Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Di perusahaan baru itu, bos perempuan kami ramah. - At that new company, our female boss is friendly.

di means “at/in” and marks location: di perusahaan = “at the company.” pada can also mean “at/to” in formal writing, so pada perusahaan is possible in official style, but everyday speech strongly prefers di here.

Why is there a comma after Di perusahaan baru itu?

The fronted prepositional phrase sets the scene (topic), so a comma helps readability. Without the comma it’s still grammatical; the meaning doesn’t change.

Why is there no word for “is” before ramah?

Indonesian usually drops a copula. Adjectives can serve directly as predicates: bos … ramah = “the boss is friendly.” Don’t insert adalah before an adjective; adalah is used mainly before noun phrases.

What’s the difference between perusahaan baru itu and perusahaan itu baru?

perusahaan baru itu = “that new company” (modifier inside the noun phrase).
perusahaan itu baru = “that company is new” (predicate adjective).

Where does itu go in a noun phrase?

Demonstratives (ini/itu) come at the end of the noun phrase: perusahaan baru itu, buku merah itu. They don’t precede the noun like English “that.”

Do adjectives like baru usually come after the noun?

Yes. Default order is Noun + Adjective: perusahaan baru. A few modifiers precede the noun (e.g., mantan bos, para karyawan, almarhum ayah), but typical adjectives follow.

Is bos perempuan the most natural way to say “female boss”? What about wanita, atasan, pimpinan?

bos perempuan = neutral, common.
bos wanita = also common, slightly formal.
bos cewek = casual/slang.
atasan (superior) and pimpinan (leader/leadership) are more formal; you can say atasan perempuan/pimpinan perempuan.

Does bos perempuan kami mean one boss or could it be plural?

Indonesian doesn’t mark plural by default, so it’s ambiguous. To mark plural, use:

para for human nouns: para bos perempuan kami
reduplication: bos-bos perempuan kami
numbers/quantifiers: dua bos perempuan kami

What’s the difference between kami and kita?

Both mean “we/our.” kami excludes the listener; kita includes the listener. Here kami implies the listener isn’t part of the company/team.

Can I say Bos kami perempuan instead of bos perempuan kami?

Yes, but the nuance shifts:

bos perempuan kami = “our female boss” (female as part of the noun phrase).
Bos kami perempuan = “our boss is a woman” (perempuan as a predicate). Both are fine here.

How can I intensify ramah?

Formal/neutral: sangat ramah (“very friendly”)
Neutral: ramah sekali
Colloquial: ramah banget Note: terlalu ramah means “too friendly.”

Can I move the location phrase to the end: Bos perempuan kami ramah di perusahaan baru itu?

Yes. It’s grammatical. At the end, it can sound like “friendly at that new company (perhaps compared to elsewhere).” Fronting it sets the scene more neutrally.

Is there any risk of confusing di with the passive prefix di-?

Yes—spacing distinguishes them. Preposition di is written separately (di perusahaan). The passive prefix attaches to the verb (ditulis, dibeli).

Does baru here mean “new” or “just (recently)”?

Here it’s the adjective “new.” As an adverb meaning “just,” it precedes a verb: Kami baru pindah (“We just moved”).

Is perempuan respectful? How does it compare with wanita, ibu, cewek?

perempuan is neutral and widely used. wanita is also common, often a bit formal. ibu means “mother/ma’am” (a respectful address, not a descriptor like “female”). cewek is slang/informal (“girl/gal”).

How do I say “At our new company, our female boss is friendly”?

Use kami to modify the company: Di perusahaan baru kami, bos perempuan kami ramah. In the original sentence, kami modifies the boss, not the company.

When would I use yang in a similar sentence?

Use yang to make a relative clause or to pick out a specific referent:

Bos perempuan kami yang ramah itu baru pindah. (“That friendly female boss of ours just moved.”) Without yang, ramah is the main predicate: Bos perempuan kami ramah.

Why not di dalam perusahaan?

di perusahaan means “at the company” (organizational setting). di dalam perusahaan stresses physical “inside the company (building/inside of).” The former fits this sentence’s intended meaning.