Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi sambil minum teh. - She/He likes watching badminton matches on television while drinking tea.

In Indonesian, dia is a gender‑neutral third‑person singular pronoun. It can mean he, she, or even they (referring to one person whose gender you don’t want to specify).

Indonesians usually know the gender from:

Context (earlier in the conversation, the person’s name, situation, etc.)
Sometimes additional words, like laki‑laki (male) or perempuan (female), if it really needs to be clear:
- Dia laki‑laki. = He (is male).
- Dia perempuan. = She (is female).

So Dia suka menonton… can be translated as He likes watching… or She likes watching…, depending on context.

What’s the nuance of suka here? Is it like like, love, or enjoy?

Suka is most often translated as to like or to enjoy. It expresses a general preference or habit.

In this sentence:

Dia suka menonton… ≈ He/She likes watching… / He/She enjoys watching…

Stronger words for love are:

cinta – deep romantic or very strong love (for people or abstract things: cinta tanah air = love of country).
sayang – affectionate love (for family, close friends, pets).

You would not normally say:

Dia cinta menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis… ✗ (this sounds odd)
Use suka for activities/hobbies:
Saya suka membaca. = I like reading.
Mereka suka bermain bulu tangkis. = They like playing badminton.

What is the difference between menonton, melihat, and menyaksikan?

All three involve seeing, but they have different typical uses:

menonton – to watch (something like TV, a movie, a match, a show)
- menonton televisi, menonton film, menonton pertandingan
melihat – to see / to look at (more general, not necessarily as “an audience”)
- melihat burung di pohon = to see birds in a tree
- melihat peta = to look at a map
menyaksikan – to witness / watch (often more formal, or emphasizing being a witness, sometimes something important or serious)
- menyaksikan upacara = to witness a ceremony
- menyaksikan kecelakaan = to witness an accident

In this sentence, menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis is the most natural, because you “watch” a sports match on TV as an audience member.

Why is it pertandingan bulu tangkis and not bulu tangkis pertandingan?

Indonesian noun order is generally head noun + modifier, which is the opposite of English:

pertandingan bulu tangkis
- pertandingan = match/competition (head noun)
- bulu tangkis = badminton (modifier, specifying what kind of match)
  → literally badminton match

Putting bulu tangkis first, like bulu tangkis pertandingan, is ungrammatical.

Other examples:

rumah sakit = hospital (literally “sick house”)
guru bahasa Inggris = English teacher (literally “teacher [of] English language”)

What exactly does bulu tangkis mean? Can I just say badminton?

Bulu tangkis is the standard Indonesian term for the sport badminton.

Literally:

bulu = feather
tangkis = to fend off / to parry
So historically it refers to hitting away the feathered shuttlecock.

In modern usage:

bulu tangkis = badminton (standard, in dictionaries, formal and neutral)
badminton is also widely understood and used in casual speech, especially in cities and among younger people, but bulu tangkis is the safer, more “correct” term for learners.

Why is it di televisi, not something like pada televisi? And can I say di TV?

For location, di is the usual preposition:

di ≈ at / in / on (location)

So:

di televisi = on TV
di rumah = at home
di sekolah = at school

Pada is more formal and usually used with:

abstract things: pada kesempatan ini (on this occasion)
pronouns: pada saya (to me), especially in formal writing

In everyday speech:

di TV (or di tivi) is very common and natural.
di televisi is a bit more formal/standard.

So all of these are acceptable, with varying formality:

di TV – casual
di tivi – casual, reflecting local pronunciation
di televisi – standard/neutral

How does sambil work? What’s the difference between sambil, sementara, and ketika?

Sambil links two actions done at the same time by the same subject:

Dia suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi sambil minum teh.
= He/She likes watching badminton matches on TV while drinking tea.

Key points about sambil:

Same subject for both actions:
Dia (subject) likes watching and drinking at the same time.
Often translated as while or as.

Compare with:

sementara – while/whereas; can contrast two different subjects or situations.
- Saya belajar, sementara dia bermain.
  = I study, while he/she plays.
ketika – when, at the time that; used for events in time.
- Ketika dia datang, saya sedang makan.
  = When he/she came, I was eating.

You could also front the sambil phrase:

Sambil minum teh, dia suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi.
Still natural and grammatical; it just emphasizes the “while drinking tea” part.

Does Indonesian grammar show tense in Dia suka menonton… like English does with likes watching?

Indonesian does not mark tense on the verb the way English does. The form suka menonton does not change for past, present, or future.

The tense is understood from:

context
time expressions (e.g. kemarin = yesterday, besok = tomorrow, sering = often, etc.)

So:

Dia suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi sambil minum teh.
→ Usually interpreted as a present habit:
He/She likes watching badminton matches on TV while drinking tea.

If you need to be more explicit:

Dulu dia suka menonton… = He/She used to like watching…
Sekarang dia suka menonton… = Now he/she likes watching…
Besok dia akan suka menonton… – sounds odd; usually you don’t talk about “will like” that way. You’d say something like:
Besