Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Guru memberi kami PR menulis dialog lisan, yang seringkali harus direkam dengan ponsel. - The teacher gives us homework to write spoken dialogues, which often have to be recorded with a phone.

In Guru memberi kami PR…, kami means the teacher gave homework to us students, not including the listener (for example, you’re telling someone else what happened in your class).

If you said Guru memberi kita PR…, it would imply the listener is also part of that class / group getting the homework.

What exactly does PR mean here, and how does it relate to pekerjaan rumah or tugas?

PR is an abbreviation of pekerjaan rumah, literally “house work / homework”, and in school context it simply means homework.

Common related words:

PR = homework (very common, casual–neutral in school settings)
pekerjaan rumah = the full form, a bit more formal
tugas = task, assignment (can be homework or in‑class work, or even a work assignment)

In the sentence, PR is perfectly natural and sounds like what students actually say:

Guru memberi kami PR…
The teacher gave us homework…

Why is it menulis dialog lisan? Isn’t dialog already spoken? What does lisan add?

Dialog in Indonesian, like in English, can refer to:

a conversation that is spoken, or
the text of that conversation written down (a script)

Lisan means oral / spoken, as opposed to tulisan (written).

So menulis dialog lisan is like saying “to write a spoken dialogue”:

You first write the text of what people will say,
and then that text is meant to be spoken out loud.

The word lisan emphasizes that the dialogue is meant to be performed or spoken, not just read silently.

Could you explain the function of yang in yang seringkali harus direkam dengan ponsel?

Yang introduces a relative clause, similar to “which / that” in English.

Structure:

PR menulis dialog lisan = the noun phrase: “the homework (to) write an oral dialogue”
yang seringkali harus direkam dengan ponsel = relative clause: “which often has to be recorded with a phone”

So the full idea is:

the teacher gave us homework (to write an oral dialogue) which often has to be recorded with a phone.

Yang links back to PR menulis dialog lisan and lets you add more information about that homework.

Is the comma before yang correct in Indonesian? Does it change the meaning?

In Indonesian, a comma before yang is not always necessary, and many writers would omit it:

Guru memberi kami PR menulis dialog lisan yang seringkali harus direkam dengan ponsel.

With a comma (…lisan, yang seringkali…), it can feel a bit more like a non‑restrictive clause in English:

“…write an oral dialogue, which often has to be recorded with a phone.”

Without the comma, it reads more like a restrictive clause:

“…write an oral dialogue that often has to be recorded with a phone (as opposed to some other kind).”

In everyday writing, people don’t always make a strong distinction, and both punctuation styles are common. Grammatically, both are acceptable.

What does seringkali mean, and how is it different from sering?

Both sering and seringkali mean “often / frequently”, and they are usually interchangeable.

Nuance:

sering = most common form; neutral, very frequent in speech and writing.
seringkali = slightly more formal or emphatic in some contexts, but still common.

In the sentence:

yang seringkali harus direkam…
= “which often has to be recorded…”

You could also say:

yang sering harus direkam…

No real meaning change; seringkali just feels a bit fuller / slightly more formal.

Why is it harus direkam and not harus merekam?

The difference is passive vs active:

merekam = to record (active)
direkam = to be recorded (passive)

Harus direkam = “must be recorded” (focus on the homework being recorded)
Harus merekam = “must record” (focus on someone doing the recording)

Here, the subject is the homework / dialogue, not the students:

PR menulis dialog lisan, yang seringkali harus direkam…
→ “the homework (dialogue) which often has to be recorded …”

If you said kami seringkali harus merekam dialog lisan, then kami would be the ones who must record, and merekam (active) would be correct.

What is the function of dengan in direkam dengan ponsel? Could you use something else?

Dengan here means “with / using”:

direkam dengan ponsel = “recorded with a phone” / “recorded using a phone”.

You could also say:

direkam pakai ponsel (more casual; pakai = use)
direkam menggunakan ponsel (more formal; menggunakan = to use)

All three are natural; the difference is mainly register:

dengan = neutral
pakai = casual
menggunakan = formal / careful

How do we know the sentence refers to the past (the teacher gave us homework) if there is no tense marking?

Indonesian generally does not mark tense with verb changes. Memberi can mean “give / gave / will give” depending on context and time expressions.

In Guru memberi kami PR…, memberi by itself is tense‑neutral:

can be “The teacher gives us homework…”
or “The teacher gave us homework…”
or “The teacher will give us homework…”

The actual time is understood from context, previous sentences, or added time words like:

kemarin (yesterday)
tadi (earlier, just now)
besok (tomorrow)
sering (often, for habitual action)

So if this is a general habit, it could be:

“The teacher gives us homework…”

If it’s about a specific time in the past:

“The teacher gave us homework…”

Is Guru memberi kami PR natural, or should it be Guru kami or Ibu/Bapak Guru?

All are possible; the choice reflects context and politeness.

Guru memberi kami PR
- Literally “Teacher gave us homework.”
- Sounds like you’re talking about a teacher in general, or “the teacher” just mentioned.
- Neutral, common in narratives.
Guru kami memberi kami PR
- “Our teacher gave us homework.”
- Clarifies that it’s specifically our teacher.
Ibu Guru / Bapak Guru memberi kami PR
- Literally “Mother Teacher / Father Teacher” (titles of respect).
- Used mainly by younger students or in more respectful speech.

The original Guru memberi kami PR… is perfectly natural in a story or report about what happens in class.

Could we say Guru memberi PR kepada kami instead of Guru memberi kami PR? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are correct. They just use different patterns for “give X to Y”:

Double-object pattern
- Guru memberi kami PR
- literally: “The teacher gave us homework.”
- kami = indirect object, PR = direct object.
Dengan preposisi “kepada”
- Guru memberi PR kepada kami
- literally: “The teacher gave homework to us.”
- PR = object of the verb, kepada kami = prepositional phrase.

Nuance:

memberi kami PR feels a bit more spoken / informal and smooth.
memberi PR kepada kami feels slightly more formal or written, but still very common.

Meaning is essentially the same.

Why is there no sebuah (like “a”) before dialog? Can we say sebuah dialog lisan?

Indonesian usually does not need an article like “a / an / the”. So:

menulis dialog lisan
can mean “write a spoken dialogue” or “write the spoken dialogue”, depending on context.

You can say sebuah dialog lisan, and it’s grammatically fine:

PR menulis sebuah dialog lisan
= “homework (to) write a spoken dialogue (one dialogue)”

Using sebuah:

puts slight emphasis on it being one individual dialogue,
feels a bit more formal or explicit.

In everyday speech, most people would just say menulis dialog lisan without sebuah.

What does ponsel mean, and how common is it compared with HP or telepon genggam?

Ponsel = mobile phone / cell phone.

Common words for “cell phone” in Indonesian:

HP (pronounced “ha-pe”)
- From handphone, very common in everyday speech.
ponsel
- From ponsel = “ponsel” (Indonesianized from “ponsel / phone cell”), more neutral/formal in writing and media.
telepon genggam
- Literally “handheld telephone”, quite formal and less used in casual speech.

In casual conversation, people most often say HP:

direkam pakai HP

In written, neutral style (like the sentence you gave), ponsel is very natural:

direkam dengan ponsel = “recorded with a cell phone.”