Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta ketika membaca cerita rakyat. - The teacher asks us to distinguish myth and fact when reading folk stories.

Guru = (the) teacher
meminta = asked / requested (from minta = to ask for, to request)
kami = us / we (excluding the listener)
membedakan = to distinguish, to tell apart (from beda = different)
mitos = myth / myths
dan = and
fakta = fact / facts
ketika = when (as a time conjunction)
membaca = (to) read / reading
cerita = story
rakyat = the people / folk → cerita rakyat = folktale(s), traditional story / stories

Structure-wise:

Guru (subject)
meminta (verb: asked)
kami (object: us)
membedakan mitos dan fakta (what we are asked to do)
ketika membaca cerita rakyat (time clause: when reading folktales)

Why is there no word for the or a in Guru or cerita rakyat?

Indonesian normally has no articles like a/an or the.

Guru can mean a teacher, the teacher, or just teacher depending on context.
cerita rakyat can mean a folktale or folktales.

If you really need to say a teacher, you can use seorang guru (literally: one teacher). For the teacher, you usually rely on context, or you can point it out more clearly with something like guru itu (that teacher) or guru tersebut (that particular teacher).

How does meminta work with another verb like membedakan? Do we need untuk?

The pattern here is:

meminta [someone] [to do something]

In this sentence:

Guru meminta kami membedakan …
= The teacher asked us to distinguish …

You can:

Leave out untuk (as in the original):
- Guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta.
  This is very natural and common.
Add untuk before the second verb:
- Guru meminta kami untuk membedakan mitos dan fakta.
  Also correct and common; sounds a bit more explicit, sometimes slightly more formal or careful.
Use agar instead of untuk, which feels more formal / written:
- Guru meminta agar kami membedakan mitos dan fakta.

All three are grammatical. The original version without untuk is perfectly normal.

Why is kami used here and not kita? What’s the difference?

Both mean we / us, but:

kami = we / us (not including the person you’re talking to) → exclusive
kita = we / us (including the person you’re talking to) → inclusive

In this sentence:

Guru meminta kami … suggests:
- The teacher asked us (probably the students), and the listener is not part of that group.

If the listener were also one of the students being asked, you could use:

Guru meminta kita membedakan mitos dan fakta …
= The teacher asked us (you and me) to distinguish myth and fact …

What’s the difference between beda and membedakan? What does the me‑…‑kan form do?

beda (adjective / verb) = different / to be different
- Cerita ini beda. = This story is different.
membedakan (verb) = to differentiate, to distinguish, to tell apart
Formed from beda with the active transitive pattern me‑…‑kan.

The me‑…‑kan pattern often makes a verb that:

Takes a direct object.
Means to cause/make something be in a certain state or to do something to an object.

So:

beda = different
membedakan A dan B = to distinguish A and B, to tell A and B apart

In the sentence, membedakan mitos dan fakta = to distinguish myth and fact.

Does mitos dan fakta mean one myth and one fact, or myths and facts? How do you show plural here?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural nouns explicitly. Number is understood from context.

mitos dan fakta can mean:
- myth and fact (singular), or
- myths and facts (plural).

If you want to emphasize plurality, you can:

Use reduplication (often sounds a bit heavy if both are repeated):
- mitos-mitos dan fakta-fakta (myths and facts) – grammatically fine, but stylistically a bit clunky here.
Use a word that implies variety:
- berbagai mitos dan fakta = various myths and facts
- banyak mitos dan fakta = many myths and facts

In natural usage, mitos dan fakta is normally interpreted as myths and facts in this kind of context.

What’s the difference between ketika, waktu, and saat for when? Could I replace ketika here?

All three can mean when as a time conjunction, and all three can work in this sentence.

ketika – neutral, common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
waktu – often a bit more conversational / everyday. Literally time.
saat – slightly more formal or literary in many contexts. Literally moment.

You can say:

… ketika membaca cerita rakyat
… waktu membaca cerita rakyat
… saat membaca cerita rakyat

All are acceptable and mean when reading folktales, with only a slight nuance in style; ketika is a safe, standard choice.

Why is there no subject after ketika? Shouldn’t it be ketika kami membaca cerita rakyat?

The full, explicit form would be:

Guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta ketika kami membaca cerita rakyat.
= The teacher asked us to distinguish myth and fact when we read folktales.

In Indonesian, if the subject of the subordinate clause is obvious and the same as in the main clause, you can drop it. Here:

Main clause object: kami
Subordinate clause subject is also kami (by meaning)
So ketika membaca cerita rakyat is understood as when we read folktales.

You must use an explicit subject if it’s different, for example:

Guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta ketika mereka membaca cerita rakyat.
= … when they read folktales.

If you omit mereka, the meaning becomes unclear or misleading.

What exactly does cerita rakyat mean? How is it different from dongeng, legenda, and mitos?

cerita = story
rakyat = the people / the folk
cerita rakyat = folktale(s), traditional stories from a community or culture

Related terms:

dongeng = fairy tale / fable / made-up story (often for children, like Cinderella, fables with talking animals).
legenda = legend (often linked to a place or historical figure; semi-historical, e.g. Legenda Danau Toba).
mitos = myth (often involving gods, origins of the world, supernatural forces; also used in modern sense of false commonly held belief).

cerita rakyat is an umbrella term for traditional stories of a community, which can include dongeng, legenda, and mitos.

How do we know that meminta here means asked (past) and not asks or will ask?

Indonesian verbs generally don’t change form for tense.

meminta can mean ask, is asking, asked, will ask, etc.

Tense is determined by:

Context, or
Time words and markers.

For example:

Kemarin guru meminta kami … = Yesterday the teacher asked us …
Sekarang guru meminta kami … = Now the teacher is asking us …
Besok guru akan meminta kami … = Tomorrow the teacher will ask us …

In the standalone sentence, you interpret the tense from context; in a story, it’s usually past unless otherwise stated.

Can I move ketika membaca cerita rakyat to the front of the sentence?

Yes. You can say:

Ketika membaca cerita rakyat, guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta.

This is fully grammatical and natural. Differences:

Same basic meaning: When reading folktales, the teacher asked us to distinguish myth and fact.
Fronting the time clause puts a bit more emphasis on the condition/time (when reading folktales), which is typical in writing and also common in speech.

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

Both can be followed by a person and an action:

meminta = to ask, to request
menyuruh = to tell someone to do something, to order/command

So:

Guru meminta kami membedakan mitos dan fakta …
= The teacher asked us to distinguish myth and fact … (request, can be polite/soft)
Guru menyuruh kami membedakan mitos dan fakta …
= The teacher told us / ordered us to distinguish myth and fact … (stronger, more like a directive)

In a classroom context:

meminta sounds a bit more neutral or polite.
menyuruh sounds more like a clear instruction or command.

Can I say membedakan antara mitos dan fakta instead of membedakan mitos dan fakta?

Yes, both are grammatical:

membedakan mitos dan fakta
membedakan antara mitos dan fakta

They mean essentially the same: to distinguish myth and fact.

Notes:

antara means between.
Many speakers omit antara after membedakan, especially when it’s clear that two things are being contrasted.
Adding antara can feel a bit more explicit or slightly more formal, but the difference is small.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? How might it sound in more casual speech?

The original sentence is neutral–standard Indonesian, perfectly suitable for:

school contexts,
textbooks,
written assignments,
polite speech.

A more casual, spoken version (e.g. among students) might look like:

Guru nyuruh kita bedain mitos sama fakta pas baca cerita rakyat.

Changes there:

nyuruh instead of menyuruh/meminta (colloquial form)
kita instead of kami (including the listener) – depends on context
bedain instead of membedakan (colloquial shortening)
sama instead of dan (colloquial and)
pas instead of ketika (slang for when / at the time)

Your original sentence is the safe, standard version learners should prioritise.