Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Bintang kelihatan jelas di langit malam.

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.