Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Latihan lisan direkam, lalu pengajar memutar audio itu dan menunjukkan di mana bentuk pasif dipakai. - The oral practice is recorded, then the instructor plays that audio and shows where the passive form is used.

Indonesian often omits the agent (the person doing the action) when it is obvious or not important. The focus here is on what happens to the exercise, not who does it.

Latihan lisan direkam = The oral exercise is recorded / Oral practice is recorded.

This is a passive construction with direkam (recorded), and the agent (probably the teacher) is simply left out because the sentence doesn’t need to mention them at that point. This is very natural in Indonesian.

Why is direkam (passive) used in the first clause, but memutar (active) is used in pengajar memutar audio itu?

The voice changes because the focus of each clause is different:

Latihan lisan direkam
- Passive (direkam, is recorded).
- Focus: the exercise and the action done to it.
- The doer isn’t important or is obvious from context.
pengajar memutar audio itu
- Active (memutar, plays).
- Focus: the teacher (pengajar) as the one doing the action.
- Here, who does the action is important, so the active voice is used.

You could switch the first clause to active, but it sounds different in focus:

Pengajar merekam latihan lisan (The teacher records the oral exercise) – focus on the teacher doing it, not just that it gets recorded.

The original phrasing highlights the process first, then introduces what the teacher does.

What is the function of lalu here, and how is it different from dan or kemudian?

lalu connects actions in sequence and roughly means then.

Latihan lisan direkam, lalu pengajar memutar audio itu… = The oral practice is recorded, then the teacher plays that audio…

Differences:

dan = and (just joining things; no strong sense of sequence).
- Latihan lisan direkam dan pengajar memutar audio itu
  Sounds more like two actions listed together, less like step 1 → step 2.
lalu / kemudian = then / afterward, showing a sequence.
- kemudian is often a bit more formal or “written” than lalu, but both can mean “then”.
- Here, lalu is perfectly natural in neutral/informal written style.

Why pengajar instead of guru? Do they mean the same thing?

Both relate to teaching, but they have slightly different nuances:

guru
- Common, everyday word for teacher, especially school teachers.
- Often associated with primary/secondary education.
pengajar
- More general: instructor, teacher, lecturer.
- Feels somewhat more formal or technical, and can be used in contexts like courses, training, university classes, etc.

In this sentence, pengajar fits well because it sounds like a description from a textbook or teaching manual, not casual speech about a school teacher.

What does memutar literally mean, and how does it come to mean to play audio?

memutar comes from the root putar, which means to turn, to rotate, to spin.

Over time, memutar developed extended meanings like:

to turn / rotate something
to play (audio/video) – originally from “turning” tapes, records, or devices.

So:

memutar audio itu literally: to turn/play that audio
Natural translation: plays that audio or plays the recording.

Why is it memutar audio itu, not memutar itu audio?

In Indonesian, the normal order is:

verb + object + determiner (like itu/ini)

So:

memutar audio itu
- verb: memutar
- object: audio
- determiner: itu (that)

Putting itu after the noun (audio itu) is the standard way to say that audio / the audio.
memutar itu audio is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.

How is menunjukkan di mana bentuk pasif dipakai structured grammatically?

Breakdown:

menunjukkan = to show, to point out
(from tunjuk
- me-
  - -kan)
di mana = where
bentuk pasif = passive form
- bentuk = form
- pasif = passive (grammatical term)
dipakai = is used (passive of memakai = to use)

Structure:

pengajar (subject)
menunjukkan (verb)
di mana bentuk pasif dipakai (embedded clause: “where the passive form is used”)

So menunjukkan di mana… = shows where….
The clause di mana bentuk pasif dipakai works like a “where”-clause in English.

Why is di mana used here? It doesn’t literally refer to a physical place, right?

Correct: here di mana doesn’t refer to a physical location like in the classroom; it introduces a clause about points/positions in the text or audio.

In Indonesian, di mana can:

Mean where in a spatial sense:
- Di mana rumahmu? – Where is your house?
Introduce a relative/embedded clause, often more abstract:
- menunjukkan di mana bentuk pasif dipakai
  = shows where the passive form is used (i.e., in which parts of the recording, in which sentences).

So it’s similar to English using where in an abstract sense:

She showed me where the past tense is used in the text.

Why is dipakai used instead of digunakan? Do they mean the same thing?

Both mean to be used, but there’s a nuance:

dipakai
- Passive of memakai (to use, to wear).
- Often a bit more colloquial / everyday.
- Very common and perfectly fine in most contexts.
digunakan
- Passive of menggunakan (to use).
- Slightly more formal or “written” in feel.

In this sentence, dipakai sounds natural, friendly, and not too technical.
You could say di mana bentuk pasif digunakan; it would sound a bit more formal but still correct.

There’s no past tense marker. How do we know these actions happened in the past?

Indonesian usually leaves tense (past/present/future) to context, unless it needs to be made explicit.

Here, the sequence and typical classroom procedure make it clear:

Latihan lisan direkam – the exercise is recorded.
Lalu pengajar memutar audio itu – then the teacher plays the audio.
… dan menunjukkan di mana bentuk pasif dipakai – and shows where the passive form is used.

In English we naturally translate in the past:

“The oral practice was recorded, then the teacher played the audio and showed where the passive form was used.”

If you needed to make time explicit, you’d add adverbs like tadi (earlier), kemarin (yesterday), etc., not change the verb form.

Why is the comma used before lalu? Could it just be dan instead?

The comma plus lalu separates two main clauses and highlights a sequence:

Latihan lisan direkam, lalu pengajar memutar audio itu…
- Clause 1: Latihan lisan direkam
- Clause 2: pengajar memutar audio itu…
- lalu = then (marks step 2 after step 1)

You could say:

Latihan lisan direkam dan pengajar memutar audio itu…

but it sounds more like two actions listed together, not clearly step-by-step.
Using , lalu makes it clearer that it’s first this happens, then that.