Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Nenek sering menceritakan mitos lama dari desa, lalu menjelaskan mana yang hanya cerita dan mana yang fakta. - Grandmother often tells old myths from the village, then explains which are just stories and which are facts.

Nenek literally = grandmother / grandma (no article, no possessive).
Indonesian often drops explicit possessives when context is clear.
If you need to be explicit, you can say:
- nenek saya = my grandmother
- nenekku = my grandmother (more informal, with -ku suffix)

In many family contexts, just "Nenek" naturally implies my grandma, just like saying “Grandma often tells old myths…” in English without saying “my Grandma” every time.

What’s the difference between "menceritakan" and "bercerita"?

Both relate to telling a story, but they work grammatically differently.

menceritakan (meN- + cerita + -kan)
- Transitive: must have an object (what is being told)
- Pattern: menceritakan + object
- Example from the sentence:
  Nenek sering menceritakan mitos lama…
  "Grandma often tells old myths…"
- You focus on the thing being told.
bercerita
- Intransitive: usually no direct object
- Pattern: bercerita (tentang + topic) = tell stories (about …)
- Example:
  Nenek sering bercerita tentang mitos lama dari desa.
  "Grandma often tells stories about old myths from the village."

Often:

use menceritakan X when X is the story content (myths, events, experience)
use bercerita when you just say someone is telling stories, without highlighting the exact thing as a direct object.

Why is it "mitos lama dari desa" instead of "lama mitos"? How does adjective order work?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun:

mitos lama = old myth(s)
rumah besar = big house
cerita menarik = interesting story

So:

❌ lama mitos – unnatural
✅ mitos lama

Then the phrase dari desa ("from the village") comes after that whole noun phrase:

mitos lama dari desa
- literally: myth old from village
- = old myths from the village

So the order is: noun + adjective + prepositional phrase.

What exactly does "lama" mean in "mitos lama"? Is it “old” in age or “long” in duration?

In "mitos lama", lama means old / ancient / long-standing, not “long” in duration.

mitos lama = old myths / long-standing myths (traditional myths)
lama can mean:
- old (long-existing):
  teman lama = old friend (someone you've known a long time)
- for a long time / long (duration):
  - Saya menunggu lama. = I waited for a long time.

Here it clearly refers to the age/tradition of the myths, not how long they last.

Why is it "dari desa" (“from the village”) and not "tentang desa" (“about the village”)? What’s the nuance?

dari desa = from the village, showing origin / source
- The myths come from or belong to that village’s tradition.
tentang desa = about the village, showing topic
- The myths are about the village (the village is the subject matter).

So:

mitos lama dari desa = old myths that originate from the village.
mitos lama tentang desa = old myths whose content is about the village (its history, people, etc.).

The original sentence emphasizes where the myths come from, not what they’re about.

What is the function of "lalu" here? How is it different from "kemudian" or just "dan"?

lalu links two actions in sequence, roughly “then / and then”:

…, lalu menjelaskan …
= “…, then (she) explains …”

Comparisons:

lalu
- Very common in spoken and written Indonesian.
- Neutral, slightly narrative/story-like.
kemudian
- Often a bit more formal or written, but also common in speech.
- Can usually replace lalu here:
  …, kemudian menjelaskan …
dan
- Just “and”, not necessarily showing time order.
- Nenek sering menceritakan…, dan menjelaskan…
  = "Grandma often tells… and explains…"
  The sequence is less explicit; both are just two actions she does.

In the given sentence, lalu makes the time order clear: first she tells myths, then she explains them.

Why is "yang" used in "mana yang hanya cerita dan mana yang fakta"? Could you omit "yang"?

The structure is:

mana yang hanya cerita
= which (ones) are only stories
mana yang fakta
= which (ones) are facts

Here, yang works like a marker to link "mana" to the description that follows. It makes "mana" (which) into something like “which ones that are …”.

Without yang, mana hanya cerita sounds incomplete or wrong.
You generally need yang in patterns like:
- mana yang benar = which one is correct
- mana yang lebih murah = which one is cheaper

So:

✅ mana yang hanya cerita dan mana yang fakta
❌ mana hanya cerita dan mana fakta (unnatural in standard Indonesian)

What does "hanya cerita" mean here? Is "cerita" just “story”, or does it imply “fiction / not true”?

Literally:

hanya cerita = only (a) story / just a story

In context (contrasted with fakta), it implies:

just a story = not necessarily true / just legend / just a tale

So:

mana yang hanya cerita = which (ones) are just stories, not factual.
mana yang fakta = which (ones) are facts / true.

Here cerita means “story, tale”, often with a neutral or fictional feel. Contrast:

cerita – story, tale (neutral)
dongeng – fairy tale, fable, clearly fictional
kisah – story, account, often more serious or literary

Is "fakta" here singular or plural? How do you express plural in Indonesian for words like this?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural explicitly if context is clear:

fakta can mean “fact” or “facts”.
In "mana yang fakta", it naturally means “which (ones) are facts”.

Ways to emphasize plural if needed:

fakta-fakta = facts (reduplication)
banyak fakta = many facts
beberapa fakta = several facts

But most of the time, especially after mana (“which”), leaving it as fakta is enough.

Where can "sering" go in the sentence? Could you say "Nenek menceritakan sering mitos lama..."?

Correct placement:

Nenek sering menceritakan mitos lama…
Nenek menceritakan mitos lama… dengan sering – unnatural for simple “often”.

In Indonesian, adverbs like sering (often) usually go:

before the verb:
- Nenek sering menceritakan… ✅
- Dia selalu datang. ✅

Putting sering between verb and object like "menceritakan sering mitos" is not natural.

So the natural choice is:

✅ Nenek sering menceritakan mitos lama dari desa…

What’s the difference between "menjelaskan" and "menjelaskan tentang"? Why is it just "menjelaskan mana…" here?

menjelaskan = to explain (something) and it’s already transitive (it takes a direct object).

Pattern: menjelaskan + object
- Guru menjelaskan pelajaran. = The teacher explains the lesson.
- Dia menjelaskan masalah itu. = She explains the problem.
- … lalu menjelaskan mana yang hanya cerita…
  = then explains which (ones) are just stories…

menjelaskan tentang is usually redundant or less natural, because tentang (“about”) often isn’t needed:

More natural:
- Dia menjelaskan peraturan baru. ✅
  (not menjelaskan tentang peraturan baru in most cases)

In the sentence, the direct object of menjelaskan is the whole clause:

menjelaskan [mana yang hanya cerita dan mana yang fakta]

So no preposition like tentang is needed.