Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.

He/She looks tired after the meeting.

Breakdown of Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.

• dia: he/she
• rapat: the meeting
• setelah: after
• lelah: tired
• tampak: to look

Questions & Answers about Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.

What is the literal translation of Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat?

Literally:

• Dia = he / she
• tampak = appears / looks
• lelah = tired
• setelah = after
• rapat = (a/the) meeting

So word-for-word: “He/She looks tired after (the) meeting.”
In natural English: “He/She looked tired after the meeting.” or “He/She looks tired after the meeting.” depending on context.

What exactly does tampak mean here? Is it more like “looks” or “seems”?

Tampak means “to appear, to look (to the eye), to seem.”

• In this sentence, Dia tampak lelah = He/She looks tired (visually).
• It’s similar to English “looks” in “He looks tired”.
• It can also be close to “seems”, but usually with a visual nuance.

You could usually replace it with:

• Dia kelihatan lelah.
• Dia terlihat lelah.

All three (tampak, kelihatan, terlihat) are very common and mostly interchangeable in casual use.
Tampak and terlihat sound a bit more neutral/formal; kelihatan is very everyday/casual.

Why is there no word for “is” or “was” before lelah?

Indonesian normally does not use a separate verb like “to be” before adjectives.

• English: He is tired.
• Indonesian: Dia lelah. (literally: He/She tired.)

So:

• Dia tampak lelah. = He/She looks tired.
  • tampak works as the verb: looks / appears
  • lelah is the adjective: tired

You do not say Dia adalah lelah or Dia adalah capek – that sounds wrong.
Adalah is used in “X is a Y” sentences (noun = noun), not with adjectives:

• Dia adalah guru. = He/She is a teacher.
• Dia lelah. = He/She is tired. (no adalah)

How do we know if this means “looked tired” (past) or “looks tired” (present)?

On its own, Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat has no fixed tense. Indonesian verbs do not change form for past/present/future. The time is understood from context.

It could mean:

• He/She looked tired after the meeting. (talking about a past event)
• He/She looks tired after the meeting. (e.g. a routine situation, or something you’re observing now)

To make the time clearer, you can add time words:

• Tadi dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  Earlier he/she looked tired after the meeting.
• Kemarin dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  Yesterday he/she looked tired after the meeting.
• Nanti dia mungkin tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  Later he/she might look tired after the meeting.

Does dia mean “he” or “she”? How do you say the gender clearly?

Dia is gender-neutral: it can mean he or she.

To be explicit about gender, people usually add context words:

• Dia laki-laki itu tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  That man looks tired after the meeting.
• Dia perempuan itu tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  That woman looks tired after the meeting.
• Pria itu tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  That man looks tired after the meeting.
• Wanita itu tampak lelah setelah rapat.
  That woman looks tired after the meeting.

In many situations, Indonesian simply doesn’t specify gender unless it matters.

What is the difference between lelah and capek?

Both mean tired, but they differ in register (formality):

• lelah
  • More neutral or slightly formal.
  • Common in writing, news, or polite speech.
• capek (also spelled capai)
  • Very common in spoken, casual Indonesian.
  • Everyday, informal feel.

So your sentence in more casual speech could be:

• Dia kelihatan capek habis rapat.
  He/She looks tired after the meeting. (informal)

Original sentence with a slightly formal/neutral tone:

• Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.

Can the word order change, like Dia lelah tampak setelah rapat?

No. That kind of reordering is not natural Indonesian.

Basic pattern here:

• Subject + verb (tampak) + adjective (lelah) + time/other info (setelah rapat)

So:

• Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat. ✅ natural
• Setelah rapat, dia tampak lelah. ✅ also natural (time phrase moved to the front)
• Dia lelah tampak setelah rapat. ❌ incorrect/unidiomatic

You generally do not put the adjective before tampak in this structure.

Is setelah different from sesudah? Can I say sesudah rapat instead?

Setelah and sesudah both mean after and are usually interchangeable.

So you can say:

• Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat. ✅
• Dia tampak lelah sesudah rapat. ✅

Subtle differences:

• setelah is slightly more common in modern standard Indonesian.
• sesudah might sound a bit more formal or old-fashioned to some ears, but it’s still very normal and widely used.

Another very colloquial option is habis:

• Dia kelihatan capek habis rapat.
  He/She looks tired after the meeting. (informal)

Does rapat mean any kind of meeting? Is it like a casual hangout?

Rapat means a meeting in the sense of:

• work meeting
• committee meeting
• organizational meeting
• formal discussion session

It is not used for casual social hangouts. For those you’d say:

• nongkrong (to hang out)
• kumpul-kumpul (to get together)
• ketemuan (to meet up)

So:

• rapat = meeting at work / office / organization
• pertemuan = meeting (more general/formal; can be event, conference, etc.)

Why is it just setelah rapat, not setelah rapatnya or setelah rapat itu?

Indonesian often omits articles (“a/the”) and possessive details if they’re clear from context.

• setelah rapat can mean “after the meeting” or “after a meeting”, depending on what’s already known.

If you want to specify more:

• setelah rapat itu = after that meeting
• setelah rapat tadi = after the earlier meeting
• setelah rapatnya = after his/her/their meeting (or “the meeting” in some contexts)

But in many real situations, setelah rapat alone is completely natural and understood as “after the meeting” (the one both speakers know about).

Can I move setelah rapat to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes, very naturally. Both are correct:

• Dia tampak lelah setelah rapat.
• Setelah rapat, dia tampak lelah.

When you move setelah rapat to the front, it sounds slightly more like you’re setting the scene:

• Setelah rapat, dia tampak lelah.
  After the meeting, he/she looked tired.

Are there more informal or alternative ways to say the same idea?

Yes, many variations with different levels of formality:

More neutral/casual:

• Dia kelihatan lelah setelah rapat.
• Dia terlihat lelah setelah rapat.

More informal (spoken):

• Dia kelihatan capek habis rapat.
• Abis rapat dia kelihatan capek banget.
  After the meeting he/she looked really tired.

More formal:

• Dia tampak sangat lelah setelah rapat tersebut.
  He/She appeared very tired after that meeting.