A letter for me (20 years ago)

Dear Inayah,

Hi, what are you doing? I will introduce my self, I am Inayah from the future. Don't be afraid, I don't want to kidnap you. You might wonder why I use English, this is related to this letter. I want to advise you to study hard. Learn English as well as possible because this is very important for your future.

What is it ‘to be’?

Just a quick question, do you know ‘‘to be’’? This is a basic thing, and I am in the future having trouble to know it. Luckily the technology is sophisticated, I can ask this to an English language tutor. I will tell you about that.

‘to be’ is an auxillary verb or linking verb or in Bahasa it can be said ‘to be’ an auxiliary verb. ‘to be’ needed in a sentence in English because in each sentence in English requires a verb, and ‘to be’ helps v-ing (present participle) and v-3 (past participle) to form a sentence.

Example:

1. I am cleaning the house. ‘to be’ (am) is needed because we cannot say I cleaning the house. This sentence also becomes an active sentence

2. The house is cleaned by us. ‘to be’ (is) needed because we cannot say the house was cleaned by us. This sentence also becomes a passive sentence.

‘to be’ in addition to v-ing and v-3 are also needed for:

1. a noun (noun)

2. an adjective (adjective)

‘to be’ was-were

I was a student in Bogor Agricultural University. What does it mean? the statement was is mean 'dulu' not 'telah. If we can say this is called simple past. For the word 'telah' we can use have / has / had.

Example:

1. I have eaten (I've eaten) the present perfect.

2. She has eaten (she has / has eaten) the present perfect.

3. I had eaten when she came (I had eaten when she first came) past perfect.

4. I ate (I used to eat, now I don't eat anymore) simple past tense.

5. I was eating (when I was eating, now I didn't eat anymore) past continuous tense.

6. I am eating (I am eating, now not finished) present continuous tense.

 ‘to be’ in Bahasa

In Bahasa, one sentence is 1 subject and 1 predicate. Predicates in Bahasa can be verbs or adjectives or nouns whereas in English the title requires verbs (v1 and v2) or auxiliary verbs (‘to be’ + ving or ‘to be’ + v3).

Example:

1. I am a teacher (I am a teacher)

2. She is smart (she is smart)

3. He is studying (he is studying)

Could you please translate the song from Avril Lavigne “I wish you were here”?

And I remember, all those crazy things you said  

>> Dan aku ingat semua hal gila yang kamu katakan 

You left them running through my head 

>> Kamu membuatnya berputar-putar melintasi kepalaku
You're always there, you're everywhere
>> kamu selalu ada di sana, kamu ada di mana-mana
But right now I wish you were here
>> Tapi saat ini aku berharap kau ada di sini

All those crazy things we did
>> semua hal gila yang kita lakukan
Didn't think about it, just went with it
>> Jangan dipikirkan, jalani saja
You're always there, you're everywhere
>> kamu selalu ada di sana, kamu ada di mana-mana
But right now I wish you were here
>> Tapi saat ini aku berharap kau ada di sini

Damn, damn, damn,
>> sialan, sialan, sialan
What I'd do to have you
>> Apa yang harus aku lkaukan untuk memilikimu di sini (bersamamu di sini)
Here, here, here
>> di sini, di sini, di sini,
I wish you were here
>> aku berharap kau ada di sini

This is the end of my letter. You don't need to know what the tenses are and what formulas or formulas. But if you understand the use and can use it, it's more important. Happy learning, don't forget to play with your friends and recite qur’an.