Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.

The teacher asks me to repeat that question again.

Breakdown of Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.

• itu: that
• soalan: the question
• guru: the teacher
• saya: me
• meminta: to ask
• sekali lagi: again
• ulang: to repeat

Questions & Answers about Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.

What does meminta mean here, and how is it different from tanya or bertanya?

In this sentence, meminta means “to ask (someone to do something) / to request”, not “to ask a question”.

• meminta = to request / to ask someone to do something

  • Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu.
    = The teacher asked me to repeat that question.

• tanya / bertanya = to ask a question (to seek information)

  • Murid bertanya soalan kepada guru.
    = The student asked a question to the teacher.

So:

• Use meminta when you want someone to do something.
• Use tanya / bertanya when you want to know something.

Why is it meminta saya ulang and not something like meminta kepada saya?

The pattern with meminta is:

1. meminta + thing

   • Dia meminta bantuan. = He asked for help.

2. meminta + person + (to do something)

   • Ibu meminta saya datang awal. = Mother asked me to come early.
   • Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu. = The teacher asked me to repeat that question.

You don’t say meminta kepada saya in this structure.
Instead, the person is a direct object after meminta:

• ✅ meminta saya ulang…
• ❌ meminta kepada saya ulang…

Why is it ulang and not mengulang or mengulangi here?

Malay often uses the base verb after another verb that already carries the main grammar:

• boleh pergi (can go)
• suka makan (like to eat)
• mahu tidur (want to sleep)

Similarly:

• meminta saya ulang
  = asked me to repeat

You can also say:

• Guru meminta saya mengulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
• Guru meminta saya mengulangi soalan itu sekali lagi.

All three are understandable. Differences in feel:

• ulang – very common, neutral, natural in everyday speech.
• mengulang – slightly more formal; often “to redo/revise” (e.g. repeat an exam).
• mengulangi – clearly transitive (“repeat something”), a bit more formal/written.

In this context, ulang is perfectly natural and common.

Could I say Guru meminta saya untuk ulang soalan itu sekali lagi? Do I need untuk?

Yes, you can say it, and untuk is optional here.

All of these are grammatical:

• Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
• Guru meminta saya untuk ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
• Guru meminta saya untuk mengulang soalan itu sekali lagi.

Patterns:

• meminta + person + (untuk) + verb
  
  • Dia meminta saya (untuk) datang awal.

In everyday Malay, untuk is often omitted after verbs like mahu, boleh, suka, cuba, minta, perlu when followed by another verb.

How do we know this means “The teacher *asked me*” (past) and not “asks” or “will ask”?

Malay verbs do not change form for tense.
meminta can mean:

• asked (past)
• is asking (present)
• will ask (future)

The tense comes from context or time words, not from the verb form:

• Tadi guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu.
  = Earlier, the teacher asked me…

• Sekarang guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu.
  = Now the teacher is asking me…

• Nanti guru akan meminta saya ulang soalan itu.
  = Later the teacher will ask me…

In your isolated sentence, English usually chooses past:
“The teacher asked me to repeat that question again.”

Why is it soalan itu and not itu soalan? What does itu do here?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning “that” (or sometimes “the” in context).

In Malay, demonstratives usually come after the noun:

• buku itu = that book
• rumah itu = that house
• soalan itu = that question

So:

• ✅ soalan itu = that question
• ❌ itu soalan (this would sound like “that is a question”, and even then you’d normally say itu adalah soalan or just itu soalan in a different sentence structure.)

Also:

• soalan is the common word for “question” (esp. exam/test questions).
• Another word pertanyaan means “inquiry / question”, but soalan is the default in school/teacher contexts like this one.

What exactly does sekali lagi mean? Is it different from lagi sekali or just lagi?

• sekali lagi = one more time / once again / once more

  • Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
    = The teacher asked me to repeat the question one more time.

• lagi sekali – widely used in speech, especially in Malaysia, and generally means the same thing. Some speakers feel:

  • sekali lagi sounds a bit more standard/formal,
  • lagi sekali sounds more colloquial.

• lagi by itself can mean again / more:

  • Ulang lagi. = Repeat again.
  • Ada lagi? = Is there more?

So here:

• sekali lagi = nicely explicit “once again / one more time”.

Why is saya used here instead of aku? Can I drop saya?

saya and aku both mean “I / me”, but:

• saya – polite, neutral, used in formal or respectful situations (with teachers, strangers, workplace, etc.).
• aku – informal, used with close friends, family, or in casual speech; can sound rude in the wrong context.

Since this sentence involves a teacher, saya is the normal polite choice.

About dropping saya:

• Guru meminta saya ulang soalan itu… – clear: “asked me to repeat…”
• ❌ Guru meminta ulang soalan itu… – sounds incomplete/awkward in active voice; we don’t know who is supposed to repeat it.

You can avoid mentioning the person by using a passive-like form:

• Guru meminta supaya soalan itu diulang sekali lagi.
  = The teacher asked that the question be repeated once more.

But in the original active structure, saya is needed.

Is there a difference between ulang soalan itu and ulangi soalan itu?

Both are understandable and both can occur with an object:

• ulang soalan itu – very common, everyday style.
• ulangi soalan itu – more clearly marked as a transitive verb (“repeat that question”), often sounds a bit more formal or careful.

Examples:

• Tolong ulang ayat itu.
• Tolong ulangi ayat itu.

In modern Malay, using the base verb + object (e.g. buka pintu, tutup lampu, ulang soalan) is very normal, so ulang soalan itu is completely natural in this sentence.

Are there other natural ways to say this sentence in Malay?

Yes, several variants are possible, with slightly different nuances but similar meaning:

1. Guru meminta saya mengulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
   – Slightly more formal with mengulang.

2. Guru meminta saya mengulangi soalan itu sekali lagi.
   – Very clear transitive form; more formal/written style.

3. Guru menyuruh saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
   – menyuruh = told/ordered; feels a bit stronger, more like a command.

4. Guru meminta supaya saya ulang soalan itu sekali lagi.
   – Adds supaya (“so that / that”), often used in more formal or written language.

All of these keep the same basic idea: the teacher asked/told me to repeat that question again.