Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah. - That insurance covers almost all the cost of medicine and blood tests.

Asuransi itu can be understood as:
- that insurance (a specific one already known in the context), or
- the insurance (also specific, not just any insurance in general).

Without itu:

Asuransi menanggung hampir semua biaya… feels more general, like “insurance (in general) covers…”.

With itu:

You are talking about a specific policy/plan/company that both speaker and listener already know about.

Can I omit itu and just say Asuransi menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah?

Yes, you can omit itu, but the nuance changes slightly.

Asuransi itu menanggung…
→ refers to a particular insurance (for example, the insurance plan from your employer).
Asuransi menanggung…
→ sounds more general or generic, like a statement about insurance as a concept, or about insurance companies in general.

In everyday conversation, if the context is already clear, many speakers still keep itu to make it obvious they mean that specific insurance policy.

What is the exact meaning and nuance of menanggung here? Why not just use membayar?

Menanggung literally comes from tanggung (to bear, to shoulder) with the prefix meN-, so it means “to bear (a responsibility, cost, risk)”.

In this context:

menanggung biaya = to bear/cover the costs

Nuance:

menanggung suggests taking responsibility for paying, not necessarily that the money has already been paid at this moment, but that the insurance is responsible for it.

Comparison:

membayar biaya = to actually pay the costs (the physical act of payment)
menanggung biaya = to cover/be responsible for the costs

In insurance language, menanggung is very common:

Asuransi ini menanggung biaya rawat inap.
This insurance covers inpatient costs.

So menanggung is more natural than membayar in insurance-related sentences.

Why is it hampir semua biaya and not semua biaya hampir or biaya hampir semua?

Indonesian has a fairly fixed natural order for this:

hampir semua (almost all) usually comes together and is placed before the noun:
- hampir semua biaya = almost all costs
- hampir semua orang = almost all people
- hampir semua rumah = almost all houses

The alternatives you suggested are not natural:

semua biaya hampir – sounds wrong / ungrammatical.
biaya hampir semua – also feels incorrect or very awkward.

So the natural structure is: > hampir semua + [noun]
→ hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah

Does biaya apply to both obat and tes darah, or only to obat?

In biaya obat dan tes darah, the word biaya is understood to cover both items:

biaya obat dan tes darah
= the cost of medication and blood tests

You could expand it fully as:

biaya obat dan biaya tes darah
(cost of medication and cost of blood tests)

But in natural Indonesian, it’s common and perfectly correct to put biaya once at the start and let it “cover” both nouns joined by dan.

Why are obat and tes darah not marked as plural? How do I say “medications” and “blood tests” in Indonesian?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with an ending like English -s. Plurality is understood from context, numbers, or quantifiers.

In this sentence:

biaya obat → can mean the cost of medicine or the cost of medicines
tes darah → can mean a blood test or blood tests

To make plurality explicit, you have several options:

Reduplication (very common for general plurals)
- obat-obatan = medicines
- tes darah is usually not reduplicated; just use a number or context.
Use numbers or quantifiers:
- beberapa obat = several medicines
- beberapa tes darah = several blood tests
- banyak obat = many medicines
- banyak tes darah = many blood tests

In most natural sentences, obat and tes darah are fine as they are.

How would I express past or future time with this sentence? Indonesian verbs don’t change form, so how do I know the tense?

Indonesian verbs do not inflect for tense. Menanggung looks the same in past, present, and future. Tense is shown by time words or context.

Base sentence (timeless):

Asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.

To show past:

Dulu, asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
In the past, that insurance covered almost all the costs…
Tahun lalu, asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
Last year, that insurance covered…

To show future:

Nanti asuransi itu akan menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
Later, that insurance will cover…
Mulai tahun depan, asuransi itu akan menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
Starting next year, that insurance will cover…

Notice menanggung itself never changes form.

Is Asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah formal, informal, or neutral? Would this appear in real documents?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and it is very natural for:

insurance brochures
policy documents (possibly with more technical details around it)
explanations from staff at a clinic, hospital, or insurance office

In everyday casual speech, someone might say something like:

Asuransi itu hampir semua biaya obat sama tes darah ditanggung.
(more casual, a different structure, using sama and passive ditanggung)

Or shorter:

Asuransi itu hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah ditanggung.

But your original sentence is perfectly natural and acceptable in both spoken and written language, especially in a semi-formal or informational context.

Can I say biaya untuk obat dan tes darah instead of biaya obat dan tes darah? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say biaya untuk obat dan tes darah, and it is still correct.

biaya obat dan tes darah
→ literally “the cost of medicine and blood tests” (using noun + noun pattern)
biaya untuk obat dan tes darah
→ literally “the cost for medicine and blood tests” (using biaya untuk + noun)

Both are grammatical and natural. The version without untuk is slightly shorter and often more common in written descriptions. The meaning difference is minimal here.

Can I move hampir and say Asuransi itu hampir menanggung semua biaya obat dan tes darah? Does that change the meaning?

You can say it, but the emphasis changes.

Asuransi itu menanggung hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
- Focus: the insurance covers almost all the costs.
- The “almost” clearly applies to semua biaya (all the costs).
Asuransi itu hampir menanggung semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
- Grammatically possible, but it can sound like:
  - It almost (but not quite) covers all of the costs.
- The “almost” feels attached more to the verb phrase (the act of covering) or to “all” as a strong unit.

In practice, for the meaning “covers almost all of the costs,” the natural and safest way is your original: > menanggung hampir semua biaya …

Could I replace menanggung with something like mengganti or meliputi in this sentence?

You can, but there are nuance differences:

mengganti (from ganti = to replace)
- Asuransi itu mengganti hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
  → The insurance reimburses almost all the costs.
- Emphasis: you pay first, then the insurance replaces/refunds your money.
meliputi (to include, to cover in scope)
- Asuransi itu meliputi hampir semua biaya obat dan tes darah.
  → The insurance includes almost all the medication and blood test costs.
- Emphasis: what is included in the insurance’s scope/coverage.
menanggung
- Emphasis: taking responsibility for the cost.
- Very common in formal insurance language.

All three can appear in insurance contexts, but menanggung is the standard, especially when describing financial responsibility.

What is the root of menanggung, and are there related words I should know?

The verb menanggung comes from the root tanggung with the prefix meN-.

tanggung = to bear, to shoulder, to be responsible for
menanggung = to bear (a cost, responsibility, risk)

Common related words:

tanggung jawab = responsibility
- Saya bertanggung jawab. = I am responsible.
menanggung risiko = to bear/take on risk
tanggung jawab hukum = legal responsibility

Knowing tanggung and tanggung jawab is very useful, as they appear often in formal and business contexts, similar to how responsibility/liability appear in English.