Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel. - I complete that profile with a small portfolio and several articles.

Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel.

I complete that profile with a small portfolio and several articles.

Breakdown of Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel.

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Questions & Answers about Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel.

What does itu in Profil itu do here? Is it “that” or “the”, and do I have to use it?

Itu is a demonstrative meaning roughly “that”, but it also often works like a definite article (“the”).

Profil itu ≈ “that profile” / “the profile”.
Without it, profil is more like “a profile” or just “profile” in general.

You use itu when:

You and the listener both know which specific profile you’re talking about (e.g. the one on a website you both use).
You’re referring back to something already mentioned.

If you say Profil saya lengkapi…, it sounds more like “I completed my profile…”, because profil saya = “my profile”.
So Profil itu and profil saya don’t mean the same thing.

Why is the word order Profil itu saya lengkapi instead of Saya melengkapi profil itu? Are both correct?

Both are correct, but they use different structures and emphasis.

Saya melengkapi profil itu dengan…
- Canonical active order: Subject – Verb – Object.
- Neutral, straightforward: “I completed that profile with…”
Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan…
- This is object‑fronting (often called “passive type 2”).
- Pattern: Object – Verb – Agent pronoun.
- Emphasizes the profile rather than I.
- Feels a bit more formal or written, and very natural in Indonesian.

A rough English feel would be:

Profil itu saya lengkapi… ≈ “That profile, I completed it with…” to show the focus on that profile.

In Profil itu saya lengkapi, is profil itu the subject or the object?

Functionally, profil itu is the patient (the thing being completed), so in semantic terms it’s the object of the action.

Grammar-wise, many Indonesian grammars treat this pattern as a kind of passive, where:

profil itu behaves like the subject (it’s at the start, it agrees with the verb positionally),
saya is the agent (the doer),
lengkapi is the verb.

So you can think:

Saya melengkapi profil itu → “I completed that profile.” (normal active)
Profil itu saya lengkapi → “That profile was completed by me.” (in structure/focus)

For learning purposes, it’s safest to remember:

profil itu = the thing acted on,
saya = the one doing the action,
The order has been changed for emphasis, but the roles are the same.

Why is the verb lengkapi and not melengkapi here?

Because of the construction Objet – Verb – Pronoun-agent.

In the normal active sentence, you’d say:
- Saya melengkapi profil itu…
When you front the object, Indonesian usually drops the me‑ prefix on the verb and optionally puts the agent pronoun after it:
- Profil itu saya lengkapi…

So:

melengkapi = active verb with me- prefix.
lengkapi = the same verb without me-, used in this “short passive / object-fronted” pattern.

Other examples:

Buku itu saya baca. (from saya membaca buku itu)
Film itu sudah kami tonton. (from kami sudah menonton film itu)

You don’t say Profil itu saya melengkapi; that’s ungrammatical in this pattern.

What is the base word of lengkapi, and what does the suffix -i add?

The base word is lengkap, an adjective meaning “complete”.

From it we get:

melengkapi / lengkapi (verb) = “to complete / to equip / to complement (something)”.

The suffix -i often indicates:

The thing being acted on is the object of the verb:
- melengkapi profil itu = to complete that profile.
And you can specify with what using dengan:
- melengkapi profil itu dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel
  “to complete that profile with a small portfolio and some articles.”

So lengkapi here means “(to) complete / supplement / equip (it)” and profil itu is what is being completed.

Why do we need dengan here? Could we say Profil itu saya lengkapi portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel without dengan?

In this sentence, dengan introduces the means / materials used to complete the profile.

melengkapi X dengan Y = “to complete X with Y” / “to equip X with Y”.

So:

Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel.
= “That profile I completed with a small portfolio and some articles.”

If you drop dengan:

Profil itu saya lengkapi portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel
sounds unnatural or confusing, because it’s unclear how portofolio kecil dan beberapa artikel relate to lengkapi.

In this meaning (“complete something with something else”), it’s normal and best to keep dengan.

What exactly does portofolio kecil mean? Is kecil physical size or “short / small amount”?

Literally, portofolio kecil = “small portfolio”.

Depending on context, kecil can mean:

physically small (e.g. not many pages, small file),
limited in content (not many works included),
modest in scale.

