Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia berbaring di sofa empuk di ruang tamu. - He/She lies on the soft sofa in the living room.

Dia is a third-person singular pronoun meaning “he” or “she” (also sometimes “they” when gender is unknown), and it doesn’t show gender by itself.

You find out whether it means he or she only from context (earlier sentences, who you’re talking about, etc.). Indonesian personal pronouns generally do not mark gender.

Why is there no word for “is / was” in “Dia berbaring …”?

Indonesian usually does not use a separate verb for “to be” in sentences like this.

Dia berbaring literally: “He/She lying-down”
→ Interpreted as “He/She is lying (down)” or “He/She was lying (down)”, depending on context.

There is no need to add something like “adalah” or “ialah” here; those are used in different constructions (mostly like “X is Y” with nouns).

How do I know if this means “is lying” (now) or “was lying” (in the past)?

The verb berbaring itself doesn’t show tense. Indonesian tense is usually understood from context or from time expressions, for example:

Tadi dia berbaring di sofa… → Earlier he/she was lying on the sofa…
Sekarang dia berbaring di sofa… → Right now he/she is lying on the sofa…

If you really want to emphasize the ongoing, right-now action, you can add sedang:

Dia sedang berbaring di sofa empuk di ruang tamu.
→ He/She is (currently) lying on the soft sofa in the living room.

What exactly does berbaring mean? Is it just “to lie” like tidur?

Berbaring means “to lie (down), to be in a lying position”, focusing on the posture, not necessarily on sleeping.

Dia berbaring di sofa. → He/She is lying down on the sofa (maybe awake, maybe not).
Dia tidur di sofa. → He/She is sleeping on the sofa.

So berbaring ≈ to be lying (down), whereas tidur = to sleep.

Why do we use di with sofa and ruang tamu? Can I drop one of them?

Di is a preposition meaning “in / at / on” (location). In this sentence, there are two location phrases:

di sofa empuk → on the soft sofa
di ruang tamu → in the living room

So the structure is:
Dia berbaring [di sofa empuk] [di ruang tamu].

You normally do repeat di before each separate location phrase. If you said:

Dia berbaring di sofa empuk ruang tamu.

it would sound unnatural or confusing, as if “sofa empuk ruang tamu” were one long noun phrase.

Could I say “pada sofa” instead of “di sofa”?

In everyday Indonesian, for physical locations like sofa, kursi, meja, the natural preposition is di.

Pada is more formal/abstract and is often used with:

abstract nouns: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion)
pronouns: pada saya, pada mereka (in more formal style)
certain set phrases.

So:

Dia berbaring di sofa. ✅ natural
Dia berbaring pada sofa. ❌ grammatically understandable, but sounds strange / overly formal for this context.

Why is it sofa empuk, not empuk sofa?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

sofa empuk = soft sofa
ruang tamu besar = big living room
buku lama = old book

Putting the adjective before the noun (like empuk sofa) is not standard grammar and will sound unnatural or confusing. So the normal order is:

noun + adjective
→ sofa empuk, not empuk sofa.

What does empuk mean exactly? Could I say lembut instead?

Empuk means “soft, cushy, comfortable to sit/lie on”, often for:

sofas, chairs, mattresses, pillows, bread, cakes, etc.

Lembut means “soft, gentle” in a broader sense:

soft to the touch: kulit lembut (soft skin)
soft voice: suara lembut
gentle character: sifatnya lembut

For furniture, sofa empuk is more natural than sofa lembut, because we usually care that it’s cushy/comfortable, not just soft to the touch. So:

sofa empuk ✅
sofa lembut ❓ possible, but less typical.

What does ruang tamu literally mean? Is it the same as living room?

Literally:

ruang = room/space
tamu = guest

So ruang tamu = “guest room” in a literal sense, but in Indonesian this commonly refers to the front room / sitting room where you receive guests, which usually corresponds to the living room in many homes.

Another term you might see:

ruang keluarga = family room, where the family hangs out informally.

In many houses ruang tamu and ruang keluarga can be separate, or they might be basically the same space, depending on the house.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before sofa and ruang tamu?

Indonesian does not have articles like English “a / an / the”.

sofa empuk can mean “a soft sofa” or “the soft sofa”,
ruang tamu can mean “a living room” or “the living room”,

depending completely on context. If the speaker and listener both know which sofa and which living room are meant, English uses “the”, but Indonesian does not need to change the phrase.

Could I leave out dia and just say “Berbaring di sofa empuk di ruang tamu”?

You can drop dia in some contexts, but it changes the feel and can cause ambiguity.

Dia berbaring di sofa empuk di ruang tamu.
→ Clear: He/She is lying on the soft sofa in the living room.
Berbaring di sofa empuk di ruang tamu.
→ Could sound like an instruction (“Lie on the soft sofa in the living room”)
→ Or like a sentence fragment, missing the subject.

Indonesian often allows subject omission, but usually only when it’s very clear from the broader context. As a stand-alone sentence, including dia is better.

Is berbaring formal or neutral? Are there more casual alternatives?

Berbaring is neutral and perfectly fine in everyday speech as well as in writing. It’s neither very formal nor slangy.

Other verbs you might hear, depending on nuance:

tiduran (colloquial) – kind of “just lying around / lounging”:
Dia tiduran di sofa. → He/She is just lying around on the sofa.
rebahan (colloquial, common in Indonesia) – “to lie down and rest / flop down”:
Dia lagi rebahan di sofa.

All of these (including berbaring) describe being in a lying position, but tiduran and rebahan sound more casual and relaxed.