Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial. - I find it difficult to distinguish facts and gossip on social media.

saya = I / me
sulit = difficult / hard
membedakan = to distinguish, to tell apart
- root: beda = different
- me- + beda + -kan → membedakan = to differentiate (something), to distinguish
fakta = (a/the) fact(s)
dan = and
gosip = gossip / rumor(s)
di = in / at / on (a location-related preposition)
media sosial = social media

Structure in English-like terms:

Saya (subject)
sulit (adjective = “am having difficulty”)
membedakan fakta dan gosip (verb phrase = “to distinguish facts and gossip”)
di media sosial (prepositional phrase = “on social media”).

Very literally:
“I [am] difficult [in] distinguishing facts and gossip on social media.”
Natural English: “I find it hard to distinguish facts and gossip on social media.”

Why is it saya sulit and not something like sulit untuk saya or itu sulit bagi saya?

In Indonesian, it’s very common and natural to say:

Saya sulit + verb = “I find it hard to + verb.”

So:

Saya sulit membedakan … = “I find it hard to distinguish …”

You could say:

Itu sulit bagi saya. = “That is difficult for me.”
Sulit untuk saya membedakan … = literally “It is difficult for me to distinguish …”

These are also correct, but:

Saya sulit + verb is shorter and feels very natural in speech and neutral writing.
Sulit untuk saya… and itu sulit bagi saya sound a bit more formal or explanatory, especially if you’re emphasizing “for me personally”.

So the sentence chooses a very common, compact pattern: [subject] + sulit + [verb].

What exactly does sulit mean here? Could I use susah or kesulitan instead?

Sulit means “difficult / hard” in a quite neutral way.

Approximate equivalents:

sulit ≈ difficult, hard (neutral, slightly formal/standard)
susah ≈ hard, troublesome (more colloquial/informal)
kesulitan ≈ to be in difficulty / to have trouble (more formal, emphasizes being in a state of difficulty)

Possible variants:

Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
Neutral, standard. Good in both speech and writing.
Saya susah membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
More casual. Fits informal conversation well (friends, peers).
Saya kesulitan membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
Slightly more formal and emphasizes the ongoing struggle:
“I am having difficulty distinguishing…” / “I struggle to distinguish…”

All three are correct; the original just uses the standard, neutral sulit.

Why is it membedakan and not just beda or berbeda?

These are related but have different grammatical roles:

beda (adjective / noun): different / difference
- Itu beda. = “That’s different.”
berbeda (verb / adjective): to be different
- Itu berbeda. = “That is different.”
membedakan (transitive verb): to differentiate / distinguish (something)
- membedakan A dan B = to distinguish A and B

The sentence needs a verb that takes objects (“facts and gossip”), so:

Saya sulit beda fakta dan gosip → ungrammatical.
Saya sulit berbeda fakta dan gosip → wrong meaning (“to be different facts and gossip”).
Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip → correct (“I find it hard to distinguish facts and gossip”).

So membedakan is the right form because it means “to distinguish (X and Y)” and can directly take objects.

Can I say sulit untuk membedakan instead of just sulit membedakan? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Saya sulit untuk membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.

This is also correct.

Differences:

Saya sulit membedakan …
- Slightly shorter, more direct.
- Very common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
Saya sulit untuk membedakan …
- Feels a bit more formal or explanatory.
- The untuk makes the phrase sound slightly more “complete” in some styles of writing (essays, reports).

In everyday conversation, dropping untuk is very natural. Both are acceptable; the nuance difference is small.

Why does it say membedakan fakta dan gosip and not membedakan antara fakta dan gosip?

Both patterns are possible:

membedakan fakta dan gosip
membedakan antara fakta dan gosip

They’re both understandable. Nuance:

membedakan fakta dan gosip
- More compact.
- Often understood as “to distinguish between facts and gossip” from context.
membedakan antara fakta dan gosip
- More explicit, mirrors English “distinguish between facts and gossip.”
- Slightly more formal or bookish, but still natural.

There’s also a slightly different pattern:

membedakan fakta dari gosip
= distinguish facts from gossip (asymmetrical: facts are distinguished from gossip)

In your sentence, membedakan fakta dan gosip is fine and very natural; Indonesian often leaves out prepositions like antara when the relationship is obvious.

There’s no plural marker. How do I know if fakta and gosip are singular or plural?

Indonesian usually does not mark singular vs plural explicitly. Context does the job.

In this sentence:

fakta can mean “a fact” or “facts”
gosip can mean “gossip” in general, or “gossips / rumors”

Because we’re talking about what you see on social media, it’s naturally understood as multiple facts and bits of gossip:

Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
→ “I find it hard to distinguish facts and gossip on social media.”

To make plurality explicit, you could say:

banyak fakta = many facts
banyak gosip = lots of gossip

Example:

Saya sulit membedakan banyak fakta dan gosip yang beredar di media sosial.
= “I find it hard to distinguish the many facts and gossip circulating on social media.”

Why is it di media sosial when in English we say “on social media”, not “in social media”?

Indonesian preposition di covers a wide range of English “location” prepositions:

di = in / at / on (depending on context)

Examples:

di rumah = at home
di meja = on the table
di kota = in the city
di media sosial = on social media

So:

English: “on social media”
Indonesian: di media sosial

You could also see:

di medsos (very informal, from media sosial)

But di media sosial is the standard neutral form.

Could I drop saya and just say sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial?

Yes, you can.

Sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.

This then becomes a more general statement:

“(It’s) hard to distinguish facts and gossip on social media.”

Nuance:

Saya sulit membedakan…
- Emphasizes your personal difficulty.
Sulit membedakan…
- Feels more like a general truth that could apply to anyone (including you).

Both are grammatical; which one you choose depends on whether you want to highlight yourself as the subject.

Can I replace saya with aku or other pronouns? Does it change the tone?

Yes, the pronoun can change formality and tone:

Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
- Neutral / polite.
- Good for speaking with strangers, at work, in class, or in writing.
Aku sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
- More informal / intimate.
- Used with friends, family, people your age or younger (depending on region and relationship).

Other very informal options (region-dependent):

Gue / gua sulit membedakan… (Jakarta-style urban slang)
Aku susah bedain fakta dan gosip di medsos. (informal vocabulary and contractions)

Meaning stays the same; only the level of formality and style changes.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move di media sosial earlier in the sentence?

The natural, default order is:

Saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip di media sosial.
(subject – adjective – verb – objects – location)

You can move di media sosial a bit, but some placements sound awkward.

Natural-ish variants:

Di media sosial, saya sulit membedakan fakta dan gosip.
- Fronts the location for emphasis (“On social media, I find it difficult…”).

Less natural or odd:

Saya sulit di media sosial membedakan fakta dan gosip.
- Understandable, but feels clunky or marked.
Saya sulit membedakan di media sosial fakta dan gosip.
- Sounds unnatural; splitting membedakan from its objects is not typical here.

So the original order is the most natural for everyday use, and fronting di media sosial is also acceptable when you want to emphasize the setting.