Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru menyuruh murid duduk. - The teacher tells the student to sit.

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)?

The verb menyuruh itself does not show tense. Indonesian verbs generally don’t change form for past, present, or future.

Guru menyuruh murid duduk. can mean:

The teacher tells the student to sit. (present, general)
The teacher told the student to sit. (past)
The teacher will tell the student to sit. (future, if context supports it)

To show time more clearly, Indonesians add time expressions:

Tadi guru menyuruh murid duduk. – Earlier, the teacher told the student to sit.
Sekarang guru menyuruh murid duduk. – Now the teacher is telling the student to sit.
Nanti guru akan menyuruh murid duduk. – Later the teacher will tell the student to sit.

What grammatical role does duduk play here? Is it like “to sit” or “sitting”?

In Guru menyuruh murid duduk, the structure is:

Guru – subject (the teacher)
menyuruh – verb (tells / orders)
murid – object (the one receiving the order)
duduk – complement: the action the student is told to do

You can think of it as:

The teacher tells the student [to sit].

In English we need “to sit” (infinitive). Indonesian just uses the base form duduk without any marker like to.

So duduk here is the action that the object (murid) is supposed to do.

Why is there no “untuk” before duduk? Can I say “Guru menyuruh murid untuk duduk”?

Yes, you can say:

Guru menyuruh murid untuk duduk.

This is also correct and natural. With verbs like menyuruh, meminta, menyuruh, menyuruh (ordering, asking, telling someone to do something), untuk before the second verb is often optional.

So you have two common patterns:

Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
Guru menyuruh murid untuk duduk.

The version without untuk is a bit shorter and very common in everyday speech. Adding untuk can sound slightly more explicit or formal, but the difference in meaning is minimal here.

Is murid singular or plural in this sentence?

By itself, murid is number-neutral. It can mean:

a student
the student
students

Context decides which is meant.

If you want to clearly say “students”, you commonly see:

murid-murid – students (reduplication)
para murid – the students (group of students)

Examples:

Guru menyuruh murid-murid duduk. – The teacher told the students to sit.
Guru menyuruh para murid duduk. – The teacher told the students to sit.

What’s the difference between suruh and menyuruh? Could I say “Guru suruh murid duduk”?

Suruh is the base form (root).
Menyuruh is the meN--prefixed verb form, the standard “dictionary” verb meaning “to tell/order (someone to do something)”.

Guru menyuruh murid duduk. is the standard, fully correct form.

You may also hear in spoken, more casual Indonesian:

Guru suruh murid duduk.

This is understood and commonly said in informal speech. In formal writing or careful speech, menyuruh is preferred.

So:

Formal/neutral: Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
Informal: Guru suruh murid duduk.

The meaning is basically the same: the teacher tells/orders the student(s) to sit.

Does menyuruh sound strong, like “order”, or softer, like “ask”?

Menyuruh is closer to “to order / to tell (authoritatively)” than to a polite “ask”.

It often implies a higher status or authority (teacher, parent, boss) telling someone below them what to do.
It can sound quite firm or commanding, depending on tone and context.

Compare with:

meminta – to ask/request (softer, more polite)
- Guru meminta murid duduk. – The teacher asks the student to sit.
mengajak – to invite (to do something together)
- Guru mengajak murid duduk melingkar. – The teacher invites the students to sit in a circle.

So menyuruh has a clear sense of giving a command, not just a gentle request.

How would I say this in the passive form, like “The student is told by the teacher to sit”?

A common passive version is:

Murid disuruh (oleh guru) duduk.
– The student is told (by the teacher) to sit.

Here:

Murid – subject of the passive sentence
disuruh – passive form (“is told/ordered”)
(oleh guru) – “by the teacher” (often omitted if obvious)
duduk – the action the student is told to do

You could also add emphasis:

Para murid disuruh guru duduk. – The students are told by the teacher to sit.

In spoken Indonesian, oleh is often dropped: disuruh guru is typical.

Can I change the word order, like “Guru menyuruh duduk murid”?

No, that word order is not natural or correct in standard Indonesian.

The usual pattern for this kind of sentence is:

Subject – Verb – Object – [Verb/complement]

So:

✅ Guru menyuruh murid duduk.
❌ Guru menyuruh duduk murid.

If you move murid after duduk, it sounds wrong or at least very odd to native speakers. Keep murid (the person being ordered) immediately after menyuruh.

In English we say “sit down”, but here it’s just duduk. Is that okay?

Yes, it’s completely natural. Indonesian doesn’t usually add a separate word like “down” with duduk.

duduk already means “to sit (down)” in most contexts.

If you want to be extra natural/teacherly, people often say:

Guru menyuruh murid duduk. – The teacher tells the student to sit (down).
Guru menyuruh murid duduk dulu. – The teacher tells the student to sit down first.

No extra word like “down” is needed; duduk covers that meaning.

How would I make this sound more polite, like “The teacher politely asks the students to sit down, please”?

You can make it sound softer and more polite by:

Changing the verb from menyuruh (order) to meminta (ask), and
Adding polite words like tolong (please/help) or silakan (please/go ahead).

Examples:

Guru meminta murid-murid duduk.
– The teacher asks the students to sit.

More explicitly polite:

Guru meminta murid-murid untuk duduk, tolong.
Guru mempersilakan murid-murid duduk.
– The teacher invites/allows the students to sit (polite, formal).
As direct classroom talk:
- Anak-anak, silakan duduk. – Children, please sit (down).

So menyuruh is fine for a straightforward “tells/orders”, but switch to meminta or use silakan if you want a polite request.