Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya di ruang tamu. - Grandmother likes to tell stories about her youth in the living room.

But grammatically, suka is about liking, not about past vs present. It does not itself mean “used to” in the English past-habit sense. To say “used to”, you would normally add adverbs like:

Dulu, nenek suka bercerita… – In the past, Grandma used to like telling stories…

Why is it bercerita and not just cerita?

In Indonesian:

cerita (noun) = story
bercerita (verb) = to tell a story / to tell stories

The prefix ber- often turns a noun into an intransitive verb meaning “to engage in that thing”. So:

cerita → bercerita = “to do storytelling”, “to tell stories”

You cannot use cerita on its own as a verb in standard Indonesian.

You might hear casual speech like Nenek suka cerita…, but that is colloquial, essentially a shortening of suka bercerita. For clear, standard language, bercerita is the correct form.

What is the difference between bercerita tentang and menceritakan?

Both relate to telling something, but their structure and nuance differ.

Bercerita tentang X
- Pattern: Subject + bercerita tentang + thing/topic
- Emphasis: the activity of telling stories and the topic
- Example:
  - Nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya.
    Grandma likes telling stories about her youth.
Menceritakan X (kepada Y)
- Pattern: Subject + menceritakan + thing + (kepada + person)
- Emphasis: delivering information about something to someone
- More “formal” or transitive feeling: you’re telling something (object).
- Example:
  - Nenek menceritakan waktu mudanya kepada kami.
    Grandma tells us about her youth.

In your sentence, bercerita tentang is natural because it highlights the habit and the topic, not so much the listener.

What exactly does -nya in waktu mudanya mean? Is it “her”?

Yes, here -nya works like a third-person possessive: his/her/their/its.

waktu muda = the time of being young / youth
waktu mudanya = her youth (literally “the time of her being young”)

So waktu mudanya in this sentence is understood as “her youth”, referring back to Nenek.

Important points about -nya:

It doesn’t show gender (no difference between his and her).
It can mean “the”, “that”, or “its” in other contexts, but here it’s clearly possessive because it follows muda (young) and we already have Nenek as a clear owner.

You could also say:

waktu nenek muda – when grandma was young
waktu muda nenek – grandma’s youth

But waktu mudanya is more compact and very natural.

Can I say waktu dia muda or ketika nenek masih muda instead of waktu mudanya? Do they sound different?

Yes, both are correct, but with slightly different flavors.

waktu mudanya
- Very compact, sounds smooth and natural.
- Slightly more storytelling/literary in tone.
- Implicitly refers to the subject already mentioned (here: Nenek).
waktu dia muda
- More explicit: “when she was young”.
- Neutral, casual.
- Example: Nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu dia muda.
ketika nenek masih muda
- Feels a bit more descriptive or emphatic, literally “when Grandma was still young”.
- Very clear and natural in speech.
- Example: Nenek suka bercerita tentang ketika nenek masih muda.

All are understandable and correct. Waktu mudanya just happens to be a very typical, compact way to say “her younger days / her youth.”

Can tentang be left out? What about soal or mengenai?

In this sentence:

Nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya… – is the standard way.

Details:

Omitting tentang
- Often, bercerita tentang X is the norm.
- In casual speech, people might drop it, but it can sound a bit unfinished or ambiguous:
  - Nenek suka bercerita waktu mudanya…
    This can be read as “Grandma likes to tell stories when she was young” (time clause), which is confusing.
So here, you should keep tentang.
Using soal
- soal is more informal/colloquial, like “about / regarding” in casual speech:
  - Nenek suka bercerita soal waktu mudanya.
    This is natural in spoken Indonesian, especially in everyday conversation.
Using mengenai
- mengenai is a bit more formal:
  - Nenek suka bercerita mengenai waktu mudanya.
    Correct and understandable; feels slightly more formal/neutral than tentang.

In everyday, neutral Indonesian, tentang is a very good, safe choice.

Why is it di ruang tamu at the end? Can I move it earlier in the sentence?

