Breakdown of Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
Questions & Answers about Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
In this sentence, itu works like that / the and marks buku sejarah as a specific book, not just any history book.
- Buku sejarah itu ≈ that history book / the history book
- Word-for-word: buku (book) + sejarah (history) + itu (that/the)
In Indonesian, demonstratives like itu (that) and ini (this) usually come after the noun phrase:
- buku itu = that book
- buku sejarah itu = that history book
- guru itu = that teacher
So the order buku sejarah itu is normal and grammatical; Indonesian typically says “book history that” where English says “that history book.”
Yes, buku sejarah literally means history book.
In Indonesian, when you describe a noun with another noun (like history book, math teacher, chicken soup), the main noun usually comes first, and the describing noun comes right after it:
- buku sejarah = book (of) history → history book
- guru matematika = teacher (of) mathematics → math teacher
- sup ayam = soup (of) chicken → chicken soup
So:
- buku sejarah = correct, natural
- sejarah buku would sound strange and is not used to mean history book. It could only work in special, unusual contexts like “the history of the book,” and even then you’d normally say sejarah buku itu or sejarah sebuah buku.
Tentang means about / regarding / on the subject of. It introduces the topic of something.
- Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
= That history book is about colonizers.
Common alternatives with similar meaning:
- mengenai – about, regarding (a bit more formal, often in writing)
- Buku sejarah itu mengenai penjajah.
- soal – about, regarding, on the matter of (colloquial in many contexts; also used in “exam questions”)
- Buku itu soal penjajah. (more informal, context-dependent)
In everyday neutral Indonesian, tentang is perfectly natural and very common.
Penjajah means colonizer, invader, or occupier—someone (or a group) who occupies and controls another country or territory.
It comes from the root jajah, which means to colonize / to occupy. With the prefix pe-, which often forms agent nouns (person/thing doing the action), you get:
- jajah (to colonize) → penjajah (colonizer)
A few parallels:
- ajar (to teach) → pengajar (teacher/instructor)
- usaha (to try/do business) → pengusaha (entrepreneur/businessperson)
So penjajah = the one(s) who colonize.
Penjajah by itself is number-neutral; it can mean colonizer or colonizers, depending on context. Indonesian doesn’t always mark singular vs plural.
To be more explicit, you can add words:
- seorang penjajah = a (single) colonizer
- para penjajah = the colonizers (as a group; formal/literary)
- penjajah-penjajah = colonizers (reduplication to show plural, more emphatic)
- banyak penjajah = many colonizers
In your sentence, Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah, the most natural reading in English is “about colonizers” (in general).
Yes, Itu buku sejarah tentang penjajah is also grammatical, but the nuance is slightly different.
Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
- Literally: The history book that is about colonizers.
- Focus: the content/topic of that book.
- Feels like you’ve already identified the book, and now you’re explaining what it’s about.
Itu buku sejarah tentang penjajah.
- Literally: That is a history book about colonizers.
- Focus: identifying the object as “a history book about colonizers.”
- Often used when pointing at something or choosing: “That (one) is a history book about colonizers.”
Both are correct, but the first one sounds more like a description of the book’s topic; the second one sounds more like you’re pointing it out or classifying it.
To make it clearly indefinite (like English a), you can add sebuah before buku:
- Sebuah buku sejarah tentang penjajah.
= A history book about colonizers.
Compare:
- Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
= That / the history book is about colonizers. - Sebuah buku sejarah tentang penjajah.
= A history book about colonizers.
Note: In many real sentences, Indonesian simply says buku sejarah without sebuah, and context tells you if it’s “a” or “the,” but sebuah makes the “one, a single, some” idea clearer.
Yes, you can say Buku sejarah tentang penjajah, but the function changes a bit:
Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
- Full sentence with itu:
- “That/the history book is about colonizers.”
Buku sejarah tentang penjajah
- Often functions as a noun phrase, like a fragment or a title:
- “(A) history book about colonizers.”
- It can be used in:
- Saya mau beli buku sejarah tentang penjajah.
= I want to buy a history book about colonizers.
- Saya mau beli buku sejarah tentang penjajah.
Without a verb or extra context, Buku sejarah tentang penjajah is usually read as “a/the history book about colonizers” (a phrase), not as a full standalone statement.
- penjajah = colonizer(s) (the people/the power that colonizes)
- penjajahan = colonization / occupation (the process or state)
Your sentence:
- Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah.
= That history book is about colonizers (the colonizing powers/people).
If you say:
- Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajahan.
= That history book is about colonization / the period of colonization.
Both are correct, but the focus shifts:
- penjajah → focus on who colonized.
- penjajahan → focus on the process/era/system of colonization.
Buku sejarah itu tentang penjajah. is neutral and standard.
- It’s fine in everyday conversation.
- It’s also acceptable in writing (though in more formal writing, people might sometimes choose mengenai instead of tentang, or expand the sentence).
You can safely use this structure in both casual and semi-formal contexts.