"Komunikasi itu sangat penting."

Translation: Communication is very important.

[Bobh42]

Good question. "That communication is very important " is not accepted

[donny309620]

Why there is "itu" in the Indonesian sentence?

[KamoSaru]

"itu" could mean "is" or "are".
Menjadi tua itu pasti.=Becoming old is certain.
Kesan pertama itu penting.=First impressions are important.
Komunikasi itu sangat penting.=Communication is very important.

[Nancy757351]

I don't understand either. How do we know when itu means "that" or "is". Is there a rule?

[MichaellaGabs]

Actually, as a native speaker I don't really think so if there's a special rule about this one.

But the word 'Itu' itself has several function such as :

Mobil itu = That car
Buku itu = That book

Mostly, 'itu' means that for a THING.

So that + thing = Itu

But we can also use 'itu' as : 'is' 'am' or even 'are' for when it comes to a verb.

For example :

Mereka itu jahat = They ARE evil.

Saya itu baru disini = I AM new here

Dia itu malas = He/She IS lazy.

I guess that was the answer of your question, hope it'll help :)

[MichaellaGabs]

Sorry for my bad english I'm trying my best to explain this one

[S9N1t]

Thank you, it's great to get an answer from a native speaker! Very useful.

[S9N1t]

See https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/31492712