Breakdown of Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu di grup keluarga.
Questions & Answers about Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu di grup keluarga.
Kita means we / us (including the person you are talking to).
Kami also means we / us, but excluding the person you are talking to.
- Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu...
= We (you and I, and maybe others) are not allowed to spread fake news...
If you said kami tidak boleh..., you would mean we (our group) are not allowed, but the listener is not part of that group. That would sound strange if you are talking to members of that same family group.
Boleh means may / be allowed to / have permission to.
Tidak boleh means may not, must not, not allowed to.
So:
- Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu...
≈ We must not / are not allowed to spread fake news...
It is not mainly about ability; that would be tidak bisa (cannot, not able to).
Tidak boleh talks about rules, permissions, or morality, not physical ability.
In Indonesian, tidak normally comes right before the word it negates.
Here, the structure is:
- boleh menyebarkan = may spread / be allowed to spread
- tidak boleh menyebarkan = may not spread
So tidak is negating boleh (the idea of permission), not the act of spreading itself. If you moved tidak to another position, it would sound ungrammatical or at least very odd.
Yes, you can say:
- Jangan menyebarkan berita palsu di grup keluarga.
= Don’t spread fake news in the family group.
Differences:
Tidak boleh menyebarkan...
- Feels more like stating a rule, norm, or general prohibition.
- Slightly more neutral or formal: We are not allowed to...
Jangan menyebarkan...
- Is a direct command / instruction: Don’t spread...
- Sounds more like someone telling or warning someone else what to do.
Both are correct; the original sounds a bit more like a general rule.
The root word is sebar, which means to spread / be scattered.
From sebar, we get:
menyebar
- Often intransitive: to spread (itself), to be spread
- Example: Virus itu cepat menyebar. (The virus spreads quickly.)
menyebarkan
- Transitive: to spread something (there is a clear object)
- Example: Dia menyebarkan berita palsu. (He/She spreads fake news.)
In your sentence, berita palsu is a clear object, so menyebarkan is very natural. In everyday speech, you might hear menyebar berita too, but menyebarkan berita is more standard.
Berita = news
Palsu = fake, false, not genuine
So berita palsu literally means fake news.
Other close expressions include:
- berita bohong = lying/deceitful news
- kabar bohong = false information, rumors
- hoaks (from hoax) = used informally for fake online information
For neutral, standard Indonesian, berita palsu is a very common way to say fake news.
In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun:
- berita palsu = fake news
- rumah besar = big house
- baju baru = new clothes
Putting the adjective first (palsu berita) is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.
You can move the adjective earlier only in more complex structures using yang, for example:
- berita yang palsu itu
= that news which is fake
But the basic noun phrase is always noun + adjective, so berita palsu.
Di is a preposition meaning in / at / on, marking a location or place.
- di rumah = at home
- di sekolah = at school
- di grup keluarga = in the family group
Even for online or digital places, Indonesian still uses di:
- di WhatsApp
- di Facebook
- di grup keluarga (in the family chat/group)
Grup (spelled with u, not ou) is a loanword from English group, and it is very commonly used for things like WhatsApp groups, Telegram groups, Facebook groups, etc.
- grup keluarga usually means the family chat group (e.g., on WhatsApp).
Alternatives:
- kelompok = group (more general, often for people working or studying together)
- rombongan = group (a crowd, a party of people traveling together)
For a chat or online group, grup is the natural and most common choice. Kelompok keluarga would not normally be understood as a messaging group.
Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Time is understood from context or time expressions.
Your sentence by itself can mean:
- We are not allowed to spread fake news in the family group.
- We were not allowed to spread fake news in the family group.
- We will not be allowed to spread fake news in the family group.
To make it clearer, speakers add time words:
- Sejak tadi, kita tidak boleh menyebarkan... (since earlier)
- Mulai sekarang, kita tidak boleh menyebarkan... (from now on)
- Besok, kita tidak boleh menyebarkan... (tomorrow)
- boleh = may, be allowed to (permission)
- bisa = can, be able to (ability / possibility)
Compare:
Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu.
= We are not allowed to spread fake news. (rule / prohibition)Kita tidak bisa menyebarkan berita palsu.
= We cannot spread fake news. (we are unable to – maybe technically, or in practice)
In your context (rules/ethics), tidak boleh is correct; tidak bisa would sound like there is some technical limitation rather than a rule.
You can say:
- menyebarkan berita palsu ke grup keluarga
= to spread fake news to the family group
Nuance:
di grup keluarga
- Focuses on the action happening in/within that space.
- Emphasizes the group as the place where the spreading happens.
ke grup keluarga
- Emphasizes direction or destination: sending the news to the group.
Both are grammatically possible, but in everyday usage di grup keluarga is more natural when talking about behavior and rules inside that chat group.
They are different in tone:
Kita tidak boleh menyebarkan berita palsu...
- Sounds like stating a general rule, norm, or policy.
- More neutral, slightly formal or explanatory.
- Implies: According to our rules/values, we must not do this.
Jangan menyebarkan berita palsu di grup keluarga.
- Is a direct command: Don’t spread fake news…
- Feels more immediate and directive, like telling someone what to do right now.
So tidak boleh is often perceived as less direct and more like reminding people of an agreed rule, while jangan can feel more like an instruction or warning.