Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam. - If my concentration is gone, I close my gadget and take a deep breath.

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.
If my concentration disappears, I close my device and take a deep breath.

jika konsentrasi saya hilang → general condition (whenever that happens)
kalau konsentrasi saya hilang → same meaning, more casual
ketika / saat konsentrasi saya hilang → grammatically okay, but sounds more like describing a specific moment in time than a general “if X, I do Y” rule.

For a general habit, jika (neutral/formal) or kalau (casual) is more natural than ketika / saat.

Why doesn’t Indonesian use a word like “is” in konsentrasi saya hilang? Why no adalah?

Indonesian usually doesn’t need a linking verb like “is” between a subject and an adjective or a state.

konsentrasi saya hilang literally: my concentration gone
→ understood as my concentration is gone / disappears.

You cannot use adalah here:

✖ konsentrasi saya adalah hilang (unnatural / wrong)

adalah is mainly used before nouns or noun phrases, not adjectives or verbs:

Dia adalah dokter. = He/She is a doctor.
Masalahnya adalah biaya. = The problem is the cost.

Is hilang an adjective or a verb here? What exactly does it mean?

hilang can function both as:

a stative verb = to disappear / to be lost
an adjective-like word = gone / missing

In konsentrasi saya hilang, it means:

“my concentration disappears / is gone / is lost”

So the clause is complete without any extra verb. It’s like saying “my concentration disappears” in English.

Could I say saya kehilangan konsentrasi instead of konsentrasi saya hilang? What’s the difference?

Both are correct, but there’s a nuance:

konsentrasi saya hilang
- Focus on the concentration as something that “goes away”.
- Slightly more neutral, descriptive.
saya kehilangan konsentrasi
- Literally: I lose concentration.
- Focus on me as the experiencer.
- Slightly more “active” sounding.

In your sentence, both work:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, ...
Jika saya kehilangan konsentrasi, ...

They mean almost the same; the second sounds just a bit more like you’re describing your own experience actively.

Why is it konsentrasi saya instead of something like saya konsentrasi for “my concentration”?

Indonesian usually expresses “X of Y” as:

[thing] + [possessor]
→ konsentrasi saya = my concentration
→ buku saya = my book
→ rumah mereka = their house

saya konsentrasi is not a noun phrase. It would be interpreted as:

saya konsentrasi = I concentrate / I am concentrating (verb usage)

So for “my concentration”, you need konsentrasi saya, not saya konsentrasi.

Do I really need to repeat saya in saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam? Could I drop it?

Yes, you can drop saya in the second clause if the subject is clear from context:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.
Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam. (subject is understood as “I”)

The full version with saya is slightly clearer and more formal/written.
In everyday speech, dropping repeated subjects is very common when there’s no ambiguity.

What does menutup gawai mean exactly? Is it “turn off”, “lock”, or literally “close the gadget”?

Literally:

menutup = to close
gawai = device / gadget (electronic gadget)

In real usage, menutup gawai is a bit vague. It could mean:

putting it away
closing what you’re doing on the screen
sometimes loosely “turning it off”

More specific and common options in daily speech:

mematikan HP / ponsel = turn off the phone
mengunci layar = lock the screen
menaruh HP / ponsel = put the phone down

Also, in casual conversation people often say HP or handphone, not gawai:

Saya menutup HP dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.
Saya taruh HP lalu tarik napas dalam-dalam.

Is the word gawai common? Or do people say HP, ponsel, or something else?

gawai is understood and used more in:

media, formal writing, and more careful speech
contexts where you want a neutral, Indonesian-sounding term

In everyday conversation, especially in cities, you’ll hear more:

HP (pronounced: ha-pe) = cellphone (very common)
handphone = same as HP, casual
ponsel = mobile phone, a bit more formal than HP

So a natural everyday version might be:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup HP dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.
or ... saya taruh HP dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.

Why is it menarik napas instead of just using a verb like bernapas?

Both exist, but they’re used differently:

bernapas = to breathe (general action)
- Saya bernapas. = I breathe / I am breathing.
menarik napas = to take a breath (literally “pull breath in”)
- Focuses on the inhalation as a deliberate action.

For “take a deep breath”, Indonesian normally says:

menarik napas dalam-dalam
or tarik napas dalam-dalam (without meN-, as a command)

So your sentence uses the usual natural collocation.

What’s the function of the repetition in dalam-dalam? How is it different from sangat dalam?

dalam-dalam is reduplication of dalam (deep) and here it works as an adverb meaning “deeply”.

napas dalam-dalam = a deep breath / breathing deeply

Nuance:

napas dalam-dalam → typical, idiomatic, sounds very natural
napas sangat dalam → understandable, but less idiomatic as a fixed phrase
napas dalam sekali → also OK, “very deep breath”, but again less formulaic

For “take a deep breath”, tarik / menarik napas dalam-dalam is the standard, set expression.

I don’t see any tense marking. How do we know this means “when/if this happens, I do X” and not past or future?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense the way English does. Time is usually inferred from:

context
time words (sekarang, kemarin, besok, tadi, nanti, etc.)
aspect markers (sudah, belum, sedang, akan, etc.)

Your sentence without anything else is understood as a general habit:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.
→ Whenever my concentration disappears, I (usually) close my device and take a deep breath.

If you wanted a more future-like feeling, you could add akan:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya akan menutup gawai...
→ more like If my concentration disappears, I will close my device...

Why is saya used instead of aku? Would aku be wrong here?

Both mean “I / me”:

saya = polite, neutral, widely acceptable in almost any situation
aku = more informal / intimate, used with friends, family, close peers

In a neutral sentence without context, saya is a safe default.
You could say:

Jika konsentrasi aku hilang, aku menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.

This is grammatically fine, but sounds more casual and personal. The important thing is consistency: don’t mix saya and aku in the same text or conversation unless you have a reason.

Is the comma after the jika-clause required? Could I write it without a comma?

The standard pattern is:

[subordinate clause], [main clause].
→ Jika konsentrasi saya hilang, saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.

In formal writing, that comma is recommended. In casual writing (texts, chats), some people omit it:

Jika konsentrasi saya hilang saya menutup gawai dan menarik napas dalam-dalam.

It’s still understandable, but the comma makes the sentence clearer and is preferred in correct written Indonesian.