The Individual: Personal Identity, Relationships and Daily Life
What this domain asks you to do
Questions in this domain test whether you can talk about yourself and other people in natural, accurate Indonesian: family, friendships, school life, hobbies, feelings, plans and personal values. You need vocabulary for relationships (ayah, ibu, kakak, adik, sepupu, tetangga, sahabat), for emotions (senang, bangga, kecewa, gugup, malu, cemas), and for describing character (rajin, malas, sabar, pemalu, ramah, keras kepala).
Grammar you must control
- Affixes on adjectives and verbs: ke-...-an nouns (senang → kesenangan), peN-...-an nouns (temu → pertemuan), meN- verbs (bantu → membantu), ber- verbs (kerja → bekerja), and di- passives (dibantu).
- Pronouns and address terms: aku/kamu in informal talk with friends, saya/Anda in formal writing, dia vs beliau, and kami (we, excluding you) vs kita (we, including you).
- Comparatives and superlatives: lebih ... daripada, paling ..., se-...-nya (sebaik-baiknya).
- Prepositions and time markers: sejak, selama, setelah, sebelum, sambil, ketika, whereas untuk and bagi differ in register.
Traps that appear in questions
- kami/kita confusion in comprehension items about who is included.
- Adjective vs adverb: dia berbicara dengan sopan (adverb) vs dia anak yang sopan (adjective).
- Tense-like markers: sudah, telah, pernah (past/experience); akan, mau (future); sedang (ongoing). A text saying pernah means experience, not a current habit.
- False friends: malu is shy/ashamed, not "malas"; benci is hate, not "bencana".
- Reduplication changes meaning: anak-anak (children), hati-hati (carefully), sama-sama (you're welcome / together).
Worked example
Prompt: Describe a person you admire and explain why. A strong answer uses a clear structure: topic sentence (Orang yang paling saya kagumi adalah nenek saya), two reasons with evidence (Beliau selalu sabar menghadapi masalah; ketika saya gagal ujian, beliau menasihati saya agar tidak menyerah), and a closing reflection (Dari beliau saya belajar bahwa kegagalan bukan akhir segalanya). Note the use of beliau for respect, agar for purpose, and the passive diharapkan if you need formality.
Rule of thumb
Match pronoun and register to the audience: informal aku/kamu for a diary or friend's message, formal saya/Anda for a letter to a principal or an article.