Pihak sekolah menghubungi orang tua.

Pihak sekolah is a fairly formal way to say the school side, the school authorities, or simply the school as an institution.

In this sentence, it does not mean a physical side of a building. It refers to the people representing the school, such as administrators, teachers, or staff.

So pihak sekolah menghubungi orang tua sounds a bit more official than just sekolah menghubungi orang tua.

In Indonesian word order, the subject often comes before the verb, just like in English.

Here the structure is:

• pihak sekolah = subject
• menghubungi = verb
• orang tua = object

So the sentence pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That makes pihak sekolah the one doing the action of contacting.

Menghubungi comes from the root hubung, which is related to connection or contact.

The verb is formed with the prefix meng- and the suffix -i:

• hubung = connect/contact
• menghubungi = to contact someone

This is a very common Indonesian pattern for making active transitive verbs.

Because hubung by itself is not normally used as a complete everyday verb meaning to contact.

In Indonesian, many roots need affixes to become natural verbs in a sentence. Here:

• hubung = root
• menghubungi = active verb, to contact

So if you want to say someone contacted someone else, menghubungi is the correct full verb form.

The prefix meng- usually marks an active verb, especially when the subject is doing something to an object.

In this sentence:

• pihak sekolah does the action
• orang tua receives the action

So menghubungi is an active verb meaning to contact someone.

This is why the sentence feels similar to English The school contacted the parents.

The suffix -i often helps form verbs that act directly on an object, especially when the action is directed toward a person, place, or target.

With menghubungi, the target of the action is the person being contacted:

• menghubungi orang tua = contact the parents

You do not need to master every nuance of -i right away, but it is useful to recognize that menghubungi is the standard verb form for contacting someone.

It can mean either, depending on context.

• orang tua = parents
• literally it can also mean old people or elderly people

In this sentence, because of the school context, orang tua clearly means parents.

So pihak sekolah menghubungi orang tua is understood as the school contacted the parents, not the school contacted old people.

It is often understood as parents in a general or collective sense.

Indonesian nouns usually do not have special singular/plural endings like English does. The exact number is often understood from context.

So orang tua can refer to:

• the parents in general
• a child’s parent(s)
• parents as a group

In school-related language, it often works like the parents in English.

Indonesian usually does not use articles like the or a/an.

So:

• pihak sekolah can mean the school side or the school authorities
• orang tua can mean parents or the parents

Context tells you how definite the meaning is.

This is very normal in Indonesian, so you should not expect an exact equivalent of English articles in every sentence.

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

So menghubungi by itself does not tell you whether the action is present, past, or future. Time is usually understood from context or from time words such as:

• kemarin = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• besok = tomorrow
• sudah = already
• akan = will

Without extra context, menghubungi can be translated in different ways depending on the situation.

Yes, it sounds fairly formal or institutional, mainly because of pihak sekolah.

A less formal version might be:

• Sekolah menghubungi orang tua.

That still means basically the same thing, but pihak sekolah sounds more like official school communication.

Yes, you could.

• Pihak sekolah menghubungi orang tua = more formal, official
• Sekolah menghubungi orang tua = simpler and more direct

Both are understandable. The version with pihak is especially common in notices, announcements, and formal reporting.

Because orang tua is the direct object of the verb menghubungi.

In English, we say contact someone, not contact to someone. Indonesian works similarly here:

• menghubungi orang tua = contact the parents

So no extra preposition is needed.

Yes, sometimes in real usage it can refer generally to a child’s parent or guardian situation, especially when speaking broadly.

However, in many contexts it is naturally translated as parents.

If someone specifically wants to say one parent, they might use:

• ibu = mother
• ayah = father
• orang tua murid in a general sense, depending on context

So the exact English translation depends on the situation, but parents is usually the safest choice here.

A common passive version would be:

Orang tua dihubungi pihak sekolah.

That means The parents were contacted by the school or The parents are contacted by the school, depending on context.

Compare:

• Pihak sekolah menghubungi orang tua. = active
• Orang tua dihubungi pihak sekolah. = passive

This is a very useful contrast in Indonesian grammar.