Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Di grup keluarga, Ibu mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan berita palsu tentang perayaan hari kemerdekaan. - In the family group, Mother reminds us not to spread fake news about the Independence Day celebration.

ibu (lowercase) can mean:
- “mother” (general)
- “ma’am / Mrs.” as a polite form of address for an adult woman
Ibu (capitalized) in a sentence like this usually means:
- “Mom” (the speaker’s own mother), functioning like a proper name.

So Ibu mengingatkan kami… = “Mom reminded us…”

You could also say:

Ibu saya mengingatkan kami… = My mother reminded us…

But in everyday Indonesian, when talking about your own mother to people who know you, Ibu alone is very natural.

What does mengingatkan mean, and how is it formed from the root?

The root is ingat = to remember.

From that root, we get:

mengingat = to remember (intransitive, you yourself remember)
- Saya mengingat kejadian itu. = I remember that event.
mengingatkan [someone] [about something] = to remind (cause someone to remember)

The structure:

meN- + ingat + -kan → mengingatkan

Functionally:

mengingatkan kami = to remind us
mengingatkan kami untuk… = to remind us to…

So in the sentence, Ibu mengingatkan kami = “Mom reminded us” (caused us to remember / warned us).

Why is kami used here instead of kita?

Both kami and kita translate as “we / us”, but:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
kita = we (including the listener)

In this sentence, kami means the group of people that Mom is talking to in the chat — likely her children or family members. The listener of the story (the person you are telling this sentence to) is not necessarily part of that group.

So:

Ibu mengingatkan kami… = Mom reminded us (not including you, the listener)

If she were speaking directly to a group including the listener, she might say:

Ibu mengingatkan kita untuk tidak menyebarkan berita palsu…
= Mom reminds all of us (you and me) not to spread fake news…

What is the function of untuk in mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan…? Could we omit it?

Here untuk introduces a purpose / action clause, similar to “to” in English:

mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan…
≈ to remind us *not to spread …*

Structure:

[verb] + [object] + untuk + [another verb]
mengingatkan
- kami
  - untuk
    - tidak menyebarkan

You generally cannot omit untuk in this kind of structure. Without untuk, it would sound ungrammatical:

❌ Ibu mengingatkan kami tidak menyebarkan berita palsu… (unnatural)
✅ Ibu mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan berita palsu…

Why is tidak used instead of jangan to express “not to spread”?

Indonesian has several “not” words. The relevant two here:

tidak = not (negates verbs and adjectives) in statements or reported speech
jangan = don’t (used in imperatives / direct commands)

In the sentence, Ibu mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan… is reported speech / an indirect command:

literally: “Mom reminded us not to spread fake news…”

Because it’s not a direct command like “Don’t spread fake news!”, we use tidak, not jangan.

Compare:

Jangan menyebarkan berita palsu!
= Don’t spread fake news! (direct command)
Ibu mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan berita palsu.
= Mom reminded us not to spread fake news. (indirect / reported)

What’s the difference between menyebar and menyebarkan, and why is menyebarkan used here?

The root is sebar = spread.

Two common forms:

menyebar (intransitive / no direct object)
- Focus: something spreads (by itself or generally)
- Virus itu cepat menyebar. = The virus spread quickly.
menyebarkan (transitive, usually has a direct object)
- Focus: someone spreads something
- Mereka menyebarkan berita palsu. = They spread fake news.

In the sentence, berita palsu is the direct object:

tidak menyebarkan berita palsu = not to spread fake news

So the correct form is menyebarkan, not menyebar.

Does berita palsu literally mean “fake news,” and is this a common phrase?

Yes:

berita = news
palsu = fake / false

So berita palsu = fake news.

It’s a very common expression in modern Indonesian, both for:

general false information, and
the more political/media sense of “fake news.”

You might also encounter:

hoaks (from “hoax”), often used in media and online.
- Jangan mudah percaya hoaks di internet. = Don’t easily believe hoaxes on the internet.

Why is it berita palsu (noun + adjective) and not palsu berita?

In Indonesian, adjectives almost always come after the noun they modify.

Pattern:

[noun] + [adjective]

So:

berita palsu = fake news
kabar bohong = false news/rumor
mobil baru = new car
rumah besar = big house

palsu berita is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian. The adjective palsu must follow the noun berita.

What does tentang mean in berita palsu tentang perayaan hari kemerdekaan?

tentang means “about / regarding / concerning.”

Here it connects berita palsu with its topic:

berita palsu tentang perayaan hari kemerdekaan
= fake news about the Independence Day celebrations

Rough equivalents:

tentang ≈ about / regarding
mengenai ≈ about / regarding (a bit more formal)

You could also say:

berita palsu mengenai perayaan hari kemerdekaan
(very similar meaning, slightly more formal tone)

How is perayaan hari kemerdekaan structured? Which word modifies which?

Breakdown:

perayaan = celebration
hari = day
kemerdekaan = independence

Structure:

hari kemerdekaan = independence day
- hari (day) + kemerdekaan (independence)
perayaan hari kemerdekaan = celebration of independence day
- perayaan (celebration) + hari kemerdekaan (independence day)

So the whole phrase means “the celebration of Independence Day.”

Other possible variants:

perayaan kemerdekaan = celebration of independence (general)
perayaan Hari Kemerdekaan Indonesia = the celebration of Indonesia’s Independence Day (more specific/formal)

Should Hari Kemerdekaan be capitalized, and when is it written with capitals?

In formal writing, the name of an official holiday is usually capitalized:

Hari Kemerdekaan (Independence Day as a proper holiday name)

In everyday writing (texts, chats), people often write it in lowercase:

hari kemerdekaan

The sentence you gave uses lowercase, which is very normal in informal contexts. In a formal article or school essay, you might see:

…berita palsu tentang perayaan Hari Kemerdekaan.

Why does the sentence start with Di grup keluarga and have a comma? Can that phrase move to the end?

Di grup keluarga is a prepositional phrase of place (“in the family group”) used as a sentence opener to give context first.

Di grup keluarga, Ibu mengingatkan kami…
= In the family group, Mom reminded us…

The comma marks this as an introductory phrase; it’s similar to English:

In the family group, Mom reminded us…

You can move this phrase to the end without changing the basic meaning:

Ibu mengingatkan kami untuk tidak menyebarkan berita palsu tentang perayaan hari kemerdekaan di grup keluarga.

Now the focus is a bit more on what Mom did, and where is added at the end, but it’s still natural Indonesian. Both word orders are acceptable.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it be used in everyday conversation?

The sentence is neutral and very natural for everyday use, especially in written form like chat or narration.

Vocabulary like Ibu, mengingatkan, menyebarkan, berita palsu, tentang, perayaan is standard (not slang).
The structure fits both spoken and written Indonesian.

You could say this:

in conversation when telling a friend what happened in your family chat, or
in a written story / article describing that situation.

To make it feel more casual in a chat, people might shorten or tweak things (e.g., dropping subjects that are obvious), but the given sentence is perfectly natural as is.