Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru meminta kami menulis satu paragraf tentang pahlawan yang kami kagumi. - The teacher asks us to write one paragraph about a hero we admire.

So the structure is roughly:
Teacher ask us write one paragraph about hero that we admire.
In natural English: The teacher asked us to write one paragraph about a hero we admire.

Why is kami used instead of kita here?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of we:

kami = we / us, excluding the listener
kita = we / us, including the listener

In Guru meminta kami menulis..., the teacher is talking to the students. The speaker is one of the students telling someone else about it. The teacher did not ask the listener (you); only the students.

So kami is correct because the group does not include the person being spoken to.
If the speaker were talking to a classmate who was also asked, they might say kita instead, e.g. Guru meminta kita menulis...

Why is it meminta kami menulis and not something like meminta kami untuk menulis? Is something missing?

Nothing is missing; both patterns are acceptable:

Guru meminta kami menulis...
Guru meminta kami untuk menulis...

In sentence 1:

meminta [someone] [verb] works like English “ask [someone] to [verb]”.
menulis functions as a verb complement of meminta, even without untuk.

Sentence 2 adds untuk between kami and menulis. This is very common and fully correct; some speakers feel it’s a bit clearer or slightly more formal, but in everyday speech both are natural.

So:

Guru meminta kami menulis... = The teacher asked us to write...
Guru meminta kami untuk menulis... = The teacher asked us to write...

No real meaning difference here.

Can I also say Guru meminta agar kami menulis satu paragraf...? How is that different?

Yes, that is also correct:

Guru meminta agar kami menulis satu paragraf...

Here agar introduces a clause:

meminta agar [clause] ≈ “asked that [we write a paragraph]”

Subtle differences:

meminta kami menulis...
Focuses on the teacher requesting us to do something (object = kami).
meminta agar kami menulis...
Focuses on the situation or result the teacher wants: that we write a paragraph (the whole clause is the thing requested).

In practice, both often translate the same way in English and are both natural.

What is the difference between meminta and menyuruh in this kind of sentence?

Both can be used, but they feel different:

meminta = to ask, to request
- More polite or neutral
- Implies a request, not necessarily a strict order
- Guru meminta kami menulis satu paragraf...
  = The teacher asked us to write a paragraph.
menyuruh = to tell someone to do something / to order
- Stronger, more like giving a command
- Guru menyuruh kami menulis satu paragraf...
  = The teacher told us to write a paragraph / ordered us to write a paragraph.

In a school context, meminta is common in narration and sounds polite, even if in reality it was more like an instruction.

Why is it satu paragraf? Could I just say paragraf without satu?

You can say both:

satu paragraf = one paragraph / a single paragraph
paragraf (without satu) can also mean “a paragraph / paragraphs” depending on context.

Nuance:

Guru meminta kami menulis satu paragraf...
Emphasizes the quantity: specifically one paragraph, not more.
Guru meminta kami menulis paragraf tentang pahlawan...
Grammatically OK, but sounds less specific and less natural for an assignment. Listeners may still assume “one paragraph”, but it’s not stated.

Teachers usually want to specify the amount, so satu paragraf is more typical in this context.

Do I need a classifier like sebuah before paragraf, as in sebuah paragraf?

You can say:

sebuah paragraf = one paragraph / a paragraph

But with many countable nouns, especially borrowed/academic words like paragraf, it’s very natural to use:

satu paragraf (most common in this context), or
just paragraf if the quantity is understood from context.

So you could say:

Guru meminta kami menulis satu paragraf... ✅ very natural
Guru meminta kami menulis sebuah paragraf... ✅ correct, slightly more formal/literary feel
Guru meminta kami menulis paragraf... ✅ possible, less specific

What does tentang do here? Is it like “about”, and are there synonyms?

Yes, tentang means about / regarding:

satu paragraf tentang pahlawan...
= a paragraph about a hero...

Common near-synonyms:

mengenai = about, regarding (often slightly more formal)
perihal = about, concerning (formal/written)

In this sentence, you could say:

satu paragraf tentang pahlawan... ✅ most natural
satu paragraf mengenai pahlawan... ✅ fine, a bit more formal

What is the function of yang in pahlawan yang kami kagumi?

Yang introduces a relative clause, like that / who / which in English.

pahlawan = hero
yang kami kagumi = that we admire

So:

pahlawan yang kami kagumi
= the hero that we admire / a hero whom we admire

Structure:

Head noun: pahlawan (hero)
Relative marker: yang
Clause describing the noun: kami kagumi (we admire)

This whole phrase functions as one noun phrase:
[pahlawan yang kami kagumi] = “a hero we admire”

Why is it yang kami kagumi and not yang kagumi kami?

Indonesian basic word order is Subject – Verb – Object, just like English.

In kami kagumi:

kami = subject (we)
kagumi = verb (admire)
The object is understood to be pahlawan (hero), which appears before yang.

So the underlying idea is:

Kami mengagumi pahlawan itu. = We admire that hero.

When you make pahlawan the head of a relative clause, it becomes:

pahlawan yang kami kagumi
literally: “hero that we admire”

If you said yang kagumi kami, it would mean “who admire us”, which would reverse the roles (the heroes admiring us), and even then it sounds odd; you’d more likely say pahlawan yang mengagumi kami for that meaning.

What is kagumi exactly? How is it related to kagum or mengagumi?

The root is kagum, which means “to be amazed / to be in awe / to admire” (a feeling).

From this root:

kagum
- often used intransitively:
  - Saya kagum padanya. = I admire him/her / I’m in awe of him/her.
mengagumi
- the standard transitive verb: “to admire (someone/something)”
- Kami mengagumi pahlawan itu. = We admire that hero.
kagumi (without meng-)
- shortened form used especially in relative clauses or informal speech:
  - pahlawan yang kami kagumi
    ≈ pahlawan yang kami mengagumi (but the version with mengagumi is rarely used here; it sounds heavy).

So kami kagumi essentially means we admire (him/her/it/them), with the object understood from context (here, pahlawan).

Does pahlawan here mean “a hero” or “heroes”? How do you show plural?

Indonesian usually doesn’t mark singular vs plural on the noun itself.

pahlawan = hero / heroes, depending on context.

In pahlawan yang kami kagumi, it could mean:

“a hero we admire” (singular)
“heroes we admire” (plural)

The English translation must choose one, but Indonesian can stay vague.

To make plural clearer, you can say:

para pahlawan = the heroes (a group, respectful)
pahlawan-pahlawan = heroes (reduplication for plural)

Examples:

Guru meminta kami menulis satu paragraf tentang para pahlawan yang kami kagumi.
= The teacher asked us to write one paragraph about the heroes we admire.