Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Wartawan bertanya siapa yang menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani. - The journalist asks who inspired me to write such a brave main character.

Wartawan bertanya siapa yang menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani.

The journalist asks who inspired me to write such a brave main character.

Breakdown of Wartawan bertanya siapa yang menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani.

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Questions & Answers about Wartawan bertanya siapa yang menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani.

Why is there no word for “the” before wartawan? Why not wartawan itu?

Indonesian has no articles like “a/an” or “the”. A bare noun like wartawan can mean:

a reporter / a journalist
the reporter / the journalist

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a separate word.

You can add words if you want to be more specific:

seorang wartawan = a (certain) reporter
wartawan itu = that reporter / the reporter (already known in the context)

In your sentence, plain wartawan is enough; English chooses “the reporter”, but Indonesian doesn’t need to mark that explicitly.

The English meaning uses past tense “asked”, but bertanya doesn’t look past. How is past tense shown here?

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

ask / is asking / asks / asked

Time is usually understood from context, or from time words, for example:

tadi wartawan bertanya… = earlier, the reporter asked…
kemarin wartawan bertanya… = yesterday, the reporter asked…
wartawan sudah bertanya… = the reporter has already asked…

In your standalone sentence, we naturally translate it as past (“asked”) in English, but in Indonesian bertanya itself is tenseless.

What is the function of yang after siapa in siapa yang menginspirasi saya…?

Here yang links the question word siapa (who) with the verb phrase that describes that unknown person (menginspirasi saya menulis…).

It’s like saying:

“who is it that inspired me to write…”

Some patterns to remember:

When siapa is the subject of the verb, it’s very common to say
siapa yang + verb
- Siapa yang datang? = Who came?
- Saya ingin tahu siapa yang menginspirasi saya. = I want to know who inspired me.
In your sentence, siapa yang menginspirasi saya… means
“the person who inspired me…” (but still as a question in content form, because it is what the reporter is asking about).

So yang marks siapa as “the person (who…)” and ties it to the following clause.

Could I say Wartawan bertanya siapa menginspirasi saya… without yang?

For learners, it’s better not to drop yang here.

Wartawan bertanya siapa yang menginspirasi saya…
is the standard, clear form.

You might hear siapa menginspirasi… without yang in very casual speech, but:

in an embedded clause like this (after bertanya),
and especially in neutral/formal style (like a report or narration),

Indonesian strongly prefers siapa yang….

So: technically you may encounter siapa menginspirasi…, but to sound natural and safe as a learner, keep yang:
siapa yang menginspirasi saya….

What does the second yang do in karakter utama yang begitu berani?

Here yang introduces a relative clause / descriptive clause that modifies karakter utama:

karakter utama yang begitu berani
≈ “the main character who is so brave” or “such a brave main character”

You can think of it as if there were a hidden adalah:

karakter utama yang [adalah] begitu berani
= the main character that is so brave

So:

First yang: links siapa with menginspirasi saya…
Second yang: links karakter utama with the description begitu berani

You cannot just drop this second yang, or the phrase becomes odd or ambiguous.

Can I remove the second yang, and say karakter utama begitu berani?

In this position, you generally shouldn’t remove yang.

karakter utama yang begitu berani clearly means
“the main character who is so brave” / “such a brave main character.”
karakter utama begitu berani tends to be interpreted more like a full sentence:
“The main character is so brave.”
That structure doesn’t fit smoothly as part of the longer noun phrase after menulis.

So within your sentence, the natural choice is:

menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani
not
✗ menulis karakter utama begitu berani (odd in this context)

Why is there no untuk before menulis? In English we say “inspired me to write”.

Indonesian often puts two verbs in sequence without a linking word where English uses “to”:

menginspirasi saya menulis…
≈ “inspired me [to] write…”

This pattern is common after verbs like membantu (to help), menyuruh (to tell someone to), mengajari (to teach someone to), mengajak (to invite someone to), etc.

You can also say:

menginspirasi saya untuk menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani

That’s perfectly correct and a bit more explicit. In many contexts, though, native speakers are happy to drop untuk and just say menginspirasi saya menulis….

Does saya menulis karakter utama… mean “me to write” or “my writing of”? How is saya functioning here?

