When to use it
Use it to ask a teacher or a colleague before writing an official letter.
The sentence in English: “How do you write a formal letter in French?”
"How do you write a formal letter in French?" uses "in French" for the language.
- How
- adverbquestion word asking about the way or manner
- do
- auxiliary verbdo · tense: present · auxiliary that makes the question
- you
- pronounpersonal pronoun used for people in general
- write
- verbwrite · form: base form (infinitive without "to") · main verb after "do you"
- a
- determinerindefinite article
- formal
- adjectiveadjective
- letter
- nounnoun
- in
- prepositionpreposition
- French
- nounnoun; the name of the language, always capitalised
The sentence in Indonesian: “Bagaimana cara menulis surat resmi dalam bahasa Prancis?”
"Bagaimana cara menulis surat resmi dalam bahasa Prancis?" says "in the language of France".
- Bagaimana
- adverb"how"
- cara
- noun"way"
- menulis
- verbtulis · form: men- + tulis · "write"
- surat
- noun"letter"
- resmi
- adjective"formal, official"
- dalam
- preposition"in"
- bahasa
- noun"language"
- Prancis
- proper noun"France"; "bahasa Prancis" = French
What changes from one language to the other: English × Indonesian
English has one word for the language, "French"; Indonesian says "bahasa Prancis" (language of France). The adjective comes before the noun in English and after it in Indonesian.
Example conversation
— Bagaimana cara menulis surat resmi dalam bahasa Prancis?
— How do you write a formal letter in French?
— Mulailah dengan "Madame, Monsieur".
— Start with "Madame, Monsieur".