"Mereka makan."

Translation: They eat.

[Kdhy11]

Why not "They are eating"? "eating" is one of the solutions, according to the drop-down menu

[duolingotfek]

They are eating can be both translated into:

"Mereka makan"

And

"Mereka sedang makan"

The word "sedang" is actually optional. Remember, Indonesian is a flexible language with no tenses. To describe past, future and continuous tenses, we just add descriptive words without changing the base words and or add grammatical rules.

I ate - Saya makan

I was eating - Saya makan

I eat - Saya makan

I am eating -Saya (sedang) makan

I will eat - Saya akan makan

I will be eating - Saya akan makan

Etc.

[deactivated user]

That's why they believe Indonesian are sweet, as well as their flexible language. :)

[RamenDutchman]

So "they are eating" should be accepted too..?
This is a genuine question by the way (^^;

[Rivaldo635131]

If we you wanna use continuous tense, you should put word "sedang" before the verb.

[cervido]

According to Wiktionary and as confirmed by this question's audio, the word "mereka" seems to have two different E sounds. Here is the IPA provided on Wiktionary:

/məreka/

Does the letter 'e' often have different sounds in Indonesian, or is this a special case?