Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika tahun ini.

My older brother passed the math exam this year.

Breakdown of Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika tahun ini.

• saya: my
• kakak laki-laki: the older brother
• tahun ini: this year
• lulus: to pass (an exam)
• ujian matematika: the math exam

Questions & Answers about Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika tahun ini.

What does each word in “Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika tahun ini” mean literally?

Word by word:

• kakak = older sibling (gender-neutral by itself)
• laki-laki = male / man
• kakak laki-laki = older male sibling → older brother
• saya = I / me / my (here: my)
• lulus = to pass (an exam), to graduate
• ujian = exam / test
• matematika = mathematics
• tahun = year
• ini = this (comes after the noun it modifies)

So literally: “older male sibling my pass exam mathematics year this”, which in natural English is “My older brother passed the math exam this year.”

Why do you need both “kakak” and “laki-laki” to say “older brother”? Isn’t “kakak” enough?

• kakak by itself means older sibling, without specifying male or female.
• laki-laki adds male, so kakak laki-laki is specifically older brother.
• In real conversation, if the gender is already known from context, people often just say “kakak saya” and you understand whether it’s brother or sister from context.
• You only have to add laki-laki (male) or perempuan (female) when you want to be explicit:
  
  • kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother
  • kakak perempuan saya = my older sister

So “kakak laki-laki” is like spelling out “older sibling (who is male)”.

Where is the word “my” in this sentence, and why does it come after the noun?

The word that means “my” is “saya”.

• Indonesian usually puts the possessive pronoun after the noun:
  • rumah saya = my house
  • teman saya = my friend
  • kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother

So the pattern is NOUN + saya = “my NOUN.”

You can also attach -ku to the noun in more informal style:

• kakak laki-lakiku = my older brother

“Saya kakak laki-laki” would mean something like “I am an older brother,” not “my older brother.”

Where is the past tense? How do we know “lulus” means “passed” and not “passes” or “will pass”?

Indonesian verbs usually don’t change form for tense. The verb “lulus” can mean:

• pass / passes
• passed
• will pass

The time expression and context tell you the tense:

• tahun ini = this year → we understand the event is located in this year.
• If you want to make it clearly past/completed, you can add sudah:
  • Kakak laki-laki saya sudah lulus ujian matematika tahun ini.
    = My older brother has already passed the math exam this year.

So there is no special past tense form like passed; “lulus” stays the same.

Why is there no word like “is/has” in “kakak laki-laki saya lulus …”? Don’t you need a verb “to be” in Indonesian?

Indonesian usually does not use a separate verb “to be” (like “is / am / are”) in sentences like this:

• lulus is already a full verb: to pass.
  • Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian
    = My older brother passed the exam.

You only add extra words for nuance:

• sudah lulus = has already passed
• belum lulus = has not yet passed

For other types of sentences, Indonesian still often skips “to be”:

• Saya lapar. = I am hungry.
• Dia guru. = He/She is a teacher.

There is a word “adalah”, but it’s mainly for formal writing or emphasis, not needed here.

Can I move “tahun ini” to the beginning of the sentence? Is “Tahun ini kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika” correct?

Yes, that’s correct, and very natural.

Both are fine:

• Kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika tahun ini.
• Tahun ini, kakak laki-laki saya lulus ujian matematika.

Putting “tahun ini” at the beginning adds a bit more emphasis on the time (“This year, my older brother passed…”), but the meaning is basically the same.

What you can’t do is break up fixed groups like the noun phrase:

• ❌ kakak tahun ini laki-laki saya … (wrong)
• ✅ Keep kakak laki-laki saya together as a unit.

Is “matematika” an adjective here, like “math exam,” or is it still a noun?

“Matematika” is still a noun (“mathematics”), but Indonesian often uses a noun after another noun to modify it:

• ujian matematika = exam (of) mathematics → math exam
• buku sejarah = history book
• guru bahasa Inggris = English language teacher

So the pattern is generally HEAD NOUN + modifying NOUN.
Here, “ujian” is the main noun, and “matematika” specifies which exam. It’s not an adjective grammatically, but it functions like “math” in “math exam.”

Should “matematika” be capitalized, like “Matematika”, since it’s a school subject?

In standard Indonesian:

• Common school subjects are usually not capitalized:
  
  • matematika, fisika, biologi, sejarah, geografi, etc.
• They are capitalized mainly when they are:
  • Part of an official course name or title, or
  • At the beginning of a sentence.

So in this sentence, the normal writing is:

• ujian matematika, not ujian Matematika.

(An exception: bahasa Indonesia → Indonesian language, where Indonesia is capitalized as a proper name.)

Could I say “lulus dalam ujian matematika” instead of “lulus ujian matematika”? Do I need a preposition like “dalam” or “pada”?

Both are possible, but slightly different in style:

• lulus ujian matematika
  
  • No preposition.
  • Very common and natural in everyday Indonesian.
• lulus dalam ujian matematika
  
  • Adds dalam (“in”).
  • Sounds a bit more formal or written, but still correct.

You don’t need a preposition; “lulus” can take its object directly:

• Dia lulus ujian. = He/She passed the exam.

Prepositions like “di” or “untuk” are not used in this sense:

• ❌ lulus di ujian (wrong in this meaning)
• ❌ lulus untuk ujian (wrong)

How do I say “my younger brother / my younger sister / my older sister” in the same pattern?

Use kakak for “older sibling” and adik for “younger sibling,” and add laki-laki (male) or perempuan (female) when needed:

• adik laki-laki saya = my younger brother
• adik perempuan saya = my younger sister
• kakak perempuan saya = my older sister

You can drop laki-laki/perempuan if gender is obvious:

• adik saya = my younger sibling
• kakak saya = my older sibling

What’s the difference between “kakak laki-laki saya” and something like “saudara laki-laki saya yang lebih tua”?

Both can mean “my older brother,” but they differ in style:

• kakak laki-laki saya

  • Very natural and common in everyday speech.
  • Short and idiomatic.

• saudara laki-laki saya yang lebih tua

  • Literally “my male sibling who is older.”
  • Sounds more formal, wordy, and written.
  • You might see this in formal texts, legal or administrative language.

In normal conversation, people overwhelmingly use kakak / adik rather than saudara when talking about siblings.

Can “kakak” also mean “you” when talking to someone older? Would “kakak laki-laki saya” ever mean “you, my older brother”?

Yes, “kakak” (often shortened to “Kak”) is also a polite way to address someone slightly older, like “older brother/sister” used as “you”:

• Kakak sudah makan? = Have you eaten? (to an older sibling / slightly older person)

But in your sentence:

• kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother (3rd person), not “you.”

Once you add “saya” after it, it clearly becomes “my …”, so it refers to someone you are talking about, not talking to. If you wanted to address your brother directly, you would typically just say:

• Kak, kamu lulus ujian matematika tahun ini, kan?
  = You passed the math exam this year, right?