Yes, you can move di ruang tamu. Indonesian word order is quite flexible with place phrases.

Original:

Nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya di ruang tamu.

Common variations (all correct):

Di ruang tamu, nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya.
- Emphasis on where this habit happens.
Nenek di ruang tamu suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya.
- Feels like you’re first locating Grandma (the grandma who is in the living room) and then saying what she likes to do.

In the original, putting di ruang tamu at the end is very natural:
[Subject] Nenek + [verb phrase] suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya + [place] di ruang tamu.

One thing to watch: in this sentence, di ruang tamu clearly modifies bercerita (where she tells stories), not waktu mudanya. The context and natural interpretation make that clear.

What exactly does ruang tamu mean? Is it the same as living room or guest room?

Ruang tamu literally is:

ruang = room
tamu = guest
→ ruang tamu = the room for guests

Functionally, it usually corresponds to “living room” in many Indonesian homes, especially the front part where guests are received. However:

ruang tamu is often more like the formal/front living room for visitors.
ruang keluarga = family room, a more private space for the family to hang out.

In everyday English translation, ruang tamu is almost always rendered as “living room”, which fits your sentence well:

…di ruang tamu. → …in the living room.

Does Nenek here mean “my grandma” or just “a grandma”? Why no saya?

In Indonesian, kinship terms like Nenek (grandmother), Ibu, Ayah, etc., can work as:

A common noun (a grandmother in general):
- Nenek itu tinggal sendirian. – That grandma lives alone.
A title/name-like reference to a specific person:
- Within family context, Nenek can mean “Grandma” / “my grandma” without adding saya.
- Just like calling someone Mom or Grandma in English.

In your sentence, by default, most listeners will interpret Nenek suka bercerita… as “Grandma (in our family / the one we all know) likes to tell stories…”.

If you want to be explicitly possessive, you can say:

Nenek saya suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya di ruang tamu.
– My grandma likes telling stories about her youth in the living room.

But in natural conversation, just Nenek often already implies “my/our grandmother” if the context is clear.

How do I say “used to tell stories about her youth” instead of just “likes to tell stories”?

Indonesian doesn’t change the verb form for tense. You show past habit with time words and context.

To express “used to” (past habit), you can say:

Dulu, nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya di ruang tamu.
– Grandma used to like telling stories about her youth in the living room.

or:

Waktu saya kecil, nenek suka bercerita tentang waktu mudanya di ruang tamu.
– When I was little, Grandma used to tell stories about her youth in the living room.

Here, dulu (“in the past / back then”) or waktu saya kecil gives the “used to” feeling. The verb suka bercerita stays the same.

Are there any pronunciation tips for this sentence, especially ruang tamu and bercerita?

Key points:

Nenek
- ne-nek, both e like the e in “bed” (in many accents).
suka
- su like “soo” in “soon”
- ka like “kah”
bercerita
- ber: closer to bər, like “ber-” in “Berlin” (short vowel)
- ce: like “che” in “check”
- ri: “ree”
- ta: “tah”
  → bər-che-REE-tah
waktu
- wak: like “wuck” with a short a as in “father” (but shorter)
- tu: “too”
mudanya
- mu: “moo”
- da: “dah”
- nya: a single syllable, “nyah”, like “nya” in “canyon” (ny + a)
ruang
- ru: “roo”
- ang: nasal “ahng” (like “sung”, but with a). Do not split as ru-ang in English; say it smoothly: ROO-ahng.
tamu
- ta: “tah”
- mu: “moo”

Say it slowly first, then more smoothly:

Ne-nek su-ka bər-che-REE-ta tən-tang wak-too moo-DA-nyah dee ROO-ahng TA-moo.

Could di ruang tamu mean “into the living room”, or is it only “in the living room”?

Di almost always means “in / at / on” (location), not movement.

di ruang tamu = in the living room / at the living room

For movement into a place, you would normally use ke:

ke ruang tamu = to the living room / into the living room

So your sentence clearly means that the storytelling happens in the living room, not that Grandma moves into it.