nuance difference between murid, siswa, and pelajar?

All three relate to “students,” but usage differs slightly:

murid
- Often: students in school (especially primary / secondary).
- Can sound a bit more personal or traditional (teacher–student relationship).
siswa
- Very common for school students (SD, SMP, SMA).
- Often used in official / institutional contexts: siswa baru, data siswa.
pelajar
- More general “learner / student,” also appears in formal or official phrases:
  pelajar asing (foreign student), kartu tanda pelajar (student ID).

In your sentence, murid is perfectly natural. You could also say:

Guru kami hafal nama semua siswanya. (with siswa) – also idiomatic.

Could kami here refer to something like “my family and I” or “my colleagues and I”?

Yes. kami just means “we (not including you)” and doesn’t specify who is included. Context decides:

If you’re talking about school, kami might mean we students in this class.
In another context, kami could mean my colleagues and I, my family and I, etc.

So Guru kami simply means “the teacher belonging to our (exclusive) group,” whatever that group happens to be in the conversation.