When to use it
Use it at a hotel, a restaurant or on the phone to ask how to cancel a booking.
The sentence in English — “How do I cancel a reservation?”
"How do I cancel a reservation?" builds the question with the helper "do".
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- I
- pronounpersonal pronoun, always written with a capital letter
- cancel
- verbcancel · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do I"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- reservation
- nounnoun; in British English also "booking"
The sentence in Indonesian — “Bagaimana cara membatalkan reservasi?”
"Bagaimana cara membatalkan reservasi?" asks "what is the way" (cara) and needs no subject: it is clear from context.
- Bagaimana
- adverb"how"
- cara
- noun"way, method"; "bagaimana cara" = "how do I"
- membatalkan
- verbbatal · form: mem- + batal + -kan · "cancel"; -kan makes it "to make something cancelled"
- reservasi
- noun"reservation", a loanword
English × Indonesian — What changes from one language to the other
English needs "do I"; Indonesian uses "bagaimana cara" and leaves the subject out. The verb "membatalkan" is made from "batal" (cancelled) with mem- and -kan.
Example conversation
— Bagaimana cara membatalkan reservasi?
— How do I cancel a reservation?
— Bisa lewat situs web atau di resepsionis.
— You can do it on the website or at the front desk.