Polisi menegur sopir itu karena sein kirinya tidak menyala.

It follows a very common Indonesian pattern:

Subject + verb + object + reason clause

So here you have:

• Polisi = subject
• menegur = verb
• sopir itu = object
• karena sein kirinya tidak menyala = reason/explanation

A rough grammar breakdown is:

Polisi / menegur / sopir itu / karena / sein kiri-nya / tidak menyala

So the sentence is basically: The police officer reprimanded that driver because his left turn signal was not on / not working.

It can be either, depending on context.

In Indonesian, polisi can refer to:

• a police officer
• the police as an institution or group

In this sentence, because it is doing one specific action toward one driver, many learners will understand it as a police officer. But Indonesian does not force the singular/plural distinction here the way English often does.

If you wanted to make it clearly singular, you could say:

• Seorang polisi menegur sopir itu... = A police officer reprimanded the driver...

If you wanted to make it clearly plural, you might say:

• Para polisi menegur sopir itu... = The police officers reprimanded the driver...

Because tegur is the root word, and menegur is the active verb form built from that root.

• tegur = the base/root
• menegur = to reprimand / to warn / to admonish

The prefix meN- often forms active verbs in Indonesian.

So:

• menegur sopir itu = to reprimand that driver

Using just tegur by itself would usually not work as the normal finite verb in this sentence.

Not exactly. Menegur usually means something like:

• to reprimand
• to admonish
• to warn
• sometimes to speak to someone about a problem

It is often milder and more neutral than to scold. In this sentence, it sounds like the police officer told the driver off or warned him because the left signal was not on.

So menegur is often better translated as reprimand or warn than as the stronger scold.

Itu literally means that, but after a noun it very often marks something as definite, similar to that or sometimes the in English.

So:

• sopir = driver
• sopir itu = that driver / the driver

In context, itu helps identify a specific driver already visible, known, or understood.

This is very common in Indonesian:

• rumah itu = that house / the house
• orang itu = that person
• mobil itu = that car

Because Indonesian does not have articles like a, an, and the.

Instead, definiteness is usually understood from context, or shown with words like:

• itu = that / the
• seorang, sebuah, etc. = a / one

So English needs articles, but Indonesian often does not.

That means:

• Polisi menegur sopir itu can naturally mean The police officer reprimanded that/the driver
• even without a separate word exactly equal to English the

Yes, it is very common in everyday Indonesian. Sein means turn signal or indicator.

People also say:

• lampu sein = turn signal light / indicator light

So in this sentence:

• sein kirinya = his/her left turn signal or the left turn signal

In everyday speech, sein by itself is very natural.

Because in Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun.

So:

• sein kiri = left turn signal
• literally: signal left

This is normal Indonesian word order. Compare:

• rumah besar = big house
• mobil merah = red car
• lampu depan = front light
• sein kiri = left signal

So English says left signal, but Indonesian says signal left.

Because -nya adds a sense of possession or definiteness.

So:

• sein kiri = left turn signal
• sein kirinya = his/her left turn signal or the left turn signal

In this sentence, -nya most naturally refers to the driver or the driver's vehicle. It helps make the phrase specific.

You can think of sein kirinya as something like:

• the left signal on his vehicle
• his left turn signal

Indonesian often attaches -nya to the last word in the noun phrase, so:

• sein kiri + -nya → sein kirinya

It can feel like either one, depending on context.

In Indonesian, -nya is very flexible. It can mark:

• his/her/its
• sometimes a definite sense like the
• sometimes something already known from context

Here, sein kirinya could be understood as:

• his left turn signal
• the left turn signal

Because the signal belongs to the driver's vehicle, English often translates it possessively. But the Indonesian form itself is less rigid than English.

Because tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives, while bukan is mainly used to negate nouns or noun phrases.

Here, menyala is a verb/state meaning to be on, to light up, to be lit, so the correct negation is:

• tidak menyala = not on / not lit

Compare:

• Mobil itu tidak besar. = That car is not big.
• Dia tidak datang. = He/She did not come.
• Dia bukan sopir. = He/She is not a driver.

So bukan menyala would be wrong here.

Menyala literally means:

• to light up
• to be lit
• to be on

With a turn signal, tidak menyala can mean:

• not on
• not flashing
• not lighting up
• possibly not working, depending on context

So the sentence could describe either:

1. the driver failed to switch on the left signal, or
2. the left signal was not functioning

If you wanted to clearly say it was broken, Indonesian might use something more explicit, such as:

• sein kirinya rusak = his left turn signal is broken
• lampu sein kirinya mati = his left turn signal is out

Yes. Indonesian allows that very naturally.

You can say:

Karena sein kirinya tidak menyala, polisi menegur sopir itu.

That means the same thing, just with the reason placed first:

Because his left turn signal was not on, the police officer reprimanded the driver.

So both orders are natural:

• Polisi menegur sopir itu karena...
• Karena..., polisi menegur sopir itu.

Yes, absolutely.

Compare:

• sein kirinya tidak menyala
• lampu sein kirinya tidak menyala

The second version is a little more explicit because it includes lampu = light.

So:

• sein = turn signal / indicator
• lampu sein = turn signal light

Both are natural, but lampu sein can sound slightly clearer if you want to emphasize the actual light.

They are similar, but not always identical in feel.

• sopir usually means driver, often someone driving a car, taxi, truck, etc.
• pengemudi is a more formal or general word for driver/operator

In many contexts they can both work, but sopir sounds more everyday and conversational here.

So this sentence sounds very natural with sopir.

A natural passive version would be:

Sopir itu ditegur polisi karena sein kirinya tidak menyala.

That means:

The driver was reprimanded by the police because his left turn signal was not on.

Compare:

• Polisi menegur sopir itu... = active
• Sopir itu ditegur polisi... = passive

This is a very useful pair to know in Indonesian.