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Di rapat keluarga kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.

Di rapat keluarga kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.
At the family meeting we discuss household expenses.
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Questions & Answers about Di rapat keluarga kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.

What exactly does di mean in di rapat keluarga? I thought di was only for physical places like rooms or buildings.

Di is a general preposition that usually means “in/at/on” and can be used for:

  • physical places: di rumah (at home), di kantor (at the office)
  • and also events or occasions: di rapat (at the meeting), di pesta (at the party), di kelas (in class)

So di rapat keluarga means “at the family meeting.”
It doesn’t have to be a physical location; it can mark the setting/situation where something happens.

Could you also say dalam rapat keluarga or pada rapat keluarga? What’s the difference from di rapat keluarga?

All three are possible, but they sound slightly different:

  • di rapat keluarga – very natural and common, neutral style
  • dalam rapat keluarga – literally “inside the family meeting”; often a bit more formal, can feel more “inside the process” of the meeting
  • pada rapat keluarga – often used in formal or written Indonesian, especially in speeches, reports, announcements

In everyday conversation, di rapat keluarga is the most typical choice.
In a formal written report, you might see: Pada rapat keluarga, kami membahas…

Why is it rapat keluarga and not keluarga rapat?

In Indonesian, when you have two nouns together:

  • The main noun usually comes first.
  • The noun that describes/qualifies it comes second.

So:

  • rapat keluarga = family meeting (literally “meeting (of the) family”)
  • keluarga rapat would be odd; if it meant anything, it might suggest “a close-knit family” (but the usual phrase for that is keluarga yang akrab or keluarga yang rukun).

So the pattern is like English “car key, school bag, coffee shop”:

  • rapat (meeting) + keluarga (family) → “family meeting”
What is the difference between keluarga and rumah tangga here? Both seem related to “family.”

They are related but not identical:

  • keluarga = family (the people and their relationships)

    • e.g. keluarga besar (extended family)

  • rumah tangga = household (the unit of people living together and the running of the home: finances, chores, etc.)

    • e.g. asisten rumah tangga (household helper/domestic worker)

In the sentence:

  • rapat keluarga = family meeting (who is meeting? the family)
  • pengeluaran rumah tangga = household expenses (what kind of expenses? those of the household)

So it’s natural: the family holds a meeting to discuss household expenses.

Why does rumah tangga mean “household”? Doesn’t tangga mean “ladder” or “stairs”?

Yes, literally:

  • rumah = house
  • tangga = ladder/stairs

But rumah tangga is a fixed compound expression that means “household” or “domestic life” — not literally “house ladder.”

Some common uses:

  • biaya rumah tangga – household costs
  • perabot rumah tangga – household furniture
  • masalah rumah tangga – domestic/marital problems

So when you see rumah tangga together, think “household”, not “house + ladder.”

What does membahas mean exactly, and how is it different from just bahas?
  • bahas is the basic root meaning “to discuss / to talk about / to examine (a topic)”.
  • membahas is the active verb form with the prefix me-: meN- + bahas → membahas.

In standard Indonesian, you normally use the meN- form in a full sentence:

  • Kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga. – We discussed household expenses.

membahas takes a direct object:

  • membahas apa? – discuss what?
  • membahas masalah keuangan – discuss financial issues

In casual speech, people sometimes say bahas without me-, especially in colloquial Indonesian:

  • Kita bahas nanti aja. – Let’s just discuss it later.

But in neutral/standard sentences like yours, membahas is the normal form.

Are there other common verbs that could replace membahas here, like “to discuss / talk about”?

Yes, some close alternatives are:

  • mendiskusikan – to discuss (more formal, from “diskusi”)

    • Di rapat keluarga kami mendiskusikan pengeluaran rumah tangga.

  • membicarakan – to talk about/discuss

    • Di rapat keluarga kami membicarakan pengeluaran rumah tangga.

  • membahas – to discuss/examine (often used for going through a topic in some detail)

In everyday usage, membahas and membicarakan are very common and fairly interchangeable in many contexts. mendiskusikan sounds more formal or “bookish.”

