bisa: Verb Family and Usage | Indonesian Grammar

Bisa is one of the most useful words in everyday Indonesian. As a modal, it can describe learned ability, situational possibility, or—in the right kind of question—ask for permission. As a noun, however, bisa means venom or poison. The spelling is identical, but the syntax and surrounding words normally make the intended meaning clear.

Modal bisa never changes for person, number, or time. Time and aspect are expressed by separate words; the predicate after bisa also remains unchanged for the subject.

Pattern	Typical interpretation	Register
bisa + predicate	can, be able to, be possible	neutral; very common in speech
bisa + subject + predicate?	can/may the subject do it?	neutral or polite by context
tidak bisa + predicate	cannot, be unable to	neutral
bisa jadi + clause/noun	perhaps; it may turn out that	neutral
bisa + possessor/source	venom	noun

Adik saya sudah bisa berenang tanpa pelampung.

My younger sibling can now swim without a float.

Dulu ia belum bisa membaca tulisan sekecil ini.

In the past, she could not yet read print this small.

Tahun depan kereta ini akan bisa mencapai bandara dalam dua puluh menit.

Next year this train will be able to reach the airport in twenty minutes.

English changes can to could and sometimes to be able to. Indonesian keeps bisa and lets dulu, belum, akan, or the wider context locate the ability in time.

Ability: the subject has the relevant skill or capacity

With an animate subject, bisa + predicate often describes acquired skill or ordinary capacity. The word after bisa identifies what the subject can do.

Rani bisa menjahit gaun sendiri sejak kuliah.

Rani has been able to sew her own dresses since university.

Saya bisa memahami percakapannya, tetapi belum lancar menjawab.

I can understand the conversation, but I am not yet fluent in responding.

Kucing itu bisa membuka pintu geser dengan kakinya.

That cat can open the sliding door with its paw.

For deliberate strength or demonstrated capacity, mampu can be more focused; for (formal) statements of possibility, dapat is frequent. Everyday bisa covers a wider range. See bisa, dapat, and mampu for the larger comparison.

Feasibility: the situation makes an event possible

The subject need not possess a skill. With an inanimate subject or passive predicate, bisa often means that circumstances allow an outcome.

Meja ini bisa dilipat dan disimpan di bawah tangga.

This table can be folded and stored under the stairs.

Dari halte itu, museum bisa dicapai dengan berjalan kaki.

From that stop, the museum can be reached on foot.

Pesanan masih bisa dibatalkan sampai pukul enam sore.

The order can still be canceled until six in the evening.

Notice that di- belongs to dilipat, dicapai, and dibatalkan, not to bisa. A modal is not made passive; the event after it selects its own voice.

Object voice works the same way. A definite agent can come immediately before the bare verb after bisa.

Kerusakan kecil ini bisa saya perbaiki sebelum toko tutup.

I can repair this minor damage before the shop closes.

Dokumen tersebut bisa kami kirim ulang sore nanti.

We can resend that document later this afternoon.

Questions: ability, feasibility, or a request for permission

In a question, the same grammar can do different social work. Bisa...? literally asks whether something is possible, but with a first-person subject it often functions as a polite request for permission. Tone, relationship, and situation determine how courteous it sounds.

Bisa saya titip tas ini di belakang meja sebentar?

Could I leave this bag behind the counter for a moment?

Bisa kami pindah ke meja dekat jendela?

Could we move to the table by the window?

Besok pagi kamu bisa mengantar Ibu ke stasiun?

Can you take Mom to the station tomorrow morning?

The last example can be a real ability question, but in context it usually requests help. Indonesian, like English, regularly uses questions about ability as indirect requests. If permission itself is the central issue, boleh is more exact.

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Bisa does not contain a special “permission” meaning in every question. The permission or request reading is a pragmatic inference: asking whether an action is possible can be a socially softer way to ask for it.

Negation and scope

Tidak bisa normally negates the whole possibility or ability: cannot. Bisa tidak + predicate? is a direct (informal) yes-or-no pattern; neutral careful speech often uses bisa ... atau tidak or simply question intonation.

Saya tidak bisa ikut makan siang karena ada rapat mendadak.

I cannot join lunch because an urgent meeting came up.

Pintu belakang tidak bisa dikunci dari luar.

The back door cannot be locked from the outside.

Kira-kira paketnya bisa tiba sebelum Jumat atau tidak?

Do you think the package can arrive before Friday or not?

When another negative follows, scope matters. Bisa tidak datang can mean can choose not to come, whereas tidak bisa datang means cannot come.

Kalau badanmu belum pulih, kamu bisa tidak datang ke latihan besok.

If you have not recovered, you can choose not to come to practice tomorrow.

