Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.

Our teacher never forces us to go home quickly.

Breakdown of Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.

• kami: we
• guru: the teacher
• cepat: quickly
• pulang: to go home
• memaksa: to force
• tidak pernah: never

Questions & Answers about Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.

Why is kami used twice in this sentence?

The structure is:

• Guru kami = our teacher
• tidak pernah memaksa = never forces
• kami = us (object)
• pulang cepat = to go home early/quickly

Indonesian normally repeats the pronoun if it is both a possessor and an object:

• Guru kami (our teacher)
• memaksa kami (forces us)

You can’t rely on English-style “our teacher never forces us” without repeating kami, because:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa pulang cepat
  sounds incomplete/odd: forces to go home early (who is being forced?).

So you need that second kami as the object of memaksa.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and why is kami used here?

Both mean we / us, but:

• kami = we/us excluding the listener
• kita = we/us including the listener

In Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat, the kami refers to the group of students, not including the person being talked to (the listener). The teacher belongs to “our class,” not the listener’s class.

If you were talking to a classmate from the same class, you might say:

• Guru kita tidak pernah memaksa kita pulang cepat.
  Our teacher (yours and mine) never forces us to go home early.

Does guru kami mean “our teacher” (singular) or “our teachers” (plural)?

Guru kami is ambiguous in Indonesian; context decides:

• It can mean our teacher (one person).
• It can also mean our teachers (more than one).

Indonesian nouns are usually not marked for plural. If you really want to make it clearly plural, you can say:

• Para guru kami = our teachers
• Guru-guru kami = our teachers (reduplication to show plural)

In everyday speech, guru kami is often understood as our teacher unless context suggests otherwise.

What is the function of tidak pernah here, and how is it different from just tidak?

• tidak = not / do not / does not
• pernah = ever (in the sense of “at any time”)

Together:

• tidak pernah = never (literally: not ever)

So:

• Guru kami tidak memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  Our teacher does not force us to go home early. (A general statement; could be about a particular time or habit.)

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  Our teacher never forces us to go home early. (Emphasizes that it has never happened at any time.)

Why is the word order pulang cepat and not cepat pulang?

Both patterns can exist, but they feel slightly different:

• pulang cepat

  • Literally: go home early/quickly
  • Common phrasing for leaving earlier than usual or not staying long.
  • Very natural in this context.

• cepat pulang

  • Often sounds like a command or encouragement: go home quickly / hurry home.
  • In a sentence like the one you gave, it is possible but less natural; it can sound like speed is being emphasized more than leaving early.

In your sentence, pulang cepat is the most natural word order to express “go home early.”

Does cepat here mean “fast” or “early”?

Literally, cepat means fast/quick. But in context with pulang (go home), it often means early, i.e., earlier than usual or earlier than expected.

So:

• pulang cepat = go home quickly / go home early
  In many school/work contexts this is understood as go home early (before the normal time ends).

If you want to clearly say early in a more neutral way, you can also use:

• pulang lebih awal = go home earlier / go home early
• pulang lebih cepat = go home earlier/faster (depends on context)

Can I add untuk before pulang? For example: memaksa kami untuk pulang cepat?

Yes. Both are correct:

• memaksa kami pulang cepat
• memaksa kami untuk pulang cepat

Meaning: forces us to go home early.

The version with untuk is slightly more explicit and sometimes feels a bit more formal or careful, but in everyday speech the version without untuk is very common and natural.

So your original sentence is already fully correct and natural.

How is memaksa formed, and what does it literally mean?

The base word (root) is paksa = force / compulsion.

With the prefix meN- you get the active verb:

• meN-
  • paksa = memaksa

The p changes to m because of a regular sound-change rule with this prefix.

Meaning:

• memaksa = to force / to compel (someone to do something)

Pattern in the sentence:

• memaksa (verb)
• kami (object: the ones being forced)
• pulang cepat (what they’re forced to do)

Is memaksa the same as menyuruh?

They are related but not the same:

• memaksa = to force, implying pressure, lack of choice
• menyuruh = to tell / order someone to do something, but not necessarily forceful

Examples:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  Our teacher never forces us to go home early. (We are not compelled against our will.)

• Guru kami tidak pernah menyuruh kami pulang cepat.
  Our teacher never tells/orders us to go home early. (He/she simply doesn’t give that instruction.)

Your original sentence emphasizes that there is no compulsion.

Can the second kami (after memaksa) be omitted?

In this particular sentence, no. If you omit it:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa pulang cepat.

This sounds wrong or at least very incomplete, because:

• memaksa is normally transitive: it expects an object (who is forced).
• Without kami, you only have force to go home early, but no one is clearly being forced.

If the object is very clear from context and very close by, speakers might sometimes drop it, but in a sentence like yours, memaksa kami pulang cepat is the natural, complete form.

Could I just say Guru tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat?

Yes, you can, but the meaning shifts slightly:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  Our teacher never forces us to go home early. (Clearly marked as “our teacher.”)

• Guru tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  The teacher / teachers never force us to go home early.
  It could mean:

  • a particular teacher (context known), or
  • teachers in general, depending on what you have been talking about.

Guru kami is more specific: that teacher who belongs to us (our class/school).

Where exactly does tidak pernah go in the sentence? Could it move to another position?

Normal, natural position:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami pulang cepat.
  Subject + tidak pernah
  • verb phrase

You cannot split them or move them around freely, for example:

• ✗ Guru kami memaksa tidak pernah kami pulang cepat.
• ✗ Guru kami tidak memaksa kami pernah pulang cepat.

Both sound ungrammatical or very strange.

tidak pernah works as a single unit (“never”) placed before the verb phrase it negates (here: memaksa kami pulang cepat).

Is the sentence formal, informal, or neutral in tone?

The sentence is neutral, suitable in most contexts:

• You could use it in everyday speech among classmates.
• You could also use it in written form (e.g., an essay or report).

To make it slightly more formal, you might see something like:

• Guru kami tidak pernah memaksa kami untuk pulang lebih cepat.

But your original version is already acceptable in both spoken and written Indonesian.