What does pengeluaran mean, and how is it formed from keluar?
  • keluar = to go out / to exit
  • The pattern pe- + root + -an often makes a noun related to an action or result.

So:

  • pe- + keluar + -an → pengeluaran

Main meanings of pengeluaran:

  1. spending / expenditure / expenses – in finance/money contexts

    • pengeluaran bulanan – monthly expenses

  2. the act of issuing/releasing (e.g. documents, products)

    • pengeluaran paspor – passport issuance

In your sentence, pengeluaran rumah tangga clearly means household expenses (money spent for the household).

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in rapat keluarga or pengeluaran rumah tangga?

Indonesian doesn’t have articles like “a/an” or “the.”
Whether it is definite or indefinite is understood from context.

So:

  • rapat keluarga can mean:
    • “a family meeting”
    • “the family meeting”
      depending on what the speaker has in mind.

Similarly:

  • pengeluaran rumah tangga:
    • “household expenses” / “the household expenses”

If you need to be clearer, you add other words:

  • rapat keluarga itu – that/the (specific) family meeting
  • semua pengeluaran rumah tangga – all (the) household expenses
What is the nuance of kami here? Why not kita?

Both kami and kita mean “we/us”, but:

  • kami = we (NOT including the listener)
  • kita = we (INCLUDING the listener)

In Di rapat keluarga kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga, kami suggests:

  • “We (the family members) discussed it,” and the listener is probably not part of that group.

If the speaker is talking to another family member who was also in the meeting, kita would be more natural:

  • Di rapat keluarga kita membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.
    – At the family meeting we (you and I included) discussed household expenses.
What is the basic word order in this sentence? Can I move words around?

The basic word order in Indonesian is S–V–O (Subject–Verb–Object), similar to English.

Your sentence:

  • (Di rapat keluarga) – prepositional phrase (setting)
  • kami – Subject (we)
  • membahas – Verb (discussed)
  • pengeluaran rumah tangga – Object (household expenses)

So the core is:

  • Kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.

You can move the prepositional phrase to the end, and it’s still natural:

  • Kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga di rapat keluarga.

But you can’t freely scramble the core S–V–O (like putting the object between kami and membahas) without changing the structure or making it sound wrong.

Can the subject kami be omitted, like in some other languages, and still sound natural?

Yes, Indonesian often omits pronouns when the subject is clear from context. For example, if everyone already knows who “we” is, you might say:

  • Di rapat keluarga membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.

In speech, this is understood as “(We) discussed household expenses at the family meeting,” but it can sound a bit incomplete or less standard in writing.

A more natural written alternative that avoids the subject is to use the passive:

  • Di rapat keluarga dibahas pengeluaran rumah tangga.
    – At the family meeting, the household expenses were discussed.

Here dibahas is the passive form of membahas.

How do we know if this sentence is past, present, or future? There’s no tense marker.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. membahas can mean:

  • discussed (past)
  • are discussing (present)
  • will discuss (future)

The tense is understood from context or from time words, for example:

  • Tadi di rapat keluarga kami membahas… – Earlier at the family meeting we discussed…
  • Sekarang di rapat keluarga kami membahas… – Now at the family meeting we are discussing…
  • Besok di rapat keluarga kami akan membahas… – Tomorrow at the family meeting we will discuss…

Without extra context, Di rapat keluarga kami membahas pengeluaran rumah tangga is often interpreted as past (“we discussed”), but it’s not grammatically fixed to that.

Is di in di rapat keluarga the same as the di- prefix used in passive verbs?

No, they are different:

  1. di (separate word) = a preposition meaning “in/at/on”

    • di rumah, di kantor, di rapat keluarga

  2. di- (attached to a verb) = passive prefix

    • bahas → dibahas – is/was discussed
    • tulis → ditulis – is/was written

You can often tell them apart by:

  • Spacing:
    • di rapat (space) = preposition
    • dibahas (no space) = prefix

In your sentence, di is clearly the preposition: di rapat keluarga = at the family meeting.