Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.

The history teacher gives an assignment to read a book about independence to the students.

Breakdown of Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.

• sebuah: a
• buku: the book
• tugas: the assignment
• membaca: to read
• tentang: about
• memberi: to give
• murid: the student
• kepada: to
• kemerdekaan: the independence
• guru sejarah: the history teacher

Questions & Answers about Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.

What does guru sejarah literally mean, and can I change the order to sejarah guru?

Guru sejarah literally means history teacher.

• guru = teacher
• sejarah = history

In Indonesian, when you put two nouns together like this, the main noun usually comes first, and the second word describes it. So:

• guru sejarah = teacher (of) history
• buku sejarah = history book
• pelajaran sejarah = history lesson

You cannot say sejarah guru to mean history teacher. Sejarah guru would instead mean "the history of (a/the) teacher", which is a different meaning.

So the order must be guru sejarah for history teacher.

How do I know if guru sejarah means “the history teacher” or “a history teacher” when there is no article?

Indonesian doesn’t use articles like a/an/the. The noun guru sejarah by itself is neutral:

• It can mean a history teacher (indefinite)
• Or the history teacher (definite), depending on context

Context tells you which one is intended:

• If the speaker and listener both know which teacher is meant, we would translate it as the history teacher.
• If it’s just introducing some teacher for the first time, we might translate it as a history teacher.

You can make it more clearly indefinite/definite, but it’s optional:

• seorang guru sejarah = a (single) history teacher
• guru sejarah itu = that/the history teacher (specific one)

Why is it memberi tugas and not menugaskan? What’s the difference?

Both are correct, but they differ slightly in style and structure.

• memberi tugas = to give an assignment

  • memberi = to give
  • tugas = assignment
  • Very common, neutral, everyday expression

• menugaskan = to assign (someone to do something)

  • Focuses more on the act of assigning or appointing someone

You could say:

• Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca buku…
  = The history teacher gave an assignment to read a book…

or:

• Guru sejarah menugaskan murid-murid untuk membaca buku…
  = The history teacher assigned the students to read a book…

The second one sounds a bit more formal and focuses more clearly on assigning the students.

Why is it memberi tugas membaca buku and not memberi tugas untuk membaca buku? Do we need untuk?

Both forms are possible:

1. memberi tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan
2. memberi tugas untuk membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan

The meaning is essentially the same: to give an assignment to read a book about independence.

• In (1), membaca buku… directly describes what the assignment is.
• In (2), untuk introduces the purpose: an assignment to read a book…

Using untuk is slightly more explicit and is often considered a little more formal or careful. In everyday speech, many people drop untuk and just say tugas + verb:

• tugas menulis esai (assignment to write an essay)
• tugas membuat presentasi (assignment to make a presentation)

What is the role of kepada here, and could I use pada or untuk instead?

In the sentence, kepada marks the recipient of the action:

• kepada murid-murid = to the students

You can think of it like English to in “give something to someone”.

About alternatives:

• kepada

  • Typically used for people or living recipients.
  • Very natural here: memberi tugas … kepada murid-murid.

• pada

  • Used for time, place, and abstract relationships, and sometimes for people in more formal writing.
  • memberi tugas … pada murid-murid is possible, especially in writing, but kepada is more standard when it’s clearly “to someone”.

• untuk

  • Means for, indicating purpose or intended beneficiary, not direct recipient.
  • memberi tugas untuk murid-murid would be more like “gave an assignment for the students (to have/do)” and is less idiomatic than kepada in this exact structure.

So in this sentence, kepada is the best, most natural choice.

Why is it murid-murid and not just murid? How do plurals work here?

Murid-murid is the plural form of murid (student).

Plural in Indonesian can be shown in several ways:

1. Reduplication (repeating the word)

   • murid-murid = students
   • buku-buku = books
   • guru-guru = teachers

2. Using a plural word like para before people:

   • para murid = the students
   • para guru = (all/the) teachers

3. Often, just using context:

   • Guru memberi tugas kepada murid.
     Depending on context, this could mean “to the students” without any plural marker.

