Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

The fifth grade children study history in the library.

Breakdown of Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

• di: in
• belajar: to study
• anak: the child
• perpustakaan: the library
• sejarah: the history
• kelas lima: the fifth grade

Questions & Answers about Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

In anak-anak, what does the repetition mean? Do I always have to repeat anak to make it plural?

The repetition in anak-anak is a common way to mark the plural in Indonesian.

• anak = child
• anak-anak = children

However, you do not always need to repeat the noun to mean plural. Indonesian usually relies on context to show singular/plural.

All of these can mean children depending on context:

• anak
• anak-anak
• anak kelas lima (fifth-grade children)
• para anak (more formal, “the children”)

Reduplication (repeating the noun) usually emphasizes that it’s clearly more than one, or “children in general.” But grammatically you can often use the singular form with a plural meaning.

Does anak-anak kelas lima mean “the fifth-grade children” or “children of class five”? How is this noun phrase structured?

anak-anak kelas lima is a noun phrase where each part narrows down the meaning:

• anak-anak = children
• kelas lima = fifth grade / grade 5

So anak-anak kelas lima means “the children of fifth grade” or “the fifth-grade children.”
You can think of it as:

children [who are in] fifth grade

Word order is always: head noun first, then its description.
So you say:

• anak-anak kelas lima (correct)
  not
• kelas lima anak-anak (unnatural in this sense)

Does kelas lima mean “class five” or “grade five”? How is school level usually expressed?

kelas lima literally is “class five”, but in school contexts it normally means “fifth grade”.

On its own, though, it doesn’t say which level (elementary, junior high, etc.). To be more precise:

• kelas lima SD = 5th grade of elementary school (SD = Sekolah Dasar)
• kelas lima SMP = 5th class in junior high (this is unusual; SMP usually has only grades 7–9)

In everyday contexts, if you say anak kelas lima or anak-anak kelas lima and you are talking about elementary school, people will understand it as “fifth graders (elementary)” from context.

Why is there no word for “the” in this sentence? How do I know if it’s “the fifth graders” or “fifth graders” in general?

Indonesian does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”. The sentence:

Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

can be translated as:

• The fifth-grade children study history in the library.
• Fifth graders study history in the library.

The difference between “the” and no article is decided by context, not grammar. If the context is a specific class you know about, you’ll translate it with “the” in English. If it’s a general description of a school routine, you might drop “the” in English.

In English we say “are studying”. Where is “are” in Indonesian? Why is there no verb “to be”?

Indonesian does not use a separate verb like “to be” (am / is / are) before verbs or adjectives.

• belajar already means “to study / are studying”

So:

Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah.
= The fifth-grade children study / are studying history.

There is simply no extra word for “are”. Indonesian normally uses just the main verb:

• mereka makan = they eat / they are eating
• dia tidur = he/she sleeps / is sleeping

How do I show that this is happening right now (progressive), like “are studying right now”?

To emphasize that the action is in progress right now, you can add sedang before the verb:

Anak-anak kelas lima sedang belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
= The fifth-grade children are (currently) studying history in the library.

Notes:

• Without sedang, belajar is time-neutral: study / are studying / studied – the exact time is taken from context.
• sedang is optional; you use it when you want to focus on ongoing action.

How is tense (past, present, future) shown in Indonesian? The sentence doesn’t have past or future markers.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. You use time words to show when something happens.

Same base sentence:

Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

Then you add time expressions:

• kemarin = yesterday
  
  • Kemarin, anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
    = Yesterday, the fifth graders studied history in the library.
• tadi pagi = this morning
  
  • Tadi pagi anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
• besok = tomorrow
  
  • Besok anak-anak kelas lima akan belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
    (Here akan = will, marks future tense.)

So tense comes from adverbs like kemarin, tadi, besok, nanti and sometimes from particles like akan (will).

What is the function of di in di perpustakaan? How is it different from the di- that makes passive verbs?

In di perpustakaan, di is a preposition meaning “in/at”.

• di + place = at/in a place
  
  • di rumah = at home
  • di sekolah = at school
  • di perpustakaan = in/at the library

This di is written separately from the noun.

The di- in passive verbs is a prefix, and it is attached directly to the verb:

• makan = to eat
• dimakan = is eaten / was eaten
• baca = to read
• dibaca = is read / was read

So:

• di perpustakaan → preposition + noun (place)
• dibaca → prefix di- + verb (passive voice)

Spelling (with or without a space) is important for telling them apart.

Could I say ke perpustakaan instead of di perpustakaan? What is the difference?

No, they are not interchangeable:

• di perpustakaan = at / in the library (location, where something happens)
• ke perpustakaan = to the library (direction, movement toward)

Sentences:

• Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
  = The fifth graders study history in the library.

• Anak-anak kelas lima pergi ke perpustakaan.
  = The fifth graders go to the library.

So you use:

• di for where something is or happens
• ke for where something is going

Can I move di perpustakaan to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible for information like time and place.

You can say:

1. Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.
2. Di perpustakaan, anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah.

Both mean essentially the same thing. Putting di perpustakaan at the beginning just emphasizes the location a bit more, like:

In the library, the fifth-grade children study history.

What exactly does sejarah mean here? Is it “history” in general, or “history class / the subject of history”?

In this sentence, sejarah means “history (as a school subject)”.

So:

belajar sejarah = learn/study history

If you want to be more explicit that it’s a school lesson, you can say:

• belajar pelajaran sejarah = study the history lesson / study the subject of history
• belajar mata pelajaran sejarah (more formal; mata pelajaran = school subject)

But in normal conversation, belajar sejarah is enough and is understood as “study the subject of history.”

How is perpustakaan formed? What do the parts per- and -an mean?

perpustakaan is a derived noun:

• Root: pustaka = book / literature (a rather formal word)
• Prefix + root + suffix: per- + pustaka + -an → perpustakaan

The per–…–an pattern often means “place associated with X” or “thing related to X”:

• perpustakaan (pustaka) = library (place of books)
• perkampungan (kampung) = a settlement/village area
• perusahaan (usaha) = company, business (place/entity of doing efforts/business)

So perpustakaan literally is something like “place of books” → library.

Is this sentence formal or informal? Would people say it differently in casual speech?

The sentence:

Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpustakaan.

is neutral and is fine in both spoken and written Indonesian, especially in a school/education context.

In casual speech, people might:

• Shorten perpustakaan to perpus (slang):
  
  • Anak-anak kelas lima belajar sejarah di perpus.
• Drop some words if context is clear, e.g.:
  
  • Anak kelas lima belajar di perpustakaan. (omit reduplication and sejarah if already known)

But the given sentence is perfectly natural and standard.

Can I say anak kelas lima instead of anak-anak kelas lima? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say anak kelas lima instead of anak-anak kelas lima, and it can still mean “fifth-grade children.”

• anak kelas lima
• anak-anak kelas lima

Both can refer to a group of fifth graders. The difference is subtle:

• anak-anak kelas lima
  
  • clearly plural, feels like “the children (pl.) of fifth grade”
• anak kelas lima
  
  • grammatically singular “fifth-grade child”, but very often used collectively to mean the group, depending on context

Indonesian often doesn’t bother to mark plural if context is enough. So both forms are natural.