Audisi dimulai sekarang.

Dimulai comes from the root mulai, meaning to start / to begin.

The prefix di- makes it a passive verb, so dimulai literally means is started or is begun.

So structurally:

• mulai = start / begin
• dimulai = be started / be begun

In this sentence, Indonesian uses a form that literally looks passive, even though in English we would usually translate it more naturally as The audition starts now.

Using dimulai makes the sentence sound more standard and announcement-like.

Compare:

• Audisi dimulai sekarang. = The audition starts now. / The audition is beginning now.
• Audisi mulai sekarang. = also understandable, and often heard in speech, but it can sound a little less formal or a little more colloquial depending on context.

A useful way to think about it:

• mulai focuses on beginning
• dimulai presents the event as something that is being started

In public announcements, schedules, and formal statements, dimulai is very common.

Yes, grammatically dimulai is a passive form because of the prefix di-.

However, this is one of those cases where Indonesian and English do not line up perfectly. A very literal translation would be:

• The audition is started now

But that sounds unnatural in English, so the natural English translation is:

• The audition starts now

So yes, the Indonesian grammar is passive in form, but the best English translation is often active-sounding.

The subject is audisi.

So the structure is basically:

• Audisi = the audition
• dimulai = is started / starts
• sekarang = now

Indonesian word order here is straightforward:

Subject + verb + time expression

The sentence does not say who starts it, because that information is not important here.

Indonesian often leaves out the agent in passive sentences when it is obvious, unknown, or irrelevant.

In an announcement like this, the main point is simply:

• the audition is starting now

Not:

• who is starting it

If you really wanted to include the agent, you could add oleh plus the doer, but that would usually sound unnecessary in this kind of sentence.

Sekarang means now.

In this sentence, it tells you the time of the action and makes the sentence present-time:

• Audisi dimulai sekarang. = The audition starts now.

It can also sometimes mean currently, depending on context, but here it clearly means now in the immediate sense.

Indonesian verbs do not conjugate for tense the way English verbs do.

That means dimulai by itself does not automatically mean:

• starts
• started
• will start

The time is usually understood from context or from time words like:

• sekarang = now
• kemarin = yesterday
• besok = tomorrow

So here, sekarang is what tells you the sentence is about the present moment.

Yes. Indonesian time expressions are fairly flexible.

You will often see:

• Audisi dimulai sekarang.

But you may also hear or read things like:

• Sekarang audisi dimulai.

That said, Audisi dimulai sekarang is very natural and common, especially as a simple announcement.

Audisi is a loanword, ultimately from audition.

Like many borrowed words in Indonesian, it has been adapted to Indonesian spelling and pronunciation.

This is very common in Indonesian, especially for modern, artistic, technical, or international vocabulary.

It is pronounced roughly as au-di-si, with four clear vowel sounds:

• a-u-di-si

A rough guide for English speakers is:

• ah-oo-DEE-see

But remember that Indonesian vowels are usually pronounced clearly and consistently, unlike in English.

So try to say each syllable cleanly:

• a-u-di-si

No extra word like English is is needed.

The sentence already has a verb: dimulai.

So this is not a sentence like X is Y. It is a sentence with an actual action/process verb:

• Audisi = subject
• dimulai = verb
• sekarang = time expression

Because of that, there is no need for adalah or any equivalent of is.

Yes, Audisinya dimulai sekarang is possible.

The -nya here can make it sound more definite, like:

• the audition
• that audition
• the audition in question

So:

• Audisi dimulai sekarang = the audition starts now
• Audisinya dimulai sekarang = the audition starts now / the audition is starting now, with a slightly more definite or context-linked feel

In natural speech, -nya is very common.

Yes.

• Audisi dimulai sekarang.
• Audisi dimulai saat ini.

Both are understandable, but sekarang is the most direct and natural choice for now.

Saat ini can sound a little more formal or written, depending on context.

For a live announcement, sekarang is especially natural.

You can negate it with tidak:

• Audisi tidak dimulai sekarang.

That means:

• The audition is not starting now
• The audition does not start now

In Indonesian, tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives, so it goes before dimulai.