Beut or Bet In Indonesian

Bete Meaning In Indonesian

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi sama saya, Iman Prabawa. This time, I'm going to talk about the meaning of a slang term in the Indonesian language, that is, [bete]. As always, we will watch examples where the word [bete] is used by Indonesians.

Bete Meaning In Indonesian Language

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly. You can see how to do that on my About Me page. 

If you are a beginner in the Indonesian language, you can learn step by step with My Lesson Here.

So, without further ado, let's talk about it!


Bete In Indonesian

[Bete] is a state of being in a bad mood, unhappy, disappointed, angry, or bored. This is usually because something bad happened to you or someone did something bad to you. It makes you upset, angry, unhappy, or bored.

For example, you and your friend are ordering food, and then it takes a long time to get your food because a lot of people are also ordering the food. And then you said to your friend,

Eh, gue bete nih! Lama banget deh jadinya ini makanan. Kita pergi dulu aja kali ya? Ntar kita ke sini lagi. (Hey, I'm bored! It takes so long fo them to make our food. How about if we go somewhere for a short while and then we come back again here to get our food?)

And here is the audio version.

That's one example of the meaning of [bete], which is that you feel bored. You can say [bete] when you feel bored.

You can also say [bete] if you get pissed with someone. For example:

Gue bete sama si Adi, tiap ketemu dia pasti ngatain gue mulu. (I'm pissed with Adi. Every time I meet him, he's always calling me names.)

Here is the audio version.

There is also a song titled [bete] by Dewiq. I will embed the song below.

This song talks about someone who is upset and has had enough with her boyfriend because her boyfriend is too controlling.


How to Pronounce Bete

Here is how you pronounce [bete] in bahasa Indonesia.

Next, let's watch a scene from a movie where this word is spoken.


Example of Bete In Use

In this section, I will show you clips from movies, YouTube videos, and whatnot where the word [bete] is used by Indonesians.

The first example is from a TV Series called Tetangga Masa Gitu (2014). Let's watch the clip below.

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

Adi: Ya iya, gara-gara istri kamu saya jadi bete tuh sama si Angel! (Yeah, because of your wife, I got upset with Angel.)

Bastian: Ooo. Pasti mas Adi kalah berdebat ya sama mba Angel, ya? Makanya mas, pernikahan itu jangan disamain sama main game di rental PS. (Oh, I get it! I bet you lose the argument to Angel, right? That's why you can't equate marriage with playing a game on the Playstation for rent.)

In the scene, Adi gets upset with her wife because of something Bastian's wife did. So, [bete] in this scene means got upset with someone.


Vocabulary from the scene

[Ya iya] is used when you agree with what someone said.

[Gara-gara] = because of.

[Jadi] is short for [menjadi]. In this context, it means [turns into]. In this case, Adi, from calm, turns into getting mad at her wife.

[Kalah] = lose.

[Pasti] = certain, but in this case, it is used when you're certain about something. It's like [I bet] in English. In this scene, Bastian is certain that Adi is losing the argument with his wife.

[Makanya] is usually used when you start giving advice to someone.

[Pernikahan] = marriage.

[PS] stands for PlayStation. In Indonesia, there are places where you will find Playstation is being rented. 


The second example is from a movie called Ada Apa Dengan Cinta 1 (2002). Let's watch the clip below.


The conversation from the scene with English translations is as follows.

Cinta: Halo. (Hello.)

Alya: Ta? Masih bete ngga, Ta? (Ta? Still upset, Ta?)

Cinta: Ya gitu deh, Al. Ngga tau. Tau ngga sih? Orangnya tu nyebelin banget! Tau ngga sih? Baru tau gue ada orang kek dia! Iya. Dari mukanya aja udah ngga ngenakin! Loe tau ngga bukunya? Bukunya aja udah sok antik! Kalo gue rasa tu cuma biar keliatan lebih intelek aja. Tau ngga? (Yeah, what can I do about it? Hey, you know what? That boy is so annoying! You know what I mean? I haven't met a person that is as annoying as he is! I hate the look of his face! You know his book he carries around? His book is so, like, ancient! I guess he just reads it just to seem smarter than what he really is. You know what I mean.)

Alya: Iya, iya. Gue denger. (Yeah. I get it.)

Cinta got upset with a boy in their school in this scene because she wanted to interview him, but the boy refused her. Alya knew about it, that why she said to Cinta,
Masih bete, ngga, Ta? (Are you still upset, Ta?)
And then Cinta replied with [ya gitu deh]. In this context, it means that Cinta still feels upset with the boy.


Vocabulary From the Scene

[Ngga tahu] = I don't know, but Cinta said it just as a filler in this scene. It has no meaning in this context.

[Tu] is short for [itu] = that. In daily conversation, Indonesian people usually drop letters and words when they speak, and this is one example of how Indonesian people drop letters when they speak.

[Nyebelin] is the colloquial way of saying [menyebalkan] = annoying. The base word is [sebal], and for more about this, you can read my article, Sebel Meaning in the Indonesian Language.

[Ngga ngenakin] is usually spoken when you hate someone's attitude or the expression on their face showing emotion that you don't like, maybe like they are mocking you. Example: Ekpresi muka kamu itu ngga ngenakin banget sih? (I don't like the expression on your face.)

[Tau] is the colloquial way of saying [tahu] = to know. Usually, when pronouncing [tahu], you don't pronounce the letter [h]. If you pronounce the letter [h], then the meaning changes; [tahu] means [tofu].

[Kalo] is the colloquial way of saying [kalau] = if.

[Kalo gue rasa] is used when you want to express your idea. It has the same meaning as [in my opinion].


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

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