Jangan forms a negative directive: it tells someone not to perform an action or not to enter a state. This is different from tidak, which describes a negative fact. Jangan masuk means “Do not enter”; tidak masuk means “does not enter,” “is absent,” or another descriptive reading supplied by context.
Jangan marks the clause as a prohibition
Place jangan before the predicate to be avoided. The verb or adjective does not change form, and the addressee is often omitted because it is clear from the situation.
Jangan masuk sebelum lampu hijau menyala.
Do not enter before the green light comes on.
Jangan membuka jendela saat kereta berjalan.
Do not open the window while the train is moving.
Jangan khawatir; petugas sudah menghubungi keluarganya.
Do not worry; the officers have contacted his family.
Jangan terlalu dekat dengan tepi sungai.
Do not get too close to the riverbank.
The complement can be an active verb, passive verb, adjective, location phrase, or larger predicate.
| Predicate after jangan | Example pattern | What is prohibited |
|---|---|---|
| active verb | jangan membuka | the addressee opening something |
| passive verb | jangan dibuka | something being opened |
| adjective/state | jangan khawatir | entering or maintaining the state |
| location | jangan di sini | doing/placing something here, inferred from context |
Kotak ini jangan dibuka sampai dokter datang.
This box must not be opened until the doctor arrives.
Kalau mau menelepon, jangan di ruang baca.
If you want to make a call, do not do it in the reading room.
Jangan remains a separate word. In jangan dibuka, passive di- stays attached to buka.
Description versus command
Compare tidak and jangan with the same predicate.
Doni tidak memakai lift karena sedang rusak.
Doni is not using the elevator because it is broken.
Doni, jangan memakai lift karena sedang rusak.
Doni, do not use the elevator because it is broken.
The first reports Doni's behavior. The second addresses him and tries to control it. English direct prohibitions contain do not, which tempts learners to begin with tidak; Indonesian instead selects the dedicated clause-type marker jangan.
Anak-anak tidak bermain di jalan saat hujan.
The children do not play in the street when it rains.
Anak-anak, jangan bermain di jalan setelah gelap.
Children, do not play in the street after dark.
Punctuation helps with an overt vocative: Anak-anak, ... takes a comma. The subject itself does not acquire an imperative form.
Naming and softening the addressee
A name, title, or explicit subject can appear before jangan. Address terms make the social relation clear.
Mbak Rina, jangan menunggu saya kalau rapatnya sudah selesai.
Rina, please do not wait for me if the meeting has already ended.
Bapak dan Ibu jangan berdiri dulu; petugas akan membagikan kartu.
Ladies and gentlemen, please do not stand yet; the officers will distribute the cards.
Kalian jangan lupa membawa botol minum sendiri.
You all must not forget to bring your own water bottles.
Tolong jangan softens a direct prohibition into a polite request. Mohon jangan is common in (formal) notices and service language. The broader choice among direct commands, requests, and warnings appears in Indonesian prohibitions.
Tolong jangan memindahkan kursi tanpa memberi tahu panitia.
Please do not move the chairs without telling the committee.
Mohon jangan meninggalkan barang berharga di dalam kendaraan.
Please do not leave valuables inside the vehicle. (formal)
Sebaiknya jangan membalas pesan itu saat sedang marah.
It would be better not to reply to that message while angry.
Sebaiknya jangan gives advice rather than a command backed by authority. The construction's force comes from the softener and context; jangan itself remains unchanged.
Jangan dulu: postpone rather than prohibit permanently
Dulu after jangan limits the prohibition to the current stage: not yet, not for now, or hold off. It often sounds less categorical because it leaves a later action open.
Jangan dulu pergi; hasil pemeriksaannya segera keluar.
Do not leave yet; the test result will be out shortly.
Jangan dulu menyalakan mesin sebelum semua orang menjauh.
Do not start the engine yet before everyone has moved away.
Foto-fotonya jangan dulu diunggah karena keluarga belum diberi tahu.
The photographs should not be uploaded yet because the family has not been informed.
Kita jangan dulu mengambil keputusan malam ini.
Let us not make a decision just yet tonight.
Compare an open-ended ban with postponement:
Jangan gunakan pintu darurat untuk keluar dalam keadaan biasa.
Do not use the emergency door to exit under ordinary circumstances.
Jangan dulu gunakan pintu samping; lantainya masih basah.
Do not use the side door yet; the floor is still wet.
The first presents a standing rule. The second delays use until conditions change. Word order matters: jangan dulu pergi places “for now” inside the prohibition.
Jangan sampai: avert a feared outcome
Jangan sampai + clause/predicate warns that an undesirable outcome must not be allowed to occur. It can address a controllable action, express strong caution, or voice a general anxious wish.
Jangan sampai terlambat karena pintu akan ditutup tepat pukul delapan.
Do not be late, because the doors will close at exactly eight.
