"Yang mana tomat yang termerah itu?"
Translation:Which one is the reddest tomato?
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One of the functions of "itu" or "ini" is "is/are/am". "Itu" in this particular sentence is a casual version of "adalah". "Itu/ini" makes the tone of the whole sentence stronger or softer -- It totally depends. So, "itu" is not useless here :) But you can omit "itu/ini" without significantly change the meaning.
You'll find the same structure in other Duolingo lessons (you'll probably find them in the later stage):
"Kamu INI sangat memalukan." = "You are very embarrassing." (itu = are, and the speaker is strongly condemning. The speaker and "kamu" are likely to be in a close distance. So, "ini" instead of "itu" is chosen.)
"Apakah energi ITU?" = "What is energy?" (itu = is; the speaker is asking the "general" concept of energy. It doesn't mean "that" energy.)
Re: these two sentences, I got answers from Indonesian native speakers. So, I'm almost sure that this tomato sentence has the same structure.
1224
I think the sentence is parsed in this way:
- Yang mana [tomat [yang termerah] itu]?
Hence a clumsy literal translation is
- Which is the tomato that is the reddest?
1032
Frankly, we don't speak like this in daily conversation. Instead, we will say 'Tomat mana yang paling merah?'