In the phrase menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama…:

saya is the direct object of menginspirasi = inspired me
menulis karakter utama… is a second verb phrase whose subject is implicitly saya

So structurally it’s:

menginspirasi [saya] [ (untuk) menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani ]
= inspired me (to) write such a brave main character

Saya is not possessive here (“my writing”), it’s the person being inspired.

What is the difference between begitu berani, sangat berani, and berani sekali?

All three intensify berani (brave), but with slightly different nuances:

sangat berani = very brave
- neutral, fairly formal, straightforward emphasis.
berani sekali = very brave / extremely brave
- sekali is an intensifier after adjectives; common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
begitu berani = so brave / that brave / such a brave (person)
- often feels a bit more expressive or emotional, like you’re impressed or referring to a degree somehow known or visible.
- can also imply “so brave (like that)” comparing to some standard or expectation.

In your sentence, yang begitu berani suggests a sense of “who is so brave (like that / to that degree)”, with a bit of expressive flavor.

Could I use mengilhami instead of menginspirasi here? Are they equivalent?

Yes, you can say:

Wartawan bertanya siapa yang mengilhami saya menulis…

Both menginspirasi and mengilhami mean “to inspire”:

mengilhami comes from ilham (Arabic origin); feels a bit more literary or traditional.
menginspirasi comes from inspirasi (loan from European languages); very common in modern Indonesian, especially in media, writing about art, motivation, etc.

In everyday usage, they largely overlap. Your original menginspirasi sounds completely natural in this context.

Why is the formal pronoun saya used here instead of aku? Would aku be wrong?

Both saya and aku mean “I / me”, but they differ in register:

saya
- more formal / neutral
- common in interviews, news, formal writing, talking to strangers, etc.
aku
- more informal / intimate
- used with close friends, family, in songs, diaries, etc.

In a context involving wartawan (a reporter), saya feels more natural and polite.
Using aku isn’t grammatically wrong, but it would sound more casual and personal, and you’d normally also adjust other forms to match that tone.

If I want to say clearly “The reporter asked me who…”, how do I include “me” as the person being asked?

You can add kepada saya (to me):

Wartawan bertanya kepada saya siapa yang menginspirasi saya menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani.

This makes it explicit:

bertanya kepada saya = asked me / asked to me

You can also specify the reporter more clearly:

Seorang wartawan bertanya kepada saya siapa yang… = A reporter asked me who…
Wartawan itu bertanya kepada saya siapa yang… = That reporter / the reporter asked me who…

What is the difference between bertanya and menanyakan? Could I say Wartawan menanyakan siapa yang menginspirasi…?

Bertanya and menanyakan are related but used slightly differently:

bertanya = to ask (a question)
- usually intransitive; you add the person with a preposition:
  - bertanya kepada saya = ask me
  - bertanya tentang / soal X = ask about X
menanyakan = to ask about / to inquire about (something)
- transitive; it directly takes the thing being asked as its object:
  - Wartawan menanyakan hal itu kepada saya.
    = The reporter asked me about that.
  - Wartawan menanyakan siapa yang menginspirasi saya…
    = The reporter asked (about) who inspired me…

In your sentence, Wartawan bertanya siapa yang… is very natural.
Wartawan menanyakan siapa yang… is also grammatically fine, but sounds a bit more formal/technical: it emphasizes the content (the “who”) as the object of the inquiry.

How would this look as a direct quote instead of an indirect question?

As a direct quote, you present the reporter’s exact words. For example:

Wartawan bertanya, "Siapa yang menginspirasi Anda menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani?"

Notes:

Inside the quotation, the reporter is speaking to you, so Anda (you, formal) is natural there.
In the original indirect sentence, saya is the speaker referring to myself.
Structure difference:
- direct: comma + quotation marks + direct question
- indirect: no quotation marks, and the clause after bertanya is not punctuated as a question in Indonesian (though in English we still translate it as “asked who inspired me…”).

Is karakter utama the usual way to say “main character”? I’ve also seen tokoh utama.

Both karakter utama and tokoh utama are used, but there is a slight nuance:

tokoh utama
- very common, especially in literature / film contexts
- literally “main figure / main character”
karakter utama
- also widely used, especially in media talking about films, novels, games
- karakter emphasizes the idea of a character (as in fiction, games, design), or sometimes their personality/traits

In practice, they often overlap:

menulis tokoh utama yang begitu berani
menulis karakter utama yang begitu berani

Both are understandable as “writing such a brave main character.”