Kalau kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.

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Breakdown of Kalau kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.

• tidur: to sleep
• lebih awal: earlier
• malam ini: tonight

Questions & Answers about Kalau kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.

What is the difference between kalau and other words like jika or bila for “if”? Are they interchangeable here?

All three can mean “if” and would work in this sentence:

• Kalau kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.
• Jika kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.
• Bila kamu mengantuk, tidurlah lebih awal malam ini.

Differences in feel:

• kalau – very common in everyday, spoken Indonesian; informal–neutral.
• jika – a bit more formal, common in writing, instructions, official texts.
• bila – slightly literary or formal, also used in songs, writing.

For normal conversation, kalau is the most natural choice.

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Does kalau always mean “if”? Can it also mean “when”?

In this sentence it clearly means “if” (conditional).

In casual Indonesian, kalau can sometimes have a “when/whenever” meaning, especially when the condition is something that regularly happens:

• Kalau hujan, jalanan macet.
  = When(ever) it rains, the roads are jammed.

So:

• Conditional “if”: Kalau kamu mengantuk, tidurlah…
• Habitual “when/whenever”: Kalau aku stress, aku jalan-jalan.

Context usually decides whether you read it as “if” or “when”.

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