Boleh says that an action is permitted or socially acceptable. That core makes it the normal choice for granting permission, asking politely whether one may act, and forming tidak boleh prohibitions. Conventional extensions such as boleh saja, boleh jadi, memperbolehkan, and kebolehan go beyond a simple translation of English may, so their structure and register matter.
An unchanging permission modal
Modal boleh does not change for person, number, or tense. Time expressions and aspect words supply the temporal frame.
| Pattern | Core function | Typical English |
|---|---|---|
| boleh + predicate | permission or acceptability | may, be allowed to |
| boleh + subject + predicate? | request for permission | may/can ...? |
| tidak boleh + predicate | prohibition | must not, may not |
| boleh saja / boleh juga | concession or acceptance | that is fine; could do |
| boleh jadi | epistemic possibility | perhaps, may be |
Anak-anak boleh bermain di halaman setelah pekerjaan rumah selesai.
The children may play in the yard after their homework is finished.
Kemarin kami boleh pulang lebih awal karena listrik padam.
Yesterday we were allowed to go home early because the power went out.
Mulai bulan depan, pelanggan boleh membawa wadah makanan sendiri.
Starting next month, customers may bring their own food containers.
English distinguishes may, was allowed to, and will be allowed to. Indonesian keeps boleh and lets kemarin or mulai bulan depan express time.
Permission and social acceptability
Boleh + predicate presents an action as allowed by a person, rule, custom, or situation. The source of permission is often understood rather than named.
Kalian boleh memakai dapur selama membersihkannya kembali.
You may use the kitchen as long as you clean it afterward.
Di perpustakaan ini, pengunjung boleh minum air putih.
In this library, visitors may drink water.
Meja lipat boleh dibuka setelah pesawat mencapai ketinggian jelajah.
Tray tables may be opened after the plane reaches cruising altitude.
The last example is passive: di- belongs to dibuka, not to the modal. With object voice, a definite agent directly precedes the bare predicate.
Buku ini boleh kamu pinjam sampai akhir pekan.
You may borrow this book until the weekend.
Sisa makanan boleh kita bawa pulang kalau wadahnya cukup.
We may take the leftovers home if there are enough containers.
Permission is different from physical or learned ability. Boleh menyetir means driving is permitted; bisa menyetir means the person knows how or is able to drive.
Nina sudah bisa menyetir, tetapi belum boleh mengemudi sendirian.
Nina already knows how to drive, but she is not yet allowed to drive alone.
The ability decision guide develops this contrast with dapat and mampu.
Asking permission and making polite requests
A question beginning with boleh asks whether an action is acceptable. With saya or kami, it is one of the most common neutral-polite ways to request permission.
Boleh saya membuka jendelanya sedikit?
May I open the window a little?
Boleh kami menunggu di dalam sampai hujannya reda?
May we wait inside until the rain lets up?
Boleh aku memakai pengisi dayamu sebentar?
Can I use your charger for a moment?
Aku makes the relationship (informal); saya is broadly neutral and respectful. Courtesy also comes from intonation and address terms, not from a separate polite conjugation.
Boleh minta...? requests an object or service indirectly. It is natural in shops, restaurants, and everyday favors.
Boleh minta satu piring kecil untuk berbagi kue ini?
Could I have a small plate to share this cake?
Boleh minta tolong matikan lampu lorong sebelum pergi?
Could I ask you to turn off the hallway light before leaving?
Tidak boleh: prohibition, not inability
Tidak boleh + predicate means the action is forbidden or unacceptable. It often corresponds to English must not, not do not have to. Indonesian tidak harus removes obligation, while tidak boleh imposes a ban.
Penumpang tidak boleh bersandar pada pintu kereta.
Passengers must not lean against the train doors.
Data pelanggan tidak boleh dibagikan tanpa persetujuan tertulis.
Customer data must not be shared without written consent.
Kamu tidak boleh membuka hadiah itu sebelum besok pagi.
You must not open that gift before tomorrow morning.
Compare permission, optionality, and prohibition:
Peserta boleh membawa catatan satu halaman.
Participants may bring one page of notes.
Peserta tidak harus membawa komputer sendiri.
Participants do not have to bring their own computer.
Peserta tidak boleh merekam sesi tertutup.
Participants may not record the closed session.
These three practical outcomes are mapped in harus, perlu, and boleh.
Boleh saja and boleh juga: accepting a possibility
With saja, boleh often grants permission freely or concedes that an option is acceptable: sure, that is fine, or it may well be. Tone can make it welcoming, indifferent, or mildly challenging.
Kalau lebih nyaman, Anda boleh saja mengikuti rapat dari rumah.
If it is more comfortable, you are perfectly welcome to join the meeting from home.
Dia boleh saja berbeda pendapat, tetapi tetap harus menghormati giliran bicara.
He may well disagree, but he still has to respect speaking turns.
Mau datang setelah makan malam juga boleh saja.
Coming after dinner is fine too.
Boleh juga commonly accepts a suggestion or evaluates something as surprisingly decent. The evaluative reading is (informal) and highly dependent on tone.
Kalau restoran utama penuh, warung di seberang juga boleh.
If the main restaurant is full, the food stall across the street is fine too.
Ide membuat lokakarya singkat itu boleh juga.
The idea of holding a short workshop is actually pretty good.
Reduplicated boleh-boleh saja is (informal) and emphasizes that there is no objection, often before a reservation.
Boleh-boleh saja membeli sepeda baru, asal tabungan darurat tidak dipakai.
