Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Di kelas, dia suka membuat lelucon kecil untuk mengurangi stres teman-temannya. - In class, he/she likes to make small jokes to reduce his/her friends’ stress.

Dia is a third‑person singular pronoun that can mean “he,” “she,” or even “they” (singular) depending on context. Indonesian doesn’t mark gender in pronouns.

In this sentence:

Di kelas, dia suka membuat lelucon kecil…
could be translated as:
- In class, *he likes to make little jokes…*
- In class, *she likes to make little jokes…*

Only the broader context (who you’re talking about) will tell you whether it’s a man or a woman. The Indonesian itself stays the same.

How is tense shown here? Where is the “likes to” or “usually” meaning?

Indonesian does not conjugate verbs for tense like English does. There’s no direct equivalent of -s, -ed, or “will” attached to the verb.

In this sentence, the “habitual” or “likes to” meaning comes from:

The verb suka = to like / to be fond of
The overall context (a general statement, not a one‑time event)

So:

Dia suka membuat lelucon kecil…
literally: He/She likes to make small jokes…
and naturally implies a habit or usual behavior, not just a single occurrence.

If you needed to, you could add time words:

Dulu dia suka… = He/She used to like…
Sekarang dia suka… = Now he/she likes…
But the verb form itself stays the same.

Why is there a comma after Di kelas? Can I move di kelas to a different position?

Di kelas means “in class / in the classroom.” It’s a prepositional phrase showing location.

Comma usage
When you put a time or place phrase at the beginning of the sentence in Indonesian, it is common (especially in writing) to separate it with a comma:
- Di kelas, dia suka…
  = In class, he/she likes…
Word order flexibility
You can also say:
- Dia suka membuat lelucon kecil di kelas untuk mengurangi stres teman-temannya.
  (Perfectly natural, maybe even more typical in speech.)
- Or even: Dia suka di kelas membuat lelucon kecil… (less common, can sound a bit awkward; native speakers rarely say it this way.)

So:

Di kelas, dia suka… (fronted for emphasis on the place)
Dia suka … di kelas … (more neutral word order)

Both are grammatically correct.

What is the function of di in di kelas? How is it different from dalam?

Di is a preposition of place, roughly “in / at / on” depending on context.

di kelas = in (the) class / in the classroom
di rumah = at home
di meja = on the table

Dalam also means “in / inside,” but:

di is more general and more common.
dalam emphasizes the idea of inside the interior or is used in somewhat more formal or abstract contexts.

Compare:

Di kelas, dia suka membuat lelucon kecil.
= In class, he/she likes to make little jokes. (Normal, natural)
Di dalam kelas, dia suka membuat lelucon kecil.
= Inside the classroom, he/she likes to make little jokes. (Slight extra emphasis on “inside,” or just a bit more formal/explicit.)

In everyday speech, di kelas is what you’d hear most.

What does suka do here? Is it a verb or an adjective?

Suka in this sentence works like a verb meaning “to like” or “to enjoy.”

Dia suka membuat lelucon kecil.
= He/She likes to make little jokes.

You can think of it as:

dia (subject)
suka (verb: likes)
membuat lelucon kecil (object phrase: making little jokes)

In other contexts, suka can feel more like an adjective (“fond of”), but grammatically it behaves as a stative verb—no extra verb “to be” (is) is needed in Indonesian:

Dia suka musik. = He/She likes music. (not “Dia adalah suka musik”)

What exactly does membuat mean? Why not just a simple word for “to joke”?

Membuat literally means “to make / to create.”

Here:

membuat lelucon kecil = to make little jokes

Indonesian does have a more “verb-like” way to say “to joke”:

bercanda or bergurau = to joke / to kid around

So you could also say:

Di kelas, dia suka bercanda untuk mengurangi stres teman-temannya.
= In class, he/she likes to joke to reduce his/her friends’ stress.

Differences in nuance:

membuat lelucon sounds like producing specific jokes (as discrete things).
bercanda / bergurau is more like the activity of joking around in general.

Both are correct; the original just focuses more on “making jokes” as things.

Why is it lelucon kecil? Does kecil literally mean “small,” or is it like “light / harmless”?

Kecil literally means “small / little.”

In lelucon kecil:

Literally: “small jokes”
Natural meaning: “little jokes,” “small/light jokes,” or “harmless jokes.”