In this sentence, murid-murid makes it clear that more than one student received the assignment. Saying just murid would be grammatically fine, but more ambiguous: it could be one or several students, and many speakers would still understand it as plural from context.

Could I change the word order to Guru sejarah memberi murid-murid tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan? Is that still correct?

Yes, that sentence is also correct and natural.

Two options:

1. Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.

   • Emphasis slightly more on the assignment first, then who received it.

2. Guru sejarah memberi murid-murid tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan.

   • Looks more like English word order (gave the students an assignment).
   • Emphasis slightly more on the students as recipients.

Both are good Indonesian. The original with kepada murid-murid is a bit closer to the “give something to someone” pattern, while the reordered version feels a touch more like “give someone something.”

What does kemerdekaan mean exactly, and how is it related to merdeka?

• merdeka = free, independent

  • Adjective: Indonesia merdeka = Indonesia is independent.

• kemerdekaan = independence, freedom

  • Noun formed from merdeka with the prefix-suffix ke- -an.

So:

• buku tentang kemerdekaan = a book about independence
• perayaan kemerdekaan = independence celebration

The pattern merdeka → kemerdekaan is very common in Indonesian:

• adil (just, fair) → keadilan (justice)
• kaya (rich) → kekayaan (wealth, riches)

Can I say buku kemerdekaan instead of buku tentang kemerdekaan?

Generally, no. Buku kemerdekaan on its own sounds odd or unclear.

• buku tentang kemerdekaan = a book about independence
  
  • tentang works like English about/regarding.

If you drop tentang, buku kemerdekaan might be interpreted as something like “independence book”, but that’s not a natural phrase unless there is a clearly established specific type of book with that label (e.g., the official Buku Kemerdekaan of something).

More natural patterns:

• buku tentang kemerdekaan (about independence)
• buku sejarah tentang kemerdekaan Indonesia (a history book about Indonesian independence)

What is the difference between memberi and memberikan? Could I say Guru sejarah memberikan tugas… here?

Both memberi and memberikan come from the root beri (to give), and both can often be translated as to give.

In this sentence, you can say:

• Guru sejarah memberikan tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.

Differences (simplified):

• memberi + [thing] + kepada [recipient]

  • Guru memberi tugas kepada murid-murid.
  • Common, a bit shorter, very natural.

• memberikan + [thing] + kepada [recipient]

  • Guru memberikan tugas kepada murid-murid.
  • Often feels slightly more formal or written, but also very common.

In many everyday contexts, they’re interchangeable. Here, both memberi tugas and memberikan tugas are correct and natural.

Could this sentence be made passive, like “The assignment was given to the students”? How would that look?

Yes, you can make a passive version:

• Tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan diberikan kepada murid-murid oleh guru sejarah.

Breakdown:

• Tugas … = The assignment to read a book about independence
• diberikan = was given (passive form of memberikan)
• kepada murid-murid = to the students
• oleh guru sejarah = by the history teacher

Often in Indonesian, oleh + agent (by someone) is optional:

• Tugas membaca buku tentang kemerdekaan diberikan kepada murid-murid.
  = The assignment to read a book about independence was given to the students.

This is more formal and more common in written or official language than in casual speech.

Do I need a classifier like sebuah before buku? How do I show it’s “a book” or “some books”?

You don’t need a classifier here; buku alone is fine and common.

If you want to be more explicit:

• sebuah buku tentang kemerdekaan
  = a book about independence

  • sebuah is a general classifier for one object.

• beberapa buku tentang kemerdekaan
  = several/some books about independence

So you could say:

• Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca sebuah buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.
  = …gave an assignment to read a (single) book about independence.

• Guru sejarah memberi tugas membaca beberapa buku tentang kemerdekaan kepada murid-murid.
  = …gave an assignment to read several books about independence.

In everyday Indonesian, leaving out sebuah is very normal; number and specificity are often left to context.