Psikolog kampus menjelaskan bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid.

The campus psychologist explained how small comments can influence students’ self-confidence.

Breakdown of Psikolog kampus menjelaskan bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid.

• kecil: small
• bisa: can
• murid: the student
• menjelaskan: to explain
• bagaimana: how
• komentar: the comment
• rasa: the feeling
• percaya diri: confident
• kampus: campus
• psikolog: the psychologist
• mempengaruhi: to influence

Questions & Answers about Psikolog kampus menjelaskan bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid.

What does psikolog kampus literally mean, and why is the noun order like that?

Psikolog kampus literally is “campus psychologist” and it works just like a typical Indonesian noun–noun phrase:

• psikolog = psychologist
• kampus = campus

In Indonesian, when two nouns are together, the second noun usually modifies the first one, similar to “X of Y” or “Y X” in English. So:

• psikolog kampus = the psychologist of the campus / the campus psychologist
• guru musik = music teacher
• dokter gigi = dentist (literally: tooth doctor)

So you don’t need a word like “of”. The order [main noun] + [modifying noun] is the normal pattern.

Could we also say psikolog di kampus instead of psikolog kampus? Is there any difference?

You can say both, but the nuance is slightly different:

• psikolog kampus

  • Feels like an established role or title, “the campus psychologist.”
  • Implies this psychologist is officially associated with or employed by the campus.

• psikolog di kampus

  • Literally “psychologist at the campus.”
  • Focuses more on location: a psychologist who is (physically) at the campus. It doesn’t necessarily sound like an official position.

In this sentence, psikolog kampus matches the natural English idea of “the campus psychologist” (someone whose job is to serve students on that campus).

Why is the verb menjelaskan used here? How is it different from jelas and menjelas?

• jelas = clear (adjective)

  • Penjelasannya sangat jelas. = The explanation is very clear.

• menjelaskan = to explain / to make something clear (verb)

  • Psikolog itu menjelaskan masalahnya. = The psychologist explained the problem.

There is no verb menjelas in standard Indonesian; the correct verb is menjelaskan.

In your sentence:

Psikolog kampus menjelaskan bagaimana …

menjelaskan is needed because we want the action “to explain.” If you used just jelas, it would sound like a description (“is clear”) rather than an action (“explained”).

How is bagaimana working here if it’s not a question? Isn’t bagaimana used for “how?” questions?

Yes, bagaimana normally introduces a question:

• Bagaimana kabarmu? = How are you?

But Indonesian, like English, can use a question word to introduce an indirect question / content clause:

• Dia menjelaskan bagaimana mesin itu bekerja.
  = He explained how the machine works.

In your sentence:

Psikolog kampus menjelaskan bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid.

bagaimana introduces what was explained:

• bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid
  = how small comments can affect the students’ self-confidence

So structurally:

• menjelaskan = explained
• bagaimana … = the “how …” content of that explanation.

What exactly does komentar kecil mean? Does kecil mean small in size or minor/unimportant?

Here, komentar kecil is best understood as “small / minor comments”:

• komentar = comment(s)
• kecil = small, but often also “minor,” “not big,” “seemingly unimportant”

So komentar kecil implies comments that:

• may be short, casual, or offhand,
• may seem unimportant,
• but still can have an impact.

You could compare with:

• komentar sepele = trivial comments (more explicitly “unimportant”)
• komentar singkat = short comments (emphasizes length, not importance)

In this sentence, kecil highlights that even comments that seem small or minor can still influence self-confidence.

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

Mempengaruhi means “to influence / to affect.”

It comes from the noun:

• pengaruh = influence, effect

Then it gets the meN- verbal prefix and -i suffix to turn it into a verb meaning “to give X influence / to affect X”:

• pengaruh → mempengaruhi = to influence, to affect

Examples:

• Stres bisa mempengaruhi kesehatan.
  Stress can affect health.

• Lingkungan rumah mempengaruhi perkembangan anak.
  The home environment influences a child’s development.

You may also see the spelling memengaruhi discussed in some grammar/spelling resources. In everyday usage, mempengaruhi is extremely common and fully accepted; you don’t need to worry about the difference at a beginner/intermediate level.

Why is bisa used before mempengaruhi? What’s the nuance compared to just mempengaruhi?

• bisa = can / be able to

So:

• komentar kecil mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid
  = small comments influence students’ self-confidence (stated as a direct fact)

• komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid
  = small comments can influence / are capable of influencing students’ self-confidence

Using bisa:

• softens the statement slightly,
• emphasizes possibility or potential, not that it always happens.

