Bintang kelihatan jelas di langit malam.

Stars look clear in the night sky.

Breakdown of Bintang kelihatan jelas di langit malam.

• di: in
• jelas: clear
• kelihatan: to look
• bintang: the star
• langit malam: the night sky

Questions & Answers about Bintang kelihatan jelas di langit malam.

Why is bintang not marked for plural?

In Indonesian, nouns generally don’t change form for singular vs. plural. Context tells you whether it’s one star or many. If you really want to emphasize plurality, you could say bintang-bintang, but it’s optional here because “stars” are understood from the context.

What part of speech is kelihatan, and how does it relate to lihat?

Kelihatan is derived from the root verb lihat (to see) with the ke-…-an affix. It functions like an intransitive verb meaning “to appear” or “to be visible.” You can think of it as “can be seen” or “appears.”

Could I use terlihat instead of kelihatan?

Yes. Terlihat and kelihatan are near synonyms meaning “visible” or “appears.” Many learners find terlihat slightly more formal and kelihatan more colloquial, but they’re interchangeable in most sentences.

Why is jelas placed after kelihatan rather than before?

Here jelas functions as an adverb modifying the verb kelihatan, so it naturally follows the verb in S-V-Adv order: subject (bintang) + verb (kelihatan) + adverb (jelas). You could also say bintang jelas kelihatan di langit malam; Indonesian word order is fairly flexible.

Why do we use di langit malam and not pada langit malam or di malam hari?

• Di marks a physical location, so di langit = “in the sky.”
• Pada can mark time or location but sounds more formal here.
• Malam hari emphasizes the time of night, while langit malam is a common compound meaning “night sky.”
  Putting them together, di langit malam is the natural way to say “in the night sky.”

Is there an article “the” or “a” in this sentence?

No. Indonesian does not have definite or indefinite articles like the/a. You simply use the noun without an article. Context tells whether it’s specific or general.

Can I reorder the sentence elements for emphasis?

Yes, Indonesian allows flexibility. For example:
• Jelas bintang kelihatan di langit malam. (Emphasizes how clear the stars are.)
• Di langit malam bintang kelihatan jelas. (Emphasizes the location first.)
The core meaning stays the same.

What’s a natural English translation?

A good equivalent is: “Stars are clearly visible in the night sky.”