So:

lelucon kecil often implies:
- Not serious
- Not harsh
- Just small, casual jokes

If you want to emphasize “light” or “not serious,” you could also say:

lelucon ringan = light jokes
gurauan kecil = little jokes (using another word for joke, gurauan)

But lelucon kecil is very natural and already has that gentle/harmless feel.

What is the role of untuk in untuk mengurangi stres? Is it like “to” or “in order to”?

Untuk is a preposition meaning “for” or “in order to.”

In this sentence:

…suka membuat lelucon kecil untuk mengurangi stres teman-temannya.
= …likes to make little jokes *to reduce his/her friends’ stress.*

Structure:

untuk + verb (in the meN‑ form)
expresses purpose:
- untuk mengurangi stres = in order to reduce stress

You could think of it like:

English “in order to” or “to” (when expressing a purpose).

Other examples:

Saya belajar keras untuk lulus ujian.
= I study hard to pass the exam.
Dia bekerja lembur untuk membantu keluarganya.
= He/She works overtime to help his/her family.

What does mengurangi mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Mengurangi means “to reduce / to lessen / to decrease (something).”

It’s formed from:

kurang = less / lacking / not enough
Prefix meN-
- kurang → mengurangi (the prefix changes shape to meng- before k)

Function:

mengurangi is a transitive verb: it usually takes an object.
- mengurangi stres = to reduce stress
- mengurangi biaya = to reduce costs
- mengurangi kecepatan = to reduce (your) speed / slow down

Difference with other verbs:

mengurangi stres = reduce / lessen stress
menghilangkan stres = remove / eliminate stress (stronger; as if making it disappear)
melepas / melepaskan stres = release stress (let it out)

Here, mengurangi suggests making the stress lower, not completely gone.

Why is stres spelled without a double “s” like English stress? Is the meaning exactly the same?

Stres in Indonesian is borrowed from English “stress,” but the spelling has been adapted to Indonesian spelling conventions.

stres (Indonesian)
≈ stress (English, psychological/mental pressure)

Meaning here:

mengurangi stres teman-temannya = to reduce his/her friends’ stress (emotional/mental stress)

Notes:

Pronunciation is close to English “stress” but with simpler Indonesian vowels.
There’s also an older/synonymous word tekanan = pressure, but stres is very common in modern Indonesian for mental/emotional stress.

What does teman-temannya mean exactly? Why the repetition and the -nya at the end?

Teman-temannya is made of three parts:

teman = friend
teman-teman (reduplication) = friends (plural)
teman-temannya = his/her friends (or “their friends,” depending on context)

So:

teman-teman indicates plural (more than one friend).
-nya in this context shows possession: “the friends of him/her.”

Thus:

stres teman-temannya = the stress of his/her friends
→ natural translation: his/her friends’ stress.

The suffix -nya is very flexible; it can:

Mark possession: bukunya = his/her book
Mark definiteness: rumahnya = the house / that house (depending on context)
Stand as a pronoun: Saya suka yang ini, bukan yang itu. Yang itu jeleknya. (= that one is bad.)

But here it clearly means “his/her.”

Could I say teman dia or teman-teman dia instead of teman-temannya? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

teman dia = his/her friend
teman-teman dia = his/her friends

Compared to teman-temannya:

Commonness and flow
- teman-temannya often sounds smoother and more natural in connected speech.
- teman-teman dia is also correct and clear; it can feel slightly more explicit or a bit more “separated.”
Emphasis
If you say:
- stres teman-temannya → flows as a single unit: the stress of his/her friends
- stres teman-teman dia → may put just a tiny bit more emphasis on dia (that specific person’s friends).

All of these are grammatically correct:

untuk mengurangi stres teman-temannya
untuk mengurangi stres teman-teman dia

The original version is very natural and typical.

Is the overall tone/formality of this sentence neutral, casual, or formal?

The sentence is neutral and appropriate in most contexts:

Vocabulary like di kelas, suka, membuat lelucon kecil, mengurangi stres, teman-temannya is standard, everyday Indonesian.
It’s fine for:
- Spoken conversation
- Writing (e.g., in a narrative, essay, or description)
- Semi-formal contexts like school discussions

To make it more casual, you might hear:

Di kelas, dia suka banget bercanda buat ngurangin stres teman-temannya.
(adds slang banget, uses buat instead of untuk, ngurangin instead of mengurangi)

To make it more formal, you might slightly adjust vocabulary or structure:

Di kelas, ia gemar melontarkan lelucon kecil untuk mengurangi stres para temannya.
(using ia, gemar, melontarkan, para → more formal/written style)

The original sentence sits comfortably in the neutral middle.