You could also use dapat in a very similar way:

• komentar kecil dapat mempengaruhi …
  (a bit more formal, but same basic meaning as bisa here).

What does rasa percaya diri mean literally, and how is it different from kepercayaan diri?

Literally:

• rasa = feeling / sense (also “taste” in other contexts)
• percaya diri = confident (adjective: self-confident)

So rasa percaya diri is literally “a feeling of confidence” or “sense of self-confidence.”

kepercayaan diri is a related noun:

• kepercayaan = belief / confidence (noun form from percaya)
• kepercayaan diri = self-confidence

Nuance:

• rasa percaya diri

  • emphasizes the felt sense of confidence inside someone.
  • sounds a bit more psychological / emotional: “the feeling of being confident.”

• kepercayaan diri

  • more like the quality or level of self-confidence.
  • often used in more formal or neutral descriptions.

In many everyday contexts, you could swap them without a big change in meaning:

• Komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid.
• Komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi kepercayaan diri murid.

Both are acceptable; the given sentence slightly highlights the feeling of confidence.

How does possession work in rasa percaya diri murid? How does this mean “students’ self-confidence”?

In Indonesian, possession is often shown simply by putting nouns next to each other, with the owner after the thing owned:

• buku saya = my book
• mobil ayah = father’s car
• rumah guru = the teacher’s house

In your phrase:

• rasa percaya diri = (a) sense/feeling of self-confidence
• murid = student(s)

So:

rasa percaya diri murid
= the self-confidence of (the) student(s)
= students’ self-confidence

If you specifically want to stress plural “students,” you could say:

• rasa percaya diri para murid
  (para marks a plural group, more formal)

But grammatically, rasa percaya diri murid by itself already allows both “student” or “students,” depending on context.

Is murid singular or plural here? Do we need murid-murid or para murid to say “students”?

Murid by itself is number-neutral; it can mean:

• a student or
• students (in general)

Indonesian doesn’t require plural marking like English does. You add it only when you want to emphasize plurality or when context might be ambiguous:

• murid-murid = students (reduplication marks plural, informal–neutral)
• para murid = students (formal, usually for people)
• semua murid = all the students

In your sentence:

… rasa percaya diri murid.

Given the subject psikolog kampus and the general context of campus life, it’s natural to understand murid here as “students” in general, even though it’s not explicitly plural.

What’s the difference between murid, siswa, and mahasiswa?

All three can mean “student,” but they’re used in different contexts:

• murid

  • General word for “pupil / student,” but often associated with school-age students.
  • Can be used for primary, junior high, or high school.

• siswa

  • More specifically a school student, especially SD/SMP/SMA (elementary, middle, high school).
  • Common in official school contexts: siswa teladan (model student).

• mahasiswa

  • Specifically a university / college student.

Since the sentence mentions kampus, many speakers might expect mahasiswa (university students). But murid is still understandable and can be used more broadly, especially in non-technical or casual speech.

How do we know this sentence is in the past (“explained”), when there’s no tense like “did” or “was”?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense. The verb menjelaskan can mean:

• explains / is explaining (present)
• explained / was explaining (past)
• will explain (future, with context)

Tense and time are usually indicated by:

• context, or
• time words like tadi, kemarin, besok, sudah, akan, etc.

For example:

• Tadi psikolog kampus menjelaskan …
  Earlier, the campus psychologist explained …

• Besok psikolog kampus akan menjelaskan …
  Tomorrow, the campus psychologist will explain …

In isolation, your sentence is time-neutral. An English translation chooses “explained” because that’s often the most natural interpretation in context, but in Indonesian the form menjelaskan itself doesn’t specify past/present/future.

What is the overall structure of the sentence? Which part is the main clause and which part is the subordinate clause?

The sentence splits into:

1. Main clause (independent)

   • Psikolog kampus menjelaskan …
   • Subject: Psikolog kampus
   • Verb: menjelaskan

2. Subordinate clause (content clause introduced by bagaimana)

   • bagaimana komentar kecil bisa mempengaruhi rasa percaya diri murid
   • This whole part functions as the object of menjelaskan (what was explained).

Inside the subordinate clause:

• Subject: komentar kecil
• Modal verb: bisa
• Main verb: mempengaruhi
• Object: rasa percaya diri murid

So in English-like structure:

• [The campus psychologist] [explained] [how [small comments] [can affect] [the students’ self-confidence]].