Sebelas Duabelas Meaning In Indonesian

Halo semuanya, apa kabar? We're going to learn an Indonesian idiom [sebelas duabelas]. As always, we're gonna watch a scene from an Indonesian movie where this idiom is spoken.

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     Read also: Ogah Meaning In Bahasa

Without further ado, let's jump right in.

Sebelas Duabelas Meaning

Literally, [sebelas] is [eleven], and [dua belas] is [twelfth]. So, if we translate this literally, sebelas duabelas would be translated into,

Eleven twelfth.

It's kind of weird and doesn't make any sense, right. Actually, if you said that something or someone is sebelas duabelas, it means that those two are more or less the same. 

I will give you an example. Situation: You are with your friend, and you see two bags in front of you, and then you ask your friend's opinion about those two bags.

A: Gimana menurut loe tas yang ini? (What do you think about this bag?)

B: Tas ini kalau menurut gue sih bagus. (I think this bag is good.)

A: Kalau tas yang itu gimana? (What about that bag?)

B: Sebelas duabelas lah sama tas yang ini, gue bilang mah. (I think they are more or less the same.)

B said that those two bags are more or less the same in quality.

How to Pronounce Sebelas Duabelas

Let's hear how to pronounce sebelas duabelas in the video down below.

Next, I will give 3 example sentences using this sebelas duabelas idiom.

Sebelas Duabelas Example Sentences

Let's see the three example sentences using sebelas duabelas below.

Example Sentences	English Translation
1. Menurutku kelakuan dia sama orangtuanya sebelas duabelas.	1. I think his attitude, more or less, is the same with his parents.
2. Cantiknya dia, gue bilang sih sebelas duabelas sama Raisa.	2. Her beauty, in my opinion, more or less, is the same as Raisa.
3. A: Menurut loe kegantengan gue sebelas duabelas kan sama Nikolas Saputra? B: Muke loe jauh!	3. A: Do you think that my handsomeness is more or less the same as Nikolas Saputra, right? B: Yeah, in your dream!

Next, we will watch a scene from an Indonesian movie where this Indonesian idiom is spoken.

Examples of Sebelas Duabelas In Use

This section will gather examples from movies where the phrase [sebelas duabelas] is spoken so you can see how Indonesian people use the phrase and to better understand how to use this phrase.

The first clip is taken from a web series on Umay Shahab's youtube channel. Let's watch the clip down below.

The conversation in the scene with English subtitles is as follows.

Alina: Nah, kalo yang lagi boncengin gue ini. Ehem, dia namanya Rendra. Pacar gue. Ya, tapi dia itu sebelas duabelas mulutnya ama Vira. Kadang bisa romantis banget. Kadang bisa bikin gue kesel. (This person who gave me a ride, his name is Rendra. He's my boyfriend. Yeah, but his mouth, more or less, is the same with Vira's mouth. Sometimes he can be really romantic, and sometimes he can make me very upset.)

Alina, in this scene, was talking about her boyfriend Rendra and her friend Vira. Both of them were chatterbox people. That's why she said this,

Dia itu sebelas duabelas mulutnya ama Vira. (His mouth, more or less, is the same with Vira's mouth.)

This sentence means that her boyfriend talks a lot, just like Vira. [Kalo] is informal for [kalau]. [Ama] is informal for [sama]. [Kesel] is informal for [kesal].

The second scene is taken from a serial TV called Para Pencari Tuhan, Season 15, Episode 4 (2022). Let's watch the clip below.

Below is the conversation from the scene above with English translations.

Bang Jack: Nyebelin banget tu bocah! (That kid is so annoying!)

Matahari: Ayahku dulu pas masih kecil, nyebelin juga ngga, om? (When my father was little, was he also an annoying kid?)

Bang Jack: Oh, ayah lo masih kecil lebih parah dari tu bocah. (Oh, when your father was little, he was way worse than that kid.)

Matahari: Berarti om Jack nyebelin juga, dong? Kan sahabatnya? (So, you're also an annoying person, then? Cause you're my father's best friend.)

Bang Jack: Ya.. uhmm.. Ya, sebelas duabelas lah. (Uhm.. Well, yeah, you could say that.)

Matahari: Waduh. (Oh my God.)

In this scene, Bang Jack is Matahari's father's best friend. Before this scene, there is a kid that is so annoying, and Bang Jack feels so annoyed by that kid. That's why he said, "Nyebelin banget tu bocah."

And then Matahari is curious about how her father was when he was little, and because Bang Jack is his father's best friend, she asks this to Bang Jack. Bang Jack said that her father, when he was little, was way worse than the kid, and then Matahari replied with a question.

If his father, when he was little, was an annoying kid, then Matahari thinks, so did Bang Jack because they are best friends, and best friends tend to have the same personalities.

Bang Jack replied with, "Ya, sebelas duabelas lah," which means that he agreed with what Matahari said.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Nyebelin] is the casual way of saying [menyebalkan]. This kind of omitting the first syllable and then adding the suffix -in is common in daily Indonesian conversation. For example: [mengerjakan] --> [ngerjain], [mengantarkan] --> [nganterin], [menyiapkan] --> [nyiapin].

[Banget] = [sekali] = very. We usually use [banget] in conversation more than [sekali]. For example: Tinggi sekali = tinggi banget, pintar sekali = pintar banget.

[Tu] is short for [itu] = that. In daily conversation, it's common for native Indonesian speakers to drop letters in daily conversation, like in this example.

[Ayahku] = [ayah saya] = my father.

[Lo] is informal for [Anda]. To know more about this, you can read my article, Lo In the Indonesian Language.

[Lebih parah dari] = worse than something or someone.

[Sahabat] = friends, in this context it means [best friend].

So, I think that's all for now. If you have any questions, just write them down in the comment section below, and I'll be happy to answer your question. If I find another scene where this idiom is spoken, Insya Allah, I will update this article again. Bye now.