Jangan sampai dokumen asli tercampur dengan salinannya.
Make sure the original documents do not get mixed up with the copies.
Jangan sampai anak itu bermain sendirian di dekat kolam.
Do not let that child play alone near the pool.
Jangan sampai kabar yang belum pasti membuat warga panik.
Do not let unconfirmed news make residents panic.
In these examples, sampai does not literally mean physical arrival. The sequence is conventional: prevent the following endpoint from being reached.
Jangan sampai can also express the speaker's alarm about something outside the addressee's direct control.
Jangan sampai hujan deras merusak panggung yang baru dipasang.
Let's hope heavy rain does not damage the newly installed stage.
The English translation changes with context—make sure not, do not let, let us hope not—but the Indonesian construction consistently rejects a feared result.
Third-person warnings and instructions
Negative directives can concern someone other than the addressee. An explicit third-person subject may precede jangan, especially in instructions passed through an intermediary.
Anak-anak jangan keluar sebelum guru kembali.
The children must not go outside before the teacher returns.
Pasien itu jangan diberi makanan padat dulu.
That patient must not be given solid food yet.
Dia jangan dibiarkan menyetir sendirian malam ini.
He must not be allowed to drive alone tonight.
Another common strategy uses jangan biarkan + object + predicate, directly instructing the addressee not to allow an event.
Jangan biarkan kucing masuk ke ruang penyimpanan.
Do not let the cat enter the storage room.
Jangan biarkan pelanggan menunggu tanpa penjelasan.
Do not leave customers waiting without an explanation.
These are still directive clauses. They do not turn jangan into a descriptive third-person negator.
Scope with other words
Words after jangan shape what is prohibited. Jangan terlalu cepat prohibits excessive speed, not all speed; jangan langsung menjawab asks the addressee not to respond immediately, not never to respond.
Jangan terlalu cepat menyimpulkan sebelum semua data diperiksa.
Do not draw conclusions too quickly before all the data is checked.
Jangan langsung menjawab; baca pertanyaannya sekali lagi.
Do not answer immediately; read the question once more.
Jangan hanya mengandalkan satu sumber informasi.
Do not rely on only one source of information.
This page leaves discourse-particle nuances and full marker-order paradigms to dedicated pages; the practical rule is to keep the limiting expression close to what it limits.
Common Mistakes
Starting a direct prohibition with tidak
❌ Tidak masuk ke ruang perawatan!
Incorrect as an ordinary direct command — tidak describes negation rather than marking a prohibition.
✅ Jangan masuk ke ruang perawatan tanpa izin!
Do not enter the treatment room without permission!
Putting dulu outside the intended prohibition
❌ Dulu jangan pergi dari sini.
Wrong for ‘do not leave yet’ — this sounds like a contrast about an earlier time.
✅ Jangan dulu pergi dari sini; saya masih perlu bantuanmu.
Do not leave here yet; I still need your help.
Omitting sampai in an outcome warning
❌ Jangan berita palsu membuat semua orang panik.
Unnatural for the intended general outcome warning—use jangan sampai to frame the feared result.
✅ Jangan sampai berita palsu membuat semua orang panik.
Do not let false news make everyone panic.
Plain jangan most readily directs someone not to perform a controllable predicate. Jangan sampai is the conventional neutral choice here because the warning asks that a whole inanimate subject-predicate outcome be averted.
Attaching jangan to the predicate
❌ Janganbuka pintu belakang setelah gelap.
Incorrect spelling — jangan is a separate word.
✅ Jangan buka pintu belakang setelah gelap.
Do not open the back door after dark.
Separating an affix after jangan
❌ Tanda peringatan itu jangan di pindahkan.
Incorrect spelling — passive di- attaches to pindahkan.
✅ Tanda peringatan itu jangan dipindahkan.
Do not move that warning sign.
Key Takeaways
- Jangan + predicate marks a negative directive; tidak + predicate describes a negative fact.
- The predicate does not change, and jangan remains a separate word.
- Tolong jangan, mohon jangan, and sebaiknya jangan adjust politeness and force.
- Jangan dulu postpones an action; jangan sampai warns against a feared endpoint.
- Explicit third-person subjects and jangan biarkan let an instruction concern someone other than the addressee.
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- Negation: Choosing the Right FormA1 — Choose tidak, bukan, belum, or jangan by predicate type and time assumptions, then recognize tak, tanpa, and colloquial nggak.
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- Positive CommandsA1 — Give direct and polite positive commands with bare verbs, verb roots, attached -lah, tolong, and silakan.
- Making Requests NaturallyB1 — Calibrate Indonesian requests through directness, address, reason, burden, and relationship rather than relying on tolong for every situation.
- Negation Scope with Aspect, Modals, and FocusB2 — Use word order and focus constructions to control whether Indonesian negation targets necessity, probability, frequency, completion, or one constituent.