Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas. - The male boss at another company is quite firm.

Indonesian doesn’t use a linking verb with adjectives. A basic pattern is: Noun Phrase + Adjective/Adverb, so Bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas literally reads “Male boss at another company quite firm.”
Do not add adalah before an adjective here. Adalah is generally used before a noun: Bos itu adalah manajer. But with adjectives you say: Bos itu tegas.

What does cukup mean here—“enough” or “quite/pretty”?

Before an adjective, cukup most often means “quite/pretty/fairly.” So cukup tegas = “quite firm.”
It can mean “enough/sufficiently” if the context makes a threshold explicit, often with an untuk… phrase:
- Cukup tegas untuk menegakkan aturan. = “Firm enough to enforce the rules.”
- A more explicit “enough” structure is: Ketegasannya sudah cukup. (“His/Her firmness is sufficient.”)

Can cukup come after the adjective (e.g., “tegas cukup”)?

No. Degree words like cukup, agak, sangat, terlalu, lebih go before the adjective: cukup tegas, sangat tegas.
One common intensifier that goes after the adjective is sekali: tegas sekali = “very firm.”

How strong is cukup compared with other degree words?

Rough scale (weak → strong): agak tegas (a bit) < cukup/lumayan tegas (fairly/pretty) < sangat/amat tegas (very) < terlalu tegas (too).
Sekali (after the adjective) is like “very”: tegas sekali.

What’s the nuance of tegas? Is it the same as “strict” or “harsh”?

tegas = firm, decisive, assertive, clear in making/enforcing decisions (usually positive/neutral).
Related words:
- ketat = strict/tight (rules/policies: aturan yang ketat).
- keras = tough/harsh (tone/methods).
- galak = stern/scary (of a person’s manner, often negative/informal).
So cukup tegas suggests someone who is fairly decisive and firm, not necessarily harsh.

Why is laki-laki hyphenated? Are there synonyms?

laki-laki is the standard spelling (historically a reduplication). Write it with a hyphen.
Common synonyms and their register:
- pria (formal/neutral)
- lelaki (neutral, more literary)
- cowok (informal/slang)
All can modify bos: bos laki-laki, bos pria, bos cowok (the last is casual).

Is it natural to specify the boss’s gender? When would you omit laki-laki?

Indonesian nouns don’t mark gender, so you only add laki-laki/pria if gender is relevant (e.g., comparing with a female boss).
If gender isn’t the point, just say: Bos di perusahaan lain cukup tegas.

Does the sentence refer to one boss or many? How do I make it clearly singular or plural?

Indonesian doesn’t mark number by default, so it’s context-dependent.
To make it clearly singular:
- Seorang bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas. (“A male boss at another company…”)
- Bos laki-laki itu di perusahaan lain cukup tegas. (“That male boss at the other company…”)
To make it clearly plural:
- Para bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas.
- Bos-bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas.

What exactly does perusahaan lain mean—“another company” or “other companies”? How do I say “the other company”?

perusahaan lain is ambiguous; it often reads as “another company” in a general sense.
To say “the other company,” use:
- perusahaan yang lain or perusahaan lainnya (and add itu for specificity: perusahaan yang lain itu).
For “other companies” (plural), use reduplication: perusahaan-perusahaan lain.

How is di used here? Could I use dari or pada instead?

di = “at/in” (location): di perusahaan lain = “at another company.”
dari = “from”: dari perusahaan lain.
pada can sometimes function like “at” in formal writing, but di is the everyday choice for places.
Spelling tip: the preposition di is written separately (di perusahaan). Don’t write diperusahaan (that would look like the passive prefix di-, which attaches to verbs, not nouns).

Can I move di perusahaan lain to another position?

Yes, for emphasis or style:
- Fronting: Di perusahaan lain, bos laki-laki cukup tegas.
- End position can sound ambiguous (does it modify the boss or where the firmness applies?): Bos laki-laki cukup tegas di perusahaan lain. Use with care.

Do I need yang before laki-laki or elsewhere?

No. bos laki-laki is a simple “noun + modifier.”
Use yang to form relative clauses: bos yang tegas (“the boss who is firm”), perusahaan yang lain (“the other company”).
bos yang laki-laki is only used in a selecting/contrasting sense (“the boss who is the male one”), not as the default way to say “male boss.”

Is bos the best word here? What about atasan, manajer, etc.?

bos is common and informal-neutral; it can refer to any superior.
atasan = “superior” (more formal, rank-based).
manajer = manager (job title).
pimpinan = leadership/leader (often institutional).
direktur = director.
Choose based on role/formality: e.g., Atasan laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas (more formal).

How do I pronounce the tricky words?

laki-laki: la-ki-la-ki (four syllables; both words have even stress).
perusahaan: pe-ru-sa-ha-an (five syllables; pronounce the a-a as two separate vowels).
tegas: te-gas (two syllables; ‘e’ like schwa in many accents).
Indonesian has fairly even stress; keep vowels clear and don’t reduce them too much.

How would I say “firm enough to …” using this sentence?

Use cukup … untuk …: Bos laki-laki di perusahaan lain cukup tegas untuk mengambil keputusan sulit. = “The male boss at another company is firm enough to make tough decisions.”