Buying a new bicycle is perfectly fine, as long as the emergency savings are not used.
Boleh jadi: perhaps
Boleh jadi is a conventional expression of possibility: perhaps, may be, or it may turn out that. It does not grant permission to jadi. The phrase is common in neutral prose and careful speech; mungkin is often more straightforward in casual conversation.
Boleh jadi mereka belum menerima perubahan alamat kita.
Perhaps they have not received our change of address.
Suara dari atap itu boleh jadi hanya ranting yang jatuh.
The sound from the roof may just be a falling branch.
Keputusan kecil hari ini boleh jadi menentukan arah proyek.
A small decision today may determine the direction of the project.
Context separates this established possibility marker from literal permission followed by jadi become, though the literal sequence is comparatively unusual.
Membolehkan, memperbolehkan, and passive forms
To name the person, authority, rule, or design that grants permission, Indonesian uses a transitive verb. Membolehkan and memperbolehkan both mean allow/permit. Memperbolehkan is especially common in institutional and (formal) contexts; membolehkan is also standard and can sound more direct. Usage overlaps, so this is a register tendency rather than a categorical meaning difference.
Pemilik rumah membolehkan kami membawa kucing.
The landlord allows us to bring a cat.
Kebijakan baru memperbolehkan pegawai bekerja dari luar kota dua hari sebulan.
The new policy permits employees to work from another city two days a month.
Dokter membolehkan pasien itu pulang setelah hasil tes keluar.
The doctor allowed the patient to go home after the test results came out.
Their passive forms are dibolehkan and diperbolehkan, written as single words.
Makanan dari luar tidak dibolehkan di ruang perawatan.
Food from outside is not allowed in the treatment room.
Hanya kendaraan layanan yang diperbolehkan berhenti di jalur ini.
Only service vehicles are permitted to stop in this lane.
The transitive frame changes valency: kami boleh pulang presents our permission, while dokter membolehkan kami pulang presents the doctor as granting it.
Kebolehan: a lexicalized noun
Although kebolehan is built with ke-...-an, its common modern meaning is ability, skill, or talent, especially something demonstrated. Unjuk kebolehan means show one's skill. It is not the ordinary noun for official permission; use izin or perizinan there.
Para finalis unjuk kebolehan di depan tiga juri.
The finalists showed their skills in front of three judges.
Pertandingan persahabatan itu menjadi ajang unjuk kebolehan pemain muda.
The friendly match became a showcase for the young players' abilities.
Ia dikenal karena kebolehannya merancang furnitur dari bahan bekas.
She is known for her skill in designing furniture from recycled materials.
This semantic shift is partly arbitrary: morphology suggests a relationship with boleh, but everyday convention has specialized the noun toward demonstrated capability. Learn the collocation, rather than assuming that every ke-...-an derivative preserves the modal's permission meaning.
Common Mistakes
Using boleh for learned ability
❌ Setelah tiga bulan kursus, saya sudah boleh menyelam.
Incorrect if the point is acquired skill — this says permission has been granted.
✅ Setelah tiga bulan kursus, saya sudah bisa menyelam dengan aman.
After three months of lessons, I can now dive safely.
Confusing prohibition with lack of obligation
❌ Anda tidak harus menyentuh kabel yang terbuka.
Incorrect for a safety ban — this merely says touching it is unnecessary.
✅ Anda tidak boleh menyentuh kabel yang terbuka.
You must not touch the exposed cable.
Making the modal itself passive
❌ Foto diboleh unggah setelah acara selesai.
Incorrect — boleh is not passivized in the modal construction.
✅ Foto boleh diunggah setelah acara selesai.
Photos may be uploaded after the event is over.
Separating a genuine passive derivative
❌ Anak di bawah umur tidak di perbolehkan masuk sendirian.
Incorrect — passive diperbolehkan is one word.
✅ Anak di bawah umur tidak diperbolehkan masuk sendirian.
Minors are not permitted to enter alone.
Using kebolehan for an official permit
❌ Kami sedang menunggu kebolehan pembangunan dari pemerintah kota.
Incorrect — kebolehan normally means skill or ability, not an official permit.
✅ Kami sedang menunggu izin pembangunan dari pemerintah kota.
We are waiting for a building permit from the city government.
Key Takeaways
- Boleh + predicate grants permission or marks an action as acceptable; it does not describe physical skill.
- Questions with boleh request permission, while tidak boleh expresses prohibition.
- Boleh saja, boleh juga, and boleh-boleh saja accept or concede an option; boleh jadi means perhaps.
- Use membolehkan/memperbolehkan + participant + predicate to name the permission-giver; their passives are dibolehkan/diperbolehkan.
- Common kebolehan means demonstrated ability or skill, not ordinary permission.
Now practice Indonesian
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- boleh: Permission and AcceptabilityA1 — Use boleh to grant or request permission, judge an option acceptable, and recognize the fixed possibility expression boleh jadi.
- bisa: Ability and PossibilityA1 — Use bisa for learned ability, situational feasibility, possibility, and pragmatic permission while recognizing its noun homonym meaning venom.
- harus: Strong Obligation and InferenceA1 — Use harus for strong requirements and confident conclusions while keeping tidak harus distinct from prohibition.
- harus versus perlu versus bolehA2 — Choose strong harus, need-focused perlu, and permission-focused boleh—and distinguish optional, unnecessary, and prohibited actions under negation.
- 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.
- ke-...-an: Meanings and Derivational NetworkB2 — Connect abstract qualities, states, excessive degree, affected experiences, and lexical domains within the ke-...-an network.