Breakdown of Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf.
Questions & Answers about Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf.
Dia is a third‑person singular pronoun meaning “he” or “she”. Indonesian does not mark gender in pronouns, so:
- dia = he / she
- mereka = they
Context usually tells you whether dia refers to a male or female. If you really need to be explicit, you specify it with a noun, e.g.:
- Dia laki-laki itu merasa bersalah. – That man feels guilty.
- Dia perempuan itu minta maaf. – That woman apologizes.
But in most everyday speech, dia alone is enough.
- merasa bersalah literally means “to feel guilty” (an emotion).
- bersalah by itself can mean “(to be) at fault / guilty” and can sound more like a statement about responsibility or blame.
In daily conversation, if you want to express an emotion, Indonesians very often use merasa + adjective:
- merasa sedih – feel sad
- merasa senang – feel happy
- merasa bersalah – feel guilty
You can sometimes drop merasa and just use the adjective, but merasa bersalah is the most natural and explicit way to say “(he/she) feels guilty” as an inner feeling.
The root word is rasa, which means “taste, feeling, sense”.
- rasa (noun) – taste / feeling
- merasa (verb) – to feel / to sense
- perasaan (noun) – feeling(s), emotion(s)
The prefix me- (here appearing as mera- in merasa) typically turns a root into an active verb. So:
- rasa → merasa = to feel
Example sentences:
- Saya merasa lapar. – I feel hungry.
- Dia merasa bersalah. – He/She feels guilty.
Indonesian usually does not use a verb like “to be” (is/am/are) between a subject and an adjective. The structure:
- Subject + adjective already works like “Subject + is + adjective.”
Examples:
- Dia bersalah. – He/She is guilty.
- Saya sedih. – I am sad.
- Mereka marah. – They are angry.
In Dia merasa bersalah, the main verb is merasa (“feels”), and bersalah functions as its complement. There’s no need for a separate “is.”
Yes. The subject dia is understood to apply to both verbs:
- Dia merasa bersalah dan (dia) minta maaf.
In Indonesian, when you have the same subject for several verbs joined by dan (“and”), you usually don’t repeat the subject. It’s considered more natural and less repetitive.
English needs “He/She feels guilty and (he/she) apologizes,” but Indonesian is happy with:
- Dia makan dan minum. – He/She eats and drinks.
- Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf. – He/She feels guilty and (he/she) apologizes.
minta maaf literally is:
- minta – to ask for / request
- maaf – forgiveness / sorry
So minta maaf = to ask for forgiveness, which corresponds to “to apologize”.
Common patterns:
- Saya minta maaf. – I apologize / I’m sorry.
- Dia minta maaf kepada saya. – He/She apologizes to me.
- Saya minta maaf atas kesalahan saya. – I apologize for my mistake.
When used alone, Maaf. simply means “Sorry.”
Minta maaf is the verb phrase “to apologize / to ask forgiveness.”
Both are correct, but they differ slightly in style:
- minta maaf – very common in everyday spoken Indonesian; slightly more casual but still acceptable in many written contexts.
- meminta maaf – more formal and complete; common in formal writing, news, speeches, and careful speech.
Examples:
- Conversation: Saya minta maaf ya. – I’m sorry, okay?
- Formal statement: Kami meminta maaf atas ketidaknyamanan ini. – We apologize for this inconvenience.
In your sentence, Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf sounds perfectly natural in normal conversation and neutral writing.
Yes, you can say:
- Dia merasa bersalah dan meminta maaf.
This sounds a bit more formal and complete because of the meN- prefix on meminta. The meaning is the same: “He/She feels guilty and apologizes.”
Nuance:
- minta maaf – more conversational
- meminta maaf – more formal / standard
In spoken Indonesian, people often mix styles depending on context, so both are fine.
Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf can mean:
- He/She felt guilty and apologized.
- He/She feels guilty and apologizes.
- He/She will feel guilty and apologize. (less likely without context)
You show time using time expressions or context:
- Tadi dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf. – Earlier he/she felt guilty and apologized.
- Sekarang dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf. – Now he/she feels guilty and apologizes.
- Nanti dia akan merasa bersalah dan minta maaf. – Later he/she will feel guilty and apologize.
So tense is understood from extra words or the situation, not from changing the verb.
Yes. dan = and, and it freely connects:
- Nouns: ibu dan ayah – mother and father
- Adjectives: besar dan kuat – big and strong
- Verbs/verb phrases:
- Dia makan dan minum. – He/She eats and drinks.
- Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf. – He/She feels guilty and apologizes.
The structure in your sentence is:
- Subject: dia
- Verb phrase 1: merasa bersalah
- Connector: dan
- Verb phrase 2: minta maaf
Grammatically, you can say:
- Dia minta maaf dan merasa bersalah.
The basic meaning is similar, but the natural sequence is usually:
- Feel guilty
- Then apologize
So Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf follows the expected emotional and action order. Reversing it can sound slightly less natural or can imply that the apology and the feeling are just two unrelated states rather than cause and effect. In most contexts, the original order is better.
You just change the subject dia to mereka (they):
- Mereka merasa bersalah dan minta maaf.
– They feel guilty and apologize.
Pronouns:
- dia – he/she
- mereka – they
The rest of the sentence stays the same; verbs do not change with number or person.
Yes. Dia merasa bersalah dan minta maaf is:
- Natural: sounds like what Indonesians really say.
- Neutral in politeness: it’s not rude or overly formal.
If you want to speak very politely about yourself, you might say:
- Saya merasa bersalah dan saya minta maaf. – I feel guilty and I apologize.
- Or even more formal: Saya sungguh merasa bersalah dan dengan tulus meminta maaf.
But as a description of someone else’s behavior, your sentence is already perfectly fine and idiomatic.