Papa In Indonesian
An Indonesian Word
Hello everyone, Iman Prabawa here. In this article, I want to talk to you about the meaning of the word [papa] in Indonesian. We’re also going to be looking at examples where Indonesians use the word [papa].
Meaning of Papa
In Bahasa Indonesia, the word [papa] has two different meanings.
The first meaning of [papa] is father. Sometimes, you may hear Indonesians add an “h” sound at the end and say “papah,” and sometimes they just say “papa.” Either way, they mean the same thing: father.
The second meaning of [papa] is poor. However, when it has this meaning, it usually appears together with the word [kaum]. So, [kaum papa] refers to poor people or the poor.
Here’s an example from the picture below.
It says:
Jerit Kaum Papa di Balik Gemerlap Ibu Kota.
In English, this could be translated as:
The cries of the poor behind the glittering capital city.
And here is the audio version of the sentence:
So, as you can see, when [papa] means [the poor], it usually goes together with the word [kaum] as in [kaum papa].
Next, let’s take a look at some examples from movies where you can hear the word [papa] being used.
Examples of Papa In Use
In this section, you’ll see some examples from movies, YouTube videos, and other sources where the word [papa] is used.
The first clip we’re going to watch is from the movie Teka Teki Tika (2021). Let’s take a look at the clip below.
If you’d like to see the conversation from this scene along with the English translation, you can check out my article: Pegang in Indonesian.
In this scene, Budi says the following sentence to his wife, Sherly:
Lihat papamu. (Look at your father.)
So, in this scene, [papa] means [father].
The second clip is from the MNCTV Official YouTube Channel. Let’s watch the clip below.
Below is the transcript from the scene, along with the English translation:
Mba Lies menelusuri jalanan kota Solo setiap hari untuk membagikan nasi kepada kaum papa. Jumlahnya tak sedikit. 60 bungkus per hari ia bagikan sendiri. Sasarannya warga yang belum sempat sarapan pada pagi hari. (Mrs. Lies walks the streets of Solo every day to distribute meals to the poor. The number of meals she distributes is far from insignificant. She personally hands out 60 packages of food each day. Her recipients are residents who have not had a chance to eat breakfast in the morning.)
As you can see in this clip, the word [papa] is used together with the word [kaum]. The expression [kaum papa] means [the poor] in this context.
Vocabulary From the Scene
Here are some useful words and expressions from the scene:
[Menelusuri] = to walk along or through a street or path.
[Jalanan] = streets.
[Kota] city.
[Jumlah] = amount/number.
[Tak] = [tidak] = not.
[Sedikit] = little/few.
[Tak sedikit] = not a small amount/quite a lot.
[Warga] = residents.
[Sarapan] = breakfast/to have breakfast.
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I guess that’s all for now. If I find another example, Insha Allah, I’ll update this article again. And if you have any questions about this, feel free to leave a comment below. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you again soon. Bye for now!