In many real-life cases, portofolio kecil would be understood as:

a short / modest portfolio, not a large or exhaustive one.

Indonesian uses kecil quite flexibly; context determines whether it’s physical size or amount.

Why is kecil placed after portofolio? In English we say “small portfolio”, not “portfolio small”.

In Indonesian, adjectives typically come after the noun:

rumah besar = “big house”
baju merah = “red shirt”
profil lengkap = “complete profile”
portofolio kecil = “small portfolio”

Putting the adjective before the noun (kecil portofolio) would sound wrong or at least very unnatural in standard Indonesian.

Does portofolio here mean one portfolio or several? How can I tell?

Indonesian nouns usually don’t show plural with a special ending. Portofolio by itself can be singular or plural, depending on context.

In this sentence:

portofolio kecil is most naturally read as one small portfolio, because:
- there’s no explicit plural marker like para, banyak, or portofolio-portofolio,
- it’s coordinated with beberapa artikel (“several articles”), which is clearly plural; the writer would likely mark portofolio as plural too if they meant many portfolios.

So the default reading:

portofolio kecil = “a small portfolio” (singular).

Why is it beberapa artikel, not beberapa artikel-artikel?

In Indonesian, when you have a plural marker like beberapa (“several / a few”), you normally do not repeat the noun.

Correct:

beberapa artikel = several articles
banyak buku = many books
tiga orang guru = three teachers

Reduplicating the noun and using beberapa together (beberapa artikel-artikel) sounds redundant and ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.

Use either:

artikel-artikel to emphasize plurality by itself, or
beberapa artikel with no reduplication.

Here, beberapa artikel is the natural choice.

What’s the nuance of beberapa artikel? Is it “a few” or “several”?

Beberapa is between “a few” and “several”:

It clearly indicates more than one, but
Not a large number.

In English, both “a few articles” and “several articles” can work as translations.
If you need a very small number, you could also say:

beberapa artikel saja = just a few articles (slightly emphasizing smallness).

But beberapa artikel by itself is neutral: not many, not just one.

There is no tense marker here. Does this sentence mean past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Profil itu saya lengkapi… by itself is time-neutral and can mean:

Past: “I completed that profile…”
Present: “I am completing that profile…” (less likely here)
Future: “I will complete that profile…” (if context makes that clear)

The actual time is usually shown by:

Context,
Time words like kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), nanti (later), besok (tomorrow),
Aspect markers like sudah (already), sedang (in the middle of), akan (will).

For example:

Kemarin profil itu saya lengkapi dengan… → clearly past.
Profil itu sudah saya lengkapi dengan… → “I have already completed that profile with…”

What’s the difference between Profil itu saya lengkapi… and Profil itu dilengkapi dengan…?

Both are “passive-ish”, but they differ in how clearly they show the agent.

Profil itu saya lengkapi dengan…
- Agent (saya) is explicitly mentioned.
- Pattern: Object – Verb – Agent pronoun.
- Emphasizes the object (profil itu), but still tells us who did it.
Profil itu dilengkapi dengan…
- Uses the di- passive: dilengkapi.
- Agent may be:
  - omitted: Profil itu dilengkapi dengan… (no agent mentioned),
  - or mentioned with oleh: Profil itu dilengkapi oleh saya dengan… (very formal).

Typical usage:

In personal writing: Profil itu saya lengkapi… is very natural.
In formal descriptions/manuals: Profil itu dilengkapi dengan fitur-fitur berikut… (“This profile is equipped with the following features…”).

So the given sentence is more personal and direct: “That profile, I completed (it) with…”

Is Profil itu saya lengkapi… formal or informal? Which would people say in everyday speech?

This structure is:

Common and natural in both spoken and written Indonesian.
Slightly more careful / neutral-formal than the plain active.

In everyday conversation people might say either:

Saya melengkapi profil itu dengan… (active, very neutral), or
Profil itu sudah saya lengkapi dengan… (object-fronting with sudah).

Using the object-fronting pattern (Profil itu saya lengkapi…) doesn’t sound stiff; it’s widely used, especially when you want to highlight the object.