Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi, jadi kami membawa catatan ke setiap konsultasi. - My grandmother’s blood pressure is often high, so we bring a record to every consultation.

In "Tekanan darah nenek saya", why does tekanan darah come before nenek saya? In English we say my grandmother’s blood pressure, not blood pressure my grandmother.

Indonesian noun phrases usually follow this pattern:

Head noun + possessor/descriptor

So:

tekanan darah = blood pressure (head noun phrase)
nenek saya = my grandmother (possessor)

Put together:

tekanan darah nenek saya
= the blood pressure of my grandmother
= my grandmother’s blood pressure

This order (thing + owner) is normal in Indonesian, so “tekanan darah nenek saya” is the natural way to say it.

Why is there no word for “is” before tinggi? Why isn’t it “tekanan darah nenek saya sering adalah tinggi”?

Indonesian usually does not use a separate verb like “to be” before adjectives.

Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi.
Literally: The blood pressure of my grandmother often high.

Here:

tinggi (high) functions directly as the predicate, like a verb.
Adding adalah here would be unnatural; adalah is mainly used in more formal sentences linking two noun phrases (e.g. Dia adalah dokter. = He is a doctor), not with simple adjectives like tinggi.

Where should sering go in the sentence? Could I say “Tekanan darah nenek saya tinggi sering”?

No, “tinggi sering” is wrong in standard Indonesian.

Basic rule: adverbs of frequency (seperti sering, jarang, selalu, kadang-kadang) usually come before the verb or adjective they modify.

Correct patterns:

Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi.
= My grandmother’s blood pressure is often high.
Nenek saya sering sakit.
= My grandmother is often sick.

So sering should appear before tinggi, not after it.

What’s the difference between sering and seringkali here? Could I say “seringkali tinggi” instead of “sering tinggi”?

You can use either, and both sound natural:

sering tinggi
seringkali tinggi

Differences:

sering = often (neutral, very common in speech and writing)
seringkali = often / many times (a bit more emphatic or a touch more formal)

In everyday conversation, sering is more common. Using seringkali doesn’t change the meaning much; it can just feel a bit “heavier” or more formal.

What exactly does jadi do in this sentence? How is it different from karena or maka?

In “…sering tinggi, jadi kami membawa catatan…”, jadi means “so / therefore”, introducing the result or consequence.

Clause 1: Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi,
Clause 2: jadi kami membawa catatan…
→ Her blood pressure is often high, so we bring records…

Compare:

karena = because (introduces the reason)
- Karena tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi, kami membawa catatan.
  = Because my grandmother’s blood pressure is often high, we bring records.
maka = therefore/so (quite formal, often written)
- Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi, maka kami membawa catatan.

So here jadi is the natural, conversational equivalent of English “so”.

Why is it kami and not kita? Both mean “we”, right?

Both mean “we”, but:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
kita = we (including the listener)

In this sentence:

kami membawa catatan…
= we (me + other people, but not you) bring the notes…

The speaker is talking about their family/companions going to the consultation, not including the person they’re talking to, so kami is correct.

If the listener were also part of the group going to the consultations, kita would be used.

What kind of catatan is meant here? Are these “notes”, a “record”, or something else?

Catatan is a general word meaning:

notes
a written record
a log/list/entries

In the context of a medical consultation, membawa catatan most naturally means:

bringing a written record of blood pressure readings (for example, a notebook where you write daily readings)
possibly other health notes (symptoms, medications, etc.)

If you wanted to be more specific, you could say:

membawa catatan tekanan darah = bring blood-pressure records
membawa catatan kesehatan = bring health records

Why is it membawa catatan ke setiap konsultasi and not something like pada setiap konsultasi or di setiap konsultasi?

Because the verb membawa (“to bring / carry”) naturally takes ke to show the destination:

membawa X ke Y = bring X to Y

So:

membawa catatan ke setiap konsultasi
= bring the notes to every consultation/appointment

Compare:

pada setiap konsultasi = at/during every consultation (more like a time/occasion marker)
di setiap konsultasi = in/at every consultation (location in time/space)

You could say pada setiap konsultasi or di setiap konsultasi, but then you’d usually pair them with a verb that happens during the consultation, e.g.:

Pada setiap konsultasi, dokter melihat catatan itu.
= At each consultation, the doctor looks at the notes.

With membawa, ke (to) is the most natural choice.

The sentence literally looks like “We bring notes to every consultation.” How do we know this is about repeated action (habit) in Indonesian?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense (past/present/future) on verbs the way English does. Instead, you rely on:

adverbs
context

In this sentence:

sering (often) indicates repeated or habitual action.
The overall meaning becomes: this is something they regularly do, not just once.

So kami membawa catatan ke setiap konsultasi is understood as:

We (habitually) bring notes to every consultation.

Could we leave out saya and just say “Tekanan darah nenek sering tinggi”?

You can say:

Tekanan darah nenek sering tinggi.

But the nuance changes:

nenek saya = my grandmother (explicitly)
nenek alone can mean:
- “grandma” in general (if everyone knows whose grandma is being talked about)
- a grandmother (less specific)
- in some contexts, just “an old lady”

If it’s important and not already clear from context that you mean my grandmother, adding saya is safer and clearer:

nenek saya = my grandmother (unambiguous)

Is konsultasi the usual word for a doctor’s appointment? Are there other options?

Konsultasi is commonly used, especially in more formal or semi-formal speech, and usually implies:

a consultation with a professional (doctor, psychologist, etc.)
often focusing on talking, asking questions, planning treatment

Other common words:

periksa (verb/noun, informal)
- periksa ke dokter = go get checked by the doctor
kontrol (colloquial, especially for follow-up visits)
- kontrol ke dokter = go for a (check-up) visit/monitoring
pemeriksaan (more formal noun)
- pemeriksaan rutin = routine check-up

In your sentence, konsultasi fits well and sounds natural.

How would the sentence change if I wanted to emphasize every single time, like “every time we have a consultation”?

You can make the “every time” idea more explicit:

Tekanan darah nenek saya sering tinggi, jadi kami membawa catatan setiap kali konsultasi.
= My grandmother’s blood pressure is often high, so we bring notes every time we have a consultation.

Patterns:

setiap konsultasi = every consultation (as a noun)
setiap kali konsultasi = every time (we) consult / have a consultation

Both are correct; setiap kali konsultasi just stresses the each occasion feeling a bit more.