Ngaco Meaning In Indonesian

Halo semuanya. Apa kabar? Ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk about the meaning of [ngaco] in the Indonesian language. As always, we will watch videos from a real-life example spoken by native Indonesian speakers where the word [ngaco] is spoken.

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.

Okay, let's get started, shall we?

Ngaco In Indonesian

[Ngaco] can have multiple meanings. [Ngaco] can mean that there is something incorrect or wrong. For example, you give an answer or a statement to someone, and then your friend says that your answer or your statement is wrong by using the word [ngaco].

A: Eh, kayanya si Lisa ama si Budi udah jadian deh. Mereka kemana-mana berdua mulu gitu. (Hey, I think Lisa and Budi now are in a relationship. They are always together everywhere they go.)

B: Ngaco aja loe! Mereka ngga jadian. Mereka itu udah temenan dari lama dan gaya temenan mereka emang kaya orang pacaran gitu. (No! They are not in a relationship. They have been friends for so long, and their style of friendship is like they are in a relationship, but they're not.)  

Here is the audio version of the example sentences above.

Another meaning of [ngaco] is when someone is considered bad, not thinking clearly, or usually doing something awful or talking something that is nonsense, then you can say that the person is being [ngaco].

How to Pronounce Ngaco

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

Next, we will see examples where Indonesian people use the word [ngaco].

Examples of Ngaco In Use

In this section, I will gather examples from movies, YouTube videos, or anything where there is a word [ngaco] used by native Indonesian speakers.

The first clip we are about to watch is from Vindes's YouTube channel. Let's watch the clip below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Pak Guru Iman (@pakguruiman)

Below is the conversation from the clip with English translations.

Wulan: Banyak yang bilang gitu. (Many people say that about me.)

Vincent: Iya. (Yeah.)

Wulan: Begitu kenal gue. Gila! Ternyata loe orangnya seru ya, rame ya. Eee, ngaco ya. Gitu. (When they get to know me. Damn! You're actually a fun and lively person. Ngaco. That's what they said to me.)

Desta: Iya, bener. (Yeah, that’s right.)

Wulan: Ngaco dalam arti yang positif ya. (In this case, ngaco in a positive meaning.)

Vincent: Iya, iya. (Yeah, yeah.)

Desta: Negatif juga ngga papa lah. (In a positive or a negative meaning, either way, are okay.)

In this conversation, Wulan Guritno says that many people say that she is actually [ngaco] when they get to know her better. [Ngaco] in this context means crazy in a positive way. 

Wulan is described as [ngaco] means that not only is Wulan sometimes crazy, in the sense that she is not ashamed to do something that looks stupid, goofing around, but she is also fun to talk to. That's the meaning of [ngaco] in this context.

The second example is from someone's twit on Twitter. I screenshotted it, and let's see the screenshot below.

It has typos on it and has so many abbreviations, so I will try to write it again, and I will write with no abbreviations in my writing so that it is easy for you to understand.

Panca66: Said Aqil ngomong gitu, "Diutamakan muslim tapi kalo sudah ngga ada yang jujur, mending non-muslim tapi jujur." (Said Aqil says this, "Preference is given to Muslims, but if there is no honest Muslims, it is better to be non-Muslim but honest.")

Republik Dagelan: Ngaco aja loe! Ngga ada dia ngomong seperti itu. (You're just making that up! He never said something like that.)  

In this conversation, Republik Dagelan says that what Panca66 was saying was wrong. That's why he says, "Ngaco aja loe!"

So, the meaning of [ngaco] here refers to the first meaning of [ngaco], which is stating that the statement that someone made is wrong.

The third example is from the novel Young Adult: Rahasia Tergelap. Let's see the screenshot below.

I will write them down again with English translations. So, here they are.

"Udah, anak 4D kok didengerin?" Delilah tertawa. "Udah tahu omongan Giselle suka aneh-aneh!" ("Come on, why are you listening to this crazy bitch?" Delilah is laughing. "You know that Giselle likes to talk rubbish!")

"Iya, lama-lama lo bukan 4D lagi, Sel, tapi korslet," tukas Paulin. ("Yeah, after a while, not only won't you become an eccentric personality disorder person anymore, but you'll have gone totally crazy," said Paulin.)

"Enak aja korslet," tolakku dengan sebutan baru itu. "Kayaknya 4D kedengeran lebih bagus." ("I ain't gone crazy," said I to her refusing the nickname that they just gave me. "I guess eccentric personality disorder person sounds much better.")

"Whatever. Intinya, lo emang ngaco." Paulin mengibaskan tangan. "Yuk ah kita jalan. Gue mau buru-buru pulang." ("Whatever. The point is you are crazy." Paulin waved her hand. "Come on. Let's roll. I wanna hurry home.")

In this short conversation, Paulin said to Giselle, "Intinya, lo emang ngaco."[Ngaco] here refers to Giselle, who is considered a crazy person by Paulin because Giselle has a strange way of looking at things that are not normal.

     Read also: Cek Ombak In Indonesian

So, I guess it wraps up today's article. If I find another example where the word [ngaco] is being used, Insha Allah, I will update this article again. Bye now.