How to Say What Are You Doing in Indonesian
A Useful Indonesian Phrase
Halo, apa kabar semuanya? Ketemu lagi sama saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk to you about how to say, “What are you doing?” in Bahasa Indonesia.
We’re also going to be watching examples from movies where Indonesians use this phrase.
What Are You Doing In Indonesian
First, I’ll give you the formal way to say it, and then I’ll show you some more informal expressions that we commonly use in everyday conversation.
Anda sedang melakukan apa?
This sentence is very formal. Let’s hear how to pronounce it.
You can then change [Anda] to [kamu] to make it less formal. The sentence becomes:
Kamu sedang melakukan apa?
Let’s hear how to pronounce it.
To make it even less formal, you can leave out the word [melakukan]. The sentence then becomes:
Kamu sedang apa?
Let’s hear how to pronounce it.
You can also replace [sedang] with [lagi]. They have the same basic meaning, but we use [lagi] more often in everyday conversation.
Using [lagi] also makes the sentence sound more informal. So, the sentence becomes:
Kamu lagi apa?
Let’s hear how to pronounce it.
And finally, here’s the expression we commonly use in everyday conversation:
Kamu lagi ngapain?
Let’s hear how to pronounce it.
You can also leave out the word [kamu], making the sentence:
Lagi ngapain?
Let’s hear how to pronounce this phrase.
This last form is the one we’re going to hear in a movie scene. This is the exact phrase spoken in the scene.
“Lagi Ngapain?” in a Movie Scene
The first clip we’re about to watch is a clip from a movie called Perahu Kertas 1 (2012). Let’s listen to how the phrase [lagi ngapain] is used in this clip.
In the scene above, Keenan was looking into Kuggy’s room from outside. He then asked:
Lagi ngapain?
Which means:
What are you doing?
He asked this because he wanted to know what she was doing at that moment. As you can see, Keenan left out the word [kamu]. So, instead of saying the full sentence:
Kamu lagi ngapain?
He simply said:
Lagi ngapain?
Kuggy wasn’t doing anything, so she replied:
Lagi ngga ngapa-ngapain.
If we translate this literally into English, it would be:
I’m doing nothing.
You can use this expression when you aren’t doing anything in particular or anything special.
The second clip is from Tetangga Masa Gitu (2014). Let’s watch the clip below.
Below is the transcript from the clip, along with the English translation:
Bintang: Belanja bulanan 565 ribu, ditambah bayar listrik, ditambah bensin mobil.. (Monthly groceries are 565,000 rupiahs, plus the electricity bill, plus gas for the car...)
Bastian: Hai, Bi! Lagi ngapain? (Hey, Bi! What are you doing?)
Bintang: Hai! Aku lagi ini, bikin catatan ini lho..apa..keuangan kita per bulannya. (Hey! I’m just, uh, making a... what do you call it? A monthly budget for our finances.)
Bastian: Ehmm. (Mm-hmmm.)
As you can see from the scene, Bastian came into the room and saw that his wife was doing something. He wanted to know what she was doing at that moment, so he asked:
Lagi ngapain? (What are you doing?)
As you can see, the phrase [lagi ngapain] is commonly used in everyday Indonesian. So, if you want to ask someone what they are doing in Indonesian, this is a phrase you definitely want to remember.
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I think that’s all for now. If you have any questions about this topic, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll be happy to answer them.
Thank you very much, and I hope you enjoy learning Bahasa Indonesia. Bye-bye for now!