Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut karena pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan. - That small company went bankrupt because the monthly expenses exceeded the income.

perusahaan kecil = a / the small company (indefinite from context)
perusahaan kecil itu = that small company / the small company we already know about

So itu:

points to a specific company (maybe one both speakers know), and
often corresponds to that (or sometimes the) in English.

If you remove itu, the sentence becomes more general:

Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut … = that specific small company went bankrupt …
Perusahaan kecil bangkrut … = small companies went bankrupt … / a small company went bankrupt … (more generic or ambiguous)

Why is the adjective kecil after the noun (perusahaan kecil) instead of before it, like in English?

In Indonesian, descriptive adjectives usually come after the noun:

perusahaan kecil = small company
rumah besar = big house
mobil baru = new car

So the normal pattern is: > noun + adjective

Putting kecil before perusahaan (kecil perusahaan) is ungrammatical. You generally don’t reverse the order the way English does.

Is bangkrut a verb or an adjective here? Why is there no word for “went”?

Bangkrut can function as both an adjective (bankrupt) and an intransitive verb (to go bankrupt), depending on context. Here it works like a stative verb, so:

Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut ≈ That small company went bankrupt / That small company is bankrupt.

Indonesian usually does not mark tense with verb changes. You don’t add something like “-ed” for past. Time is understood from context or added with time words:

Perusahaan kecil itu sudah bangkrut. = That small company has already gone bankrupt.
(sudah explicitly marks it as completed/past.)

So no separate word for “went” is needed; bangkrut itself covers “is/was/went bankrupt” depending on context.

Could we say perusahaan kecil itu adalah bangkrut to mean “is bankrupt”?

No. That sounds ungrammatical.

Adalah is used mainly to link a subject to a noun phrase (or sometimes a longer description), not to a basic adjective or verb like bangkrut.

Correct:

Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut.
Perusahaan kecil itu adalah perusahaan keluarga. = That small company is a family-owned company.

Incorrect:

Perusahaan kecil itu adalah bangkrut. ✗

When the complement is just an adjective (e.g. bangkrut, besar, sibuk), you don’t use adalah.

What does karena mean, and can the karena‑clause come first like “Because …, the company …”?

Karena means because and introduces the reason clause.

Basic structure in the sentence:

[Main clause] karena [reason clause].
Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut karena pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan.
= That small company went bankrupt because monthly expenses exceeded income.

You can also put the karena‑clause first:

Karena pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan, perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut.
= Because monthly expenses exceeded income, that small company went bankrupt.

When the karena‑clause is first, you usually add a comma after it, just like in English.

What exactly does melebihi mean, and how is it different from using lebih … daripada?

Melebihi comes from lebih (more) + the verb-forming prefix me-, and it means to exceed / to be more than. It is a transitive verb that takes an object.

In the sentence:

pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan
= monthly expenses exceed income
= monthly expenses are more than income

Pattern with melebihi:

A melebihi B = A exceeds / is more than B

Alternative with lebih … daripada / dari:

Pengeluaran bulanan lebih besar daripada pendapatan.
= Monthly expenses are bigger than income.
Pengeluaran bulanan lebih banyak dari pendapatan.

So:

melebihi – one verb, compact:
Pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan.
lebih … daripada – comparative structure:
Pengeluaran bulanan lebih besar daripada pendapatan.

Both are correct; melebihi is shorter and a bit more formal/neutral.

What’s the difference between pengeluaran and pendapatan? Are they related to keluar and dapat?

Yes, they are derived from the verbs keluar (to go out) and dapat (to get/receive):

keluar = to go out
→ pengeluaran = expenditure / spending / expenses
(literally: things that go out, especially money)
dapat = to get / receive
→ pendapatan = income / revenue / earnings
(literally: things that are obtained)

Other near-synonyms:

pengeluaran vs biaya (costs), beban (expenses, especially in accounting).
pendapatan vs penghasilan (earnings), pemasukan (money coming in).

In everyday financial contexts:

pengeluaran = money going out
pendapatan = money coming in

Why is it pengeluaran bulanan, not bulanan pengeluaran? And what does bulanan literally mean?

In Indonesian, modifiers like bulanan (monthly) typically follow the noun:

pengeluaran bulanan = monthly expenses
gaji bulanan = monthly salary
laporan bulanan = monthly report

So pattern: > noun + modifier

Bulanan is derived from bulan (month) + the suffix -an, giving the meaning monthly / related to a month.

You can also say:

pengeluaran setiap bulan = expenses every month
This has the same basic meaning, but bulanan is more compact and often used in more formal or written contexts.

How do we know whose expenses and income these are? There is no “its” or “their” in the phrase pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan.

Indonesian often omits possessive pronouns when the owner is obvious from context. Here, it’s clearly about the company’s finances, so:

pengeluaran bulanan = the company’s monthly expenses
pendapatan = the company’s income

If you want to be explicit, you can add a possessive phrase:

pengeluaran bulanan perusahaan itu melebihi pendapatannya.
= that company’s monthly expenses exceed its income.

But in natural Indonesian, leaving the possessive understood from context is very common and completely normal.

Is there any plural marking in pengeluaran and pendapatan? Do these words mean singular or plural?

Indonesian generally does not mark plural on nouns by default. Number is understood from context.

So:

pengeluaran can mean expense or expenses
pendapatan can mean income or incomes/earnings

If you really want to show plurality, you might use:

berbagai pengeluaran = various expenses
bermacam-macam pendapatan = various sources of income
But in a sentence like this, the unmarked forms are standard and naturally understood as plural/collective.

What is the overall formality level of this sentence? Would it be used in everyday speech?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, and completely natural in writing (e.g., news, reports, textbooks):

Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut karena pengeluaran bulanan melebihi pendapatan.

In casual everyday speech, people might say, for example:

Perusahaan kecil itu bangkrut soalnya pengeluaran bulanannya lebih besar dari pendapatan.

Key differences:

karena (because) → soalnya (because, more colloquial)
melebihi → lebih besar dari (more conversational)
Adding -nya to bulanan (bulanannya) is also very colloquial and spoken-style.

So the original sentence is fine for news, reports, and polite conversation, not overly stiff but not slangy either.