Word
Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
Meaning
The teacher tells the student to sit.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
guru
the teacher
duduk
to sit
murid
the student
menyuruh
to tell (to do)
Questions & Answers about Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before guru and murid?
Indonesian does not use articles like “the” or “a/an”.
- Guru can mean a teacher, the teacher, or teachers, depending on context.
- Murid can mean a student, the student, or students, again depending on context.
If you really need to make something clearly specific, you usually add more information, for example:
- guru itu – that / the teacher
- murid itu – that / the student
- seorang guru – a (single) teacher
- seorang murid – a (single) student
But in many sentences, Indonesian simply leaves it to context.
How do we know if this means “The teacher told…” (past) or “The teacher tells…” (present)?