Breakdown of Saat webinar, moderator mengatakan bahwa peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
Questions & Answers about Saat webinar, moderator mengatakan bahwa peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
Saat means “when” or “during” in this context: “Saat webinar” = “During the webinar / When the webinar was happening.”
- saat – neutral and common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
- ketika – also “when,” slightly more formal or literary, but still very common.
- waktu – literally “time,” but in this usage it also means “when.” Slightly more informal in many contexts.
In this sentence, you could also say:
- Ketika webinar, …
- Waktu webinar, … (more casual)
All three are understandable, but saat fits nicely in neutral/formal contexts like a webinar.
“Saat webinar” is a time phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence. The comma separates this introductory time phrase from the main clause:
- Saat webinar, moderator mengatakan bahwa …
This comma is standard and helps readability, but in informal writing many Indonesians would omit it and you’d still be understood:
- Saat webinar moderator mengatakan bahwa …
In careful or formal writing, it’s better to keep the comma.
Yes, moderator is a loanword from English and works similarly:
- moderator = the person who hosts, guides, or chairs the webinar.
Grammatically, moderator is the subject of the main clause:
- moderator (subject)
- mengatakan (verb)
- bahwa peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat (object: a reported statement)
So: “the moderator said that …”
mengatakan means “to say / to state”, and it is more formal/neutral than bilang.
- mengatakan (kepada seseorang) bahwa … – “to say/ state (to someone) that …”
- berkata (kepada seseorang) bahwa … – similar meaning, often a bit more literary or narrative.
- bilang (ke orang) bahwa … – more informal/colloquial.
In the sentence:
- moderator mengatakan bahwa … = “the moderator said that …”
In a more casual context, you could have:
- moderator bilang kalau peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
bahwa introduces a reported clause, like “that” in English:
- moderator mengatakan bahwa peserta cukup menulis …
= “the moderator said that participants only need to write …”
In Indonesian, bahwa is often optional, especially in speech. Without bahwa:
- moderator mengatakan peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
This is still grammatical and common.
However:
- bahwa makes the sentence a bit clearer and more formal, especially in writing.
So you can omit it, but keeping bahwa matches the relatively formal tone (webinar announcement).
cukup usually means “enough / sufficient”, but in structures like this it often has the sense “just / only need to”.
In this sentence:
- peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat
≈ “participants only need to write their questions in the chat box”
≈ “it is enough that they (just) write their questions in the chat box”
So it implies:
- They don’t need to do more than that (no need to turn on mic, raise hand, etc.).
Other examples with the same pattern:
- Anda cukup mengisi formulir ini.
= You just need to fill in this form. - Kamu cukup datang sekali saja.
= You only need to come once.
In Indonesian, when cukup means “just/only need to”, it commonly takes a bare verb:
- cukup + [verb]
So:
- peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan
= “participants only need to write questions”
If you say:
- cukup untuk menulis – it sounds more like “is sufficient to be able to write,” talking about sufficiency for ability, not about what someone needs to do.
- cukup dengan menulis – “it is enough by writing,” grammatically possible but less natural in this simple instruction and a bit stilted.
For giving instructions or stating minimal requirements, cukup + verb is the natural pattern.
The subject is peserta (participants):
- peserta (subject)
- cukup menulis (predicate: “only need to write”)
- pertanyaan di kolom chat (object + prepositional phrase)
The structure is:
- [Subject] + [modal-like word] + [verb] + [object]
- peserta + cukup + menulis + pertanyaan …
This is the standard word order in Indonesian: Subject–Predicate–Object (S–P–O).
You cannot normally move peserta after the verb like in English “to write only need participants”; that would be ungrammatical.
You could say “peserta cukup menuliskan pertanyaan”, and people will understand, but:
- menulis = “to write” (basic, common choice)
- menuliskan = “to write (something for someone / down somewhere)” or can give a nuance of completeness or putting into written form
In many everyday contexts, menulis is simpler and more neutral.
In your sentence, menulis pertanyaan is the most natural and common:
- peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat = “participants just need to write questions in the chat box.”
Using menuliskan would not be wrong, just slightly heavier and not necessary.
Literally:
- kolom = column, field, box (in a form, newspaper, or interface)
- chat = “chat,” borrowed from English
So kolom chat is like “the chat field / chat box” in a webinar or messaging interface.
Yes, this is a very common way to say it. Other things you might see:
- kolom obrolan – “chat column” using a native word for “chat,” a bit more formal/rare.
- kotak chat – “chat box,” also understandable.
But kolom chat is perfectly standard in many platforms and announcements.
Both di and pada can roughly mean “in / at / on”, but:
- di – very common, neutral, used for physical and many abstract locations.
- pada – more formal, often used in official writing, or before pronouns and certain abstract nouns.
In UI / interface contexts (like forms, fields, chat boxes), di is much more natural in everyday language:
- di kolom chat = in the chat box
- di form ini = on this form
- di komentar = in the comments
pada kolom chat would sound more formal or stiff, and less typical in simple instructions to webinar participants.
The sentence is neutral to mildly formal, and fully appropriate for a webinar:
- Uses saat (neutral/formal) instead of a very casual connector.
- Uses moderator mengatakan (rather than moderator bilang) – more formal.
- Uses bahwa – adds a formal touch.
- No slang or casual particles.
This would work well in:
- Written webinar announcements
- Moderators explaining the procedure
- On-screen instructions
In very casual speech, someone might instead say:
- Waktu webinar, moderator bilang kalau peserta cukup nulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
But the original is better for a neutral or semi-formal context.
A few alternatives with similar meaning:
Saat webinar, peserta cukup menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat.
(Just drops “moderator mengatakan bahwa”; more direct instruction.)Silakan tulis pertanyaan Anda di kolom chat saat webinar.
(Polite direct instruction: “Please write your questions in the chat box during the webinar.”)Peserta hanya perlu menulis pertanyaan di kolom chat saat webinar.
(hanya perlu = “only need to,” slightly clearer than cukup for some learners.)