Karena jalan utama banjir, sopirnya tidak bisa datang malam ini.

Because the main road is flooded, the driver cannot come tonight.

The negation scope guide develops this contrast further.

Bisa jadi: perhaps or turn out to be

Bisa jadi is a conventional unit meaning perhaps, may be, or may turn out to be. It expresses an assessment of possibility, not someone's learned ability. It can introduce a clause or be followed by a noun phrase.

Bisa jadi rapatnya dipindahkan karena direktur belum tiba.

Perhaps the meeting has been moved because the director has not arrived.

Orang yang menelepon tadi bisa jadi tetangga baru kita.

The person who called earlier may be our new neighbor.

Kalau dibiarkan, retakan kecil itu bisa jadi masalah besar.

If left alone, that small crack can become a major problem.

The third example also allows the more compositional reading can become: jadi is the main predicate and bisa modifies it. Context, rather than spelling, separates this from sentence-level perhaps.

The noun bisa: venom or poison

Noun bisa refers especially to animal venom. It occupies noun positions: it can be possessed, modified, serve as an argument, or combine with a source noun. It is not followed by a verb as a modal complement.

Bisa ular itu menyerang sistem saraf korbannya.

That snake's venom attacks the victim's nervous system.

Dokter segera memberi penawar untuk menetralkan bisa tersebut.

The doctor immediately administered antivenom to neutralize the venom.

Tidak semua kalajengking memiliki bisa yang mematikan.

Not all scorpions have lethal venom.

The derived adjective berbisa means venomous and, figuratively, biting or malicious.

Warga diminta tidak menyentuh hewan berbisa yang masuk ke rumah.

Residents were asked not to touch venomous animals that entered their homes.

Komentarnya singkat, tetapi cukup berbisa.

Her comment was brief but quite biting.

Syntax is the reliable clue: bisa ular is a noun phrase headed by venom, while ular bisa berenang contains the modal after the subject snake.

Lexical extensions worth learning

Sebisa mungkin means as much/as well as possible. It limits an effort to what is within someone's capacity.

Saya akan menjawab semua pertanyaan sebisa mungkin setelah presentasi.

I will answer all the questions as best I can after the presentation.

Sebisa mungkin, hindari jalan itu saat jam pulang kantor.

As far as possible, avoid that road during the evening rush.

Bisa-bisanya is (informal) and expresses disbelief, reproach, or amazement at what someone managed or dared to do. It is lexicalized and cannot be predicted simply from ordinary reduplication.

Bisa-bisanya dia lupa hari ulang tahunnya sendiri!

How could he possibly forget his own birthday!

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The modal and the poison noun are true homonyms. Do not invent a spelling distinction: standard Indonesian writes both as bisa, and sentence structure does the disambiguating.

Common Mistakes

Giving bisa an English tense form

❌ Bentuk lampau dari bisa adalah bisakan.

Incorrect analysis—Indonesian has no past-tense form of bisa.

✅ Kemarin saya bisa menyelesaikan laporan itu sebelum makan siang.

Yesterday I was able to finish that report before lunch.

❌ Formulir ini dibisa isi lewat telepon genggam.

Incorrect — modal bisa does not take passive di-.

✅ Formulir ini bisa diisi lewat telepon genggam.

This form can be filled in on a mobile phone.

The following predicate diisi, not the modal, is passive.

Using boleh for physical ability

❌ Bayi itu belum boleh berjalan sendiri.

Incorrect for lack of ability — boleh concerns permission or acceptability.

✅ Bayi itu belum bisa berjalan sendiri.

The baby cannot walk independently yet.

❌ Peneliti mengukur ular bisa di laboratorium.

Incorrect word order for ‘snake venom’; this sequence suggests ‘the snake can...’.

✅ Peneliti mengukur bisa ular di laboratorium.

The researcher measured snake venom in the laboratory.

Assuming bisa jadi expresses demonstrated skill

❌ Dalam kalimat “Dia bisa jadi dokter,” bisa jadi pasti menyatakan kemampuan profesional yang sudah terbukti.

Incorrect analysis—in this sentence, the phrase presents becoming a doctor as possible; it does not assert demonstrated professional ability.

✅ Setelah menjalani pelatihan intensif, dia mampu menangani operasi yang rumit.

After undergoing intensive training, she is capable of handling complex operations.

Key Takeaways

Modal bisa covers everyday ability and feasibility; polite questions can pragmatically request permission.
The modal never takes person or tense endings, and voice marking belongs to the following predicate.
Word order distinguishes tidak bisa datang from bisa tidak datang.
Bisa jadi, sebisa mungkin, and bisa-bisanya are useful conventional extensions.
Noun bisa means venom; berbisa means venomous or figuratively biting.

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An unchanging modal