Jalan tol itu mahal, tetapi cuaca bagus membuat perjalanan bersepeda lebih cepat.

Jalan tol itu mahal, tetapi cuaca bagus membuat perjalanan bersepeda lebih cepat.
That toll road is expensive, but good weather makes the bicycle trip faster.
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Questions & Answers about Jalan tol itu mahal, tetapi cuaca bagus membuat perjalanan bersepeda lebih cepat.

What does jalan tol mean, and why does tol come after jalan rather than before, like toll road in English?
  • jalan means “road” and tol means “toll.”
  • In Indonesian, modifiers (like “toll”) typically follow the head noun (like “road”), so you say jalan tol (“road toll”) instead of tol jalan.
  • Literally, it’s “road toll,” but we translate it naturally as “toll road.”
What is the function of itu in jalan tol itu mahal?
  • itu is a demonstrative particle meaning “that.”
  • When placed after a noun phrase, it points to a specific item: jalan tol itu = “that toll road.”
  • Unlike English, Indonesian places demonstratives after the noun.
Why is the adjective mahal (“expensive”) placed after jalan tol itu? Do adjectives always come after nouns in Indonesian?
  • Yes, Indonesian adjectives nearly always follow the noun they describe.
  • Structure: Noun + Adjective.
  • jalan tol itu mahal = “that toll road (is) expensive.”
What role does tetapi play, and why is there a comma before it? How is it different from dan?
  • tetapi means “but” and introduces a contrasting clause.
  • It’s a coordinating conjunction; a comma is used before it to separate two independent clauses.
  • dan means “and” (addition), while tetapi means “but” (contrast).
In cuaca bagus membuat perjalanan bersepeda lebih cepat, what is the subject, and how does membuat function?
  • cuaca bagus (“good weather”) is the subject.
  • membuat is a transitive verb meaning “to make” or “to cause.”
  • The pattern is: Subject + membuat
    • Object + Result, so
      • cuaca bagus (good weather)
      • membuat (makes)
      • perjalanan bersepeda (the cycling trip)
      • lebih cepat (faster).
What part of speech is bersepeda, and why is it used after perjalanan?
  • bersepeda is a verb with the prefix ber- indicating an activity (“to bicycle”).
  • When you say perjalanan bersepeda, you’re using a noun phrase meaning “the trip by bicycling.”
  • This construction (Noun + verb with ber-) is common to describe what kind of trip, e.g., perjalanan jalan kaki (“walking trip”).
How does lebih cepat express comparison? Could you use paling cepat instead?
  • lebih means “more,” so lebih cepat = “faster.”
  • For the superlative (“fastest”), use paling: paling cepat.
  • You could say cuaca bagus membuat perjalanan bersepeda paling cepat if you mean it’s the fastest trip among several.
Can I replace membuat with menjadikan or membuatkan here?
  • menjadikan also means “to make” or “to render,” but it’s more formal; you could say cuaca bagus menjadikan perjalanan bersepeda lebih cepat.
  • membuatkan is ditransitive (“to make for someone”), so it doesn’t fit here unless you specify a beneficiary.
  • Stick with membuat for a natural, spoken style.