Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

My older sister tries to act mature when helping our parents make decisions.

Breakdown of Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

• ketika: when
• keputusan: the decision
• membantu: to help
• orang tua: the parent
• saya: my
• mengambil: to take
• bersikap: to behave
• kakak perempuan: the older sister
• berusaha: to try
• dewasa: mature

Questions & Answers about Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

In the phrase kakak perempuan saya, does kakak already mean “older sister”? Why add perempuan?

Kakak by itself means older sibling, without specifying gender. It can be an older brother or an older sister.

Adding perempuan (female) makes it clear that the person is an older sister:

• kakak saya = my older sibling (gender unknown)
• kakak perempuan saya = my older sister
• kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother

In natural Indonesian, if the gender is already obvious from context, people often just say kakak saya. But if you want to be clear in a standalone sentence, kakak perempuan saya is very natural and precise.

How is kakak perempuan saya different from saudara perempuan saya?

Both refer to a female sibling, but there are differences:

• kakak perempuan saya = my older sister
  
  • kakak = older sibling (must be older)
  • sounds natural and common in everyday speech
• saudara perempuan saya = my sister / my female sibling
  
  • saudara = sibling (can be older or younger; more formal / general)
  • often used in formal writing or official speech, or when age order isn’t important

So in this sentence, kakak perempuan saya tells us explicitly that she is older, not just “a sister”.

Why do we need both berusaha and bersikap? Could we just say bersikap dewasa?

• bersikap dewasa = to behave / act in a mature way
• berusaha = to try, to make an effort

So:

• kakak perempuan saya bersikap dewasa
  = “my older sister behaves in a mature way” (stating it as a fact)

• kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa
  = “my older sister tries to behave in a mature way”
  (she’s making an effort; maybe it’s not always easy for her)

You could say just bersikap dewasa, but then you lose the nuance of trying / making an effort, which is exactly what berusaha adds.

Why is it berusaha bersikap dewasa and not berusaha dewasa?

In Indonesian:

• dewasa is an adjective: mature, adult
• You usually can’t attach berusaha directly to an adjective like that.

You need a verb after berusaha:

• berusaha bersikap dewasa
  = try to have the attitude / to behave maturely
• berusaha menjadi dewasa
  = try to become mature

So berusaha dewasa is ungrammatical; you need something like:

• berusaha bersikap dewasa (try to act maturely)
• berusaha menjadi dewasa (try to become mature)

What exactly does bersikap mean, and how is it different from berperilaku or bertingkah laku?

All three relate to behavior, but with slightly different flavors:

• bersikap

  • from sikap = attitude
  • focuses on attitude / stance / way of responding
  • bersikap dewasa = to adopt a mature attitude / to act in a mature way

• berperilaku

  • from perilaku = behavior
  • more neutral, can be used for general behavior
  • berperilaku baik = to behave well

• bertingkah laku

  • from tingkah laku = behavior, conduct
  • somewhat more formal / descriptive
  • bertingkah laku sopan = to conduct oneself politely

In this sentence, bersikap dewasa sounds very natural, because “mature” fits well as an attitude someone adopts.

What does ketika mean here, and can I replace it with saat or waktu?

ketika means “when” in a time sense:

• ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan
  = when (she is) helping our parents make decisions

You can often replace ketika with:

• saat – very common and natural, similar to when / at the time when
• waktu – literally time, but also used like when in spoken language

For this sentence:

• Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa saat membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.
• Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa waktu membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan. (more informal)

All three are acceptable. Ketika is slightly more neutral/formal than waktu, and similar in tone to saat.

Why is there no subject after ketika? Why don’t we say ketika dia membantu…?

In Indonesian, if the subject of the subordinate clause is the same as the main clause, it’s very common to omit it:

• Full version (still correct):
  Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika dia membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

• Natural shortened version:
  Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

Because we already know we are talking about kakak perempuan saya, Indonesian doesn’t need to repeat dia there. English needs “she” or “my sister” again; Indonesian often drops it.

What does orang tua mean exactly? Is it singular “parent” or plural “parents”?

Orang tua literally means old person, but very commonly it means parents (as a unit):

• orang tua saya = my parents
• orang tua (without possessive) can mean “parents” in general, or “older people”, depending on context

In this sentence:

• membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan
  is understood as “helping (our / her) parents make decisions”.

If you wanted to be very clear and possessive, you could say:

• membantu orang tua kami = helping our parents
• membantu orang tua saya = helping my parents

But in many contexts, orang tua alone can imply her parents / our parents if that’s obvious from context.

Why is it mengambil keputusan (“take a decision”) when English says “make a decision”?

Indonesian uses both:

• mengambil keputusan
• membuat keputusan

Both mean “to make a decision”, and both are correct.

Literally:

• mengambil keputusan = to take a decision
• membuat keputusan = to make a decision

In practice, they’re near-synonyms. Mengambil keputusan is extremely common in both spoken and written Indonesian, especially in formal or semi-formal contexts. You could replace it in the sentence:

• … ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.
• … ketika membantu orang tua membuat keputusan.

No change in meaning.

In membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan, is she helping her parents in general, or helping them to decide something specific?

The structure is:

• membantu = to help
• orang tua = (her) parents (object of “help”)
• mengambil keputusan = to make a decision (what the parents are doing)

So membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan roughly corresponds to English:

• “help her parents (to) make decisions”

It can mean:

• generally: she helps them when it comes to decision-making, or
• specifically: she helps them in particular decision situations,

depending on context. The Indonesian phrase itself doesn’t mark the difference; it’s context-dependent, like English “help my parents make decisions”.

Can we move ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan to the beginning or end of the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible with time clauses. All of these are grammatical:

1. Original:
   Kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan.

2. Time clause at the beginning:
   Ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan, kakak perempuan saya berusaha bersikap dewasa.

3. Time clause in the middle with commas (more written style):
   Kakak perempuan saya, ketika membantu orang tua mengambil keputusan, berusaha bersikap dewasa.

They all mean the same thing. Changing the order may slightly affect what’s emphasized, but the basic meaning remains identical.

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

The original sentence is neutral and suitable for:

• writing (essays, homework, reports)
• polite spoken Indonesian

A more casual, conversational version might look like:

• Kakak gue berusaha kelihatan dewasa waktu bantu nyokap bokap gue ambil keputusan.

Changes here:

• saya → gue (Jakarta slang for “I / me”)
• orang tua → nyokap bokap (slang for mom and dad)
• ketika → waktu (more colloquial)
• bersikap dewasa → kelihatan dewasa (“look / seem mature”) is another natural choice in casual speech

But for learners and general use, the original sentence is a good, standard form.

How would changing saya to aku affect the tone of kakak perempuan saya?

• saya is more formal / polite / neutral.
• aku is more informal / intimate, used with friends, family, or people of the same age.

So:

• kakak perempuan saya
  sounds neutral and polite, suitable in almost any setting.

• kakak perempuan aku
  sounds more casual and personal, like how you’d talk to friends or write in a diary.

Grammatically both are fine; the difference is mainly formality and social distance.