Breakdown of Di sekolah, guru sejarah menerangkan perbezaan budaya antara benua.
Questions & Answers about Di sekolah, guru sejarah menerangkan perbezaan budaya antara benua.
Di is a general locative preposition. It usually corresponds to at / in / on depending on context.
- di sekolah can be translated as at school or in school. English has to choose one preposition, but Malay does not.
- This is the normal way to say at school in a neutral way.
Compare:
- di sekolah – at/in school (location, no movement)
- ke sekolah – to school (movement towards)
- di dalam sekolah – inside the school (emphasises being inside the building/compound)
Malay does not use articles like a/an and the. Guru sejarah by itself is neutral: it could be a history teacher or the history teacher, depending on context.
You show definiteness in other ways:
- guru sejarah – a/the history teacher (context decides)
- seorang guru sejarah – a history teacher (emphasises one person)
- guru sejarah itu – that history teacher / the history teacher (more clearly definite)
- guru sejarah saya – my history teacher (definite because it’s specified)
In your sentence, English naturally chooses the history teacher, but Malay doesn’t force that distinction.
In Malay, the main noun (head) usually comes first, and the describing noun comes after it.
- guru sejarah = teacher (of) history → history teacher
- guru is the head (teacher)
- sejarah modifies it (history)
- sejarah guru would mean the teacher’s history/background, not history teacher.
Other examples with the same pattern:
- buku sejarah – history book
- guru bahasa Inggeris – English language teacher
- pelajar universiti – university student
So guru sejarah is the correct order for history teacher.
Starting with Di sekolah, is a common way to set the scene (where something happens) before giving the main action.
- Di sekolah, guru sejarah menerangkan… – At school, the history teacher explained…
- Guru sejarah menerangkan… di sekolah. – The history teacher explained… at school.
Both word orders are grammatically correct and mean the same thing. Putting di sekolah first makes the location feel like background information or emphasis at the start.
The comma is normal in writing after a fronted time/place phrase but is not required in speech.
The root word is terang, which means clear / bright.
The verb menerangkan is built as:
- meN‑ + terang + ‑kan → menerangkan
Roughly, me‑…‑kan verbs often mean “to make [something] X” or “to do X to something”. So:
- terang – clear, bright
- menerangkan – to make something clear, to explain something
This verb normally takes an object:
- guru sejarah menerangkan perbezaan budaya
the history teacher explains the cultural differences
Compare:
- menjelaskan – also to explain / to clarify, very close in meaning to menerangkan in this context
- menerangi – from terang with meN‑…‑i, usually to illuminate / to light up a place (literal or figurative), e.g. lampu menerangi bilik – the lamp lights up the room
In your sentence, menerangkan is the standard choice for explaining an idea.
The base word is beza, which means different / to differ.
Perbezaan is formed with the per‑…‑an noun pattern:
- per‑ + beza + ‑an → perbezaan
The meanings:
- beza – different / to differ
- Warna ini beza. – These colours are different.
- perbezaan – difference (the abstract noun)
- perbezaan budaya – cultural differences
So:
- Use beza as an adjective/verb (different / to be different)
- Use perbezaan as a noun (a difference / the difference / differences)
You might also see perbezaannya (with ‑nya) to mean the difference (specifically, its/their difference or that difference).
Both budaya and kebudayaan can mean culture, but there is a nuance:
- budaya – common, everyday, neutral term for culture
- kebudayaan – often slightly more formal / academic, or used when talking about culture in a broader or more institutional sense (e.g. ministries, disciplines)
In your sentence:
- perbezaan budaya antara benua – natural, neutral: cultural differences between continents
- perbezaan kebudayaan antara benua – also correct, sounds a bit more formal or academic
Both are acceptable; budaya is very common in speech and general writing.
Antara can mean both between and among, depending on context.
- With two or more specific items:
antara Asia dan Eropah – between Asia and Europe
antara murid-murid – among the students - With a general category:
perbezaan budaya antara benua – cultural differences between/among continents (in general)
Malay usually does not mark plural with a separate word. Benua can be continent / continents, depending on context.
To make plurality explicit, you can repeat the noun:
- benua-benua – continents (all / many continents)
- antara benua-benua – among/between the continents
In normal usage, antara benua already naturally implies more than one continent.
Malay verbs generally do not change form for tense. Menerangkan can be explains, is explaining, or explained, depending on context.
Time is usually shown with time words or aspect markers, for example:
- tadi – earlier
- semalam – yesterday
- akan – will (future marker)
- sedang – in the middle of doing (progressive)
- sudah / telah – already (completed)
Using your sentence:
- Tadi di sekolah, guru sejarah menerangkan… – Earlier at school, the history teacher explained…
- Sekarang di sekolah, guru sejarah sedang menerangkan… – Now at school, the history teacher is explaining…
- Esok di sekolah, guru sejarah akan menerangkan… – Tomorrow at school, the history teacher will explain…
Without such markers, the default is interpreted from context, and can often be understood as simple present or past.
It’s normal. Here, the subject is a full noun phrase: guru sejarah (the history teacher). Malay does not need an extra pronoun like he or she.
If you want to use a pronoun:
- Dia menerangkan perbezaan budaya antara benua di sekolah.
– He/She explained the differences in culture between continents at school.
Notes:
- dia means he or she; it does not show gender.
- You usually don’t say both guru sejarah dia and dia as separate subjects. You pick one:
- Guru sejarah itu menerangkan… – That/the history teacher explained…
- Dia menerangkan… – He/She explained…
If you want to be explicit that dia refers to the history teacher, you rely on context from previous sentences.
Both refer to teachers, but they differ in register and usage:
- guru – neutral and more formal; used in writing, official contexts, and general descriptions.
- guru sejarah – history teacher (formal/neutral)
- cikgu – more informal / affectionate; very common when addressing a teacher, especially at school.
- Cikgu, saya tak faham. – Sir/Miss, I don’t understand.
You could hear:
- Cikgu sejarah saya baik. – My history teacher is nice. (informal speech)
In a neutral written sentence like yours, guru sejarah is the more typical choice.