Jurusan teknik di kampus kami membuka kelas malam tentang pemrograman robot.

The engineering department at our campus opens an evening class about robot programming.

Breakdown of Jurusan teknik di kampus kami membuka kelas malam tentang pemrograman robot.

• di: at
• tentang: about
• sebuah: an
• kami: our
• membuka: to open
• kampus: the campus
• jurusan teknik: the engineering department
• kelas malam: the evening class
• pemrograman robot: robot programming

Questions & Answers about Jurusan teknik di kampus kami membuka kelas malam tentang pemrograman robot.

What exactly does jurusan teknik mean? Is it the same as “engineering department” or “engineering major”?

Jurusan literally means track / specialization / department / major in an educational context.
Teknik here means engineering.

So jurusan teknik can usually be translated as:

• “engineering department” (organizational unit of a campus), or
• “engineering major” (what students study).

In many contexts, jurusan teknik is close enough to “engineering department” that you can use that as the main translation. If the context is “what I study,” then “engineering major” works better.

Why is it jurusan teknik di kampus kami, not something like jurusan teknik kami? How does di kampus kami work here?

Di means “at / in / on”.

• kampus = campus
• kami = we / our (excluding the listener)
• di kampus kami = at our campus

So jurusan teknik di kampus kami literally means:

the engineering department at our campus

If you said jurusan teknik kami, it would sound like:

our engineering department

That’s also possible, but di kampus kami is a bit more neutral and clear that you’re talking about a department located at your campus, not necessarily “owned” by “us” as a group.

What’s the difference between kami and kita in kampus kami? Could I say kampus kita?

Both mean “we / us / our”, but:

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

kampus kami implies:

• The speaker’s campus, and the listener is not included as part of that group (e.g., you’re talking to someone from another school).

kampus kita implies:

• “our campus,” where both speaker and listener belong to that campus.

So if you’re talking to classmates from the same campus, kampus kita is more natural.
If you’re explaining about your campus to an outsider, kampus kami is correct, like in this sentence.

Why is membuka used for “offers” a class? Doesn’t membuka literally mean “to open”?

Yes, membuka literally means “to open” (e.g., opening a door, opening a shop).

But in educational or organizational contexts, membuka is also commonly used to mean:

• to start / to open / to offer (a class, program, new service)

Examples:

• Universitas itu membuka program baru.
  = That university is opening/launching a new program.
• Mereka membuka lowongan kerja.
  = They open/announce a job vacancy.

So membuka kelas malam = to open / offer / launch an evening class.

You could also say mengadakan kelas malam (“to hold an evening class”), but membuka emphasizes starting/offering it.

What does kelas malam mean exactly? Is it “night class” or “evening class”?

Kelas malam literally = “night class”.

In practice, it usually means:

• classes held after normal daytime hours (often late afternoon to night)

It’s very close to English “evening classes” or “night classes.”

Other related phrases:

• kelas sore = afternoon class (earlier than “malam”)
• kelas pagi = morning class

So translating kelas malam as evening class is natural in English, even though malam literally means night.

Why do we need tentang in kelas malam tentang pemrograman robot? Could we say kelas malam pemrograman robot instead?

Tentang means “about / regarding / on (the topic of)”.

• kelas malam tentang pemrograman robot
  = an evening class about robot programming

You can say kelas malam pemrograman robot, and people will understand that it is a “robot programming evening class.” That version is shorter and more “noun–noun” style.

Differences in feel:

• dengan tentang:
  Emphasizes the subject matter: a class about robot programming.
• without tentang:
  Feels more like a named type of class, like “Robot Programming Evening Class.”

Both are grammatical; tentang just makes the relationship explicit and slightly more formal/clear.

How is pemrograman formed, and what does it literally mean?

Pemrograman comes from the base word program.

The pattern is: pe- + program + -an → pemrograman

• program
• Add pe-: pe + program
• Because of pronunciation rules, pe-
  • program → pemrogram…
• Add -an: pemrograman

pe-…-an often turns a verb or concept into a noun for an activity / process.

So:

• program (verb or noun)
• memprogram (to program)
• pemrograman = programming (the activity/field)

Thus pemrograman robot = robot programming.

Is pemrograman robot “robot programming” or “programming robots”? Which word modifies which?

In Indonesian, the structure is:

• Noun 1 + Noun 2 → often “Noun 1 of Noun 2” or “Noun 2’s Noun 1”

Here:

• pemrograman = programming
• robot = robots / robot

pemrograman robot usually means:

• “robot programming” (a field of programming dealing with robots), or
• “the programming of robots” = “programming robots”

Indonesian doesn’t explicitly mark singular/plural here, so robot can be “robot” or “robots,” depending on context. Both English translations are acceptable.

There’s no tense marker like “will” or “is” in membuka. How do we know if it’s present, past, or future?

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Membuka can mean:

• opens / is opening (present)
• opened (past)
• will open / is going to open (future) — depending on context

In this sentence, the most natural reading (without extra words) is usually present or general:

The engineering department at our campus offers / opens an evening class on robot programming.

If you want to be explicit:

• sudah membuka = has already opened / already offers
• sedang membuka = is in the process of opening
• akan membuka = will open / is going to open

Why isn’t there any plural marker like kelas-kelas? How do we know if it’s one class or many?

Indonesian usually leaves nouns unmarked for number:

• kelas can mean class or classes.
• robot can mean robot or robots.

Plural is added only when needed, e.g.:

• kelas-kelas malam = night classes (emphasizing plural)
• banyak kelas malam = many evening classes

In this sentence, membuka kelas malam is most naturally interpreted as “opening/introducing an evening class (program)”—often understood as a type of class/program, not necessarily just a single instance. Context outside this sentence would clarify if it’s one specific class or a set of classes.

Is the word order jurusan teknik di kampus kami membuka… fixed, or can I move parts around?

The given order is the most natural:

• Jurusan teknik di kampus kami membuka kelas malam…
  = The engineering department at our campus opens/offers an evening class…

You can rearrange a bit, but:

• Di kampus kami, jurusan teknik membuka kelas malam…
  (Fronts the location for emphasis: At our campus, the engineering department…)

You generally can’t break the noun phrase in a weird way, like:

• ✗ Jurusan teknik membuka di kampus kami kelas malam…
  This sounds unnatural.

So, the main noun phrase jurusan teknik di kampus kami should stay together, although you can move the whole phrase around in the sentence for emphasis.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound okay in everyday conversation?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, appropriate for:

• brochures
• campus announcements
• formal emails
• presentations

In everyday casual speech, people might say something more relaxed, for example:

• Di kampus kami, jurusan teknik sekarang ada kelas malam pemrograman robot.
  (At our campus, the engineering department now has an evening class for robot programming.)

But your original sentence is absolutely natural and widely usable in both spoken and written contexts, especially in semi-formal situations.

What’s the difference between kampus and universitas here? Could we say di universitas kami instead of di kampus kami?

• kampus = campus (the physical or institutional site)
• universitas = university (the institution)

You could say:

• Jurusan teknik di universitas kami…
  = The engineering department at our university…

Both kampus and universitas are possible. kampus can feel slightly more general and is very common in everyday speech. universitas is a bit more formal and specific to a university (as opposed to a college/polytechnic, which might still be called a kampus).