Guru meminta kami mengulangi kalimat itu dengan jelas.

Indonesian usually does not use articles the way English does. So guru can mean:

• a teacher
• the teacher
• sometimes just teacher/teachers in a general sense

The exact meaning comes from context. In this sentence, English will usually translate it as the teacher because a specific teacher is meant.

Here, meminta means to ask or to request.

It comes from the base minta = ask for / request, and the prefix meN- makes it an active verb:

• minta = ask for
• meminta = to ask, to request

In this sentence, Guru meminta kami... means The teacher asked us... or The teacher requested that we...

Depending on context, it can sound polite or instructional, but it is usually less forceful than menyuruh (to order / tell someone to do something).

This is a very important distinction in Indonesian.

Both kami and kita can mean we/us, but:

• kami = we/us, not including the listener
• kita = we/us, including the listener

In Guru meminta kami..., kami is correct because the teacher is not included in the group being asked to repeat the sentence. The group is us (for example, the students), excluding the teacher.

This pattern means ask someone to do something.

Structure:

• meminta = ask
• kami = us
• mengulangi = repeat

So:

• Guru meminta kami mengulangi kalimat itu
  = The teacher asked us to repeat that sentence

Indonesian often puts these elements directly together without a separate word for English to.

You may also hear:

• Guru meminta kami untuk mengulangi kalimat itu

The word untuk can be added, but it is often omitted in natural Indonesian.

Because Indonesian often does not need one.

In English, we say:

• asked us to repeat

In Indonesian, it is very natural to say:

• meminta kami mengulangi

without anything equivalent to English to.

As mentioned, untuk can appear:

• meminta kami untuk mengulangi

but it is not required here.

Mengulangi means to repeat something.

It comes from the root ulang, which is connected with the idea of repeating. The verb form here uses:

• meng-
  • ulang
    • -i → mengulangi

In this sentence, mengulangi kalimat itu means repeat that sentence.

A useful note: learners also often see mengulang. Both mengulang and mengulangi can mean repeat, and in everyday use they are sometimes quite close. But mengulangi is very natural when you are repeating a specific object, such as:

• mengulangi kalimat
• mengulangi pertanyaan
• mengulangi kesalahan

Because in Indonesian, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun.

So:

• kalimat itu = that sentence
• buku ini = this book
• rumah itu = that house

This is the normal Indonesian word order.

Literally, itu means that. But in many sentences, it can also help mark something as specific and already known, so in translation it may feel close to English the.

So kalimat itu can be understood as:

• that sentence
• or, depending on context, something like the sentence in question

It still literally means that sentence, but English may not always translate it very literally.

Dengan jelas literally means something like with clarity or in a clear way. In natural English, we usually translate it as clearly.

• dengan = with
• jelas = clear / clearly, depending on use

So:

• mengulangi kalimat itu dengan jelas
  = repeat that sentence clearly

This phrase tells us how the repeating should be done.

Sometimes, yes. Indonesian often allows words like jelas to function quite flexibly.

For example, speakers may say things like:

• Bicaralah jelas. = Speak clearly.

But dengan jelas is a very common and natural way to express manner, especially in careful or standard Indonesian.

So in this sentence, dengan jelas is perfectly normal and idiomatic.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So meminta by itself can mean:

• asks
• is asking
• asked
• sometimes even will ask

The time is understood from context or from time words such as:

• kemarin = yesterday
• tadi = earlier
• sekarang = now
• besok = tomorrow

So the sentence itself does not mark tense morphologically.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Guru = subject
• meminta = main verb
• kami = object of meminta
• mengulangi kalimat itu = what we were asked to do
• dengan jelas = adverbial phrase describing how to do it

So the pattern is roughly:

Subject + Verb + Object + Second verb phrase + Adverbial phrase

That makes the sentence very natural Indonesian:

• Guru meminta kami mengulangi kalimat itu dengan jelas.

English expresses the same idea with to:

• The teacher asked us to repeat that sentence clearly.