Acara selesai tepat waktu.

The event finishes on time.

Breakdown of Acara selesai tepat waktu.

• tepat waktu: on time
• selesai: to finish
• acara: the event

Questions & Answers about Acara selesai tepat waktu.

Is selesai a verb or an adjective here?

It’s a stative predicate (adjective-like) meaning “finished/complete,” and in Indonesian adjectives can function as the predicate without a linking verb. So Acara selesai literally feels like “The event finished/is finished.”

Why is there no Indonesian equivalent of “is/was,” like adalah?

Indonesian doesn’t use a copula before adjectives. Adalah is used mainly to link a subject to a noun phrase, not to an adjective. Saying Acara adalah selesai is ungrammatical.

Do I need sudah/telah to show it happened in the past?

No. Indonesian doesn’t mark tense on verbs. Context usually tells you the time. You can add:

• Acara sudah selesai tepat waktu. (common, conversational)
• Acara telah selesai tepat waktu. (more formal) These emphasize completion.

Where should tepat waktu go in the sentence?

After the predicate. The default is Subject + Predicate + Adverb:

• Acara (S) selesai (P) tepat waktu (Adv). Fronting tepat waktu for emphasis is possible but less neutral: Tepat waktu, acara selesai.

Is tepat waktu the standard way to say “on time”? Any alternatives?

Yes, tepat waktu is standard. Alternatives:

• tepat pada waktunya (slightly more formal)
• sesuai jadwal (“according to schedule”)
• pas waktu (colloquial)

Could I say Acara berakhir tepat waktu instead? Any nuance difference from selesai?

Yes. Berakhir means “to end/come to an end.”

• Selesai emphasizes being completed/done.
• Berakhir emphasizes reaching the end point.
  Both are natural for events.

How do I say “finish something,” as in “We finished the project”?

Use the transitive verb menyelesaikan:

• Kami menyelesaikan proyek itu. For ending an event you’re running, prefer mengakhiri/menutup:
• Kami mengakhiri/menutup acara tepat waktu.

How do I negate this to say it didn’t finish on time?

• Acara tidak selesai tepat waktu.
  You can also say:
• Acara berakhir terlambat.
• Acara selesai lebih lambat dari jadwal.

How do I say it finished early or late, naturally?

• Early: Acara selesai lebih awal / lebih cepat (dari jadwal).
• Late: Acara berakhir terlambat / lebih lambat (dari jadwal).

How do I make “the event” explicit in Indonesian?

Indonesian has no articles. Make definiteness explicit with:

• Acara itu (that/the event)
• Acara ini (this event)
• Acaranya (the event already known from context)

What about plural: “the events finished on time”?

Use reduplication or a quantifier:

• Acara-acara itu selesai tepat waktu.
• Semua acara selesai tepat waktu.

Can I front the predicate for emphasis, like “Finished on time, the event (was)”?

Yes, for emphasis in speech/writing:

• Selesai tepat waktu, acaranya. The neutral, default order remains Acara selesai tepat waktu.

How do I pronounce the words?

• Acara: a-CHA-ra (c = “ch”)
• selesai: sə-LE-sai (first e = schwa; ai = “eye”)
• tepat: tə-PAT (e = schwa)
• waktu: WAK-tu (u = “oo”)

Is the sentence formal or informal?

Neutral and widely appropriate. You can make it more formal with telah or berakhir, or more casual with particles in context.

Is waktu tepat the same as tepat waktu?

No.

• tepat waktu = “on time/punctual” (adverbial/adjectival phrase)
• waktu yang tepat = “the right time” (noun phrase), e.g., Ini bukan waktu yang tepat.

Can I add time markers? Where do they go?

Yes—start or end of the sentence is natural:

• Kemarin, acara selesai tepat waktu.
• Acara selesai tepat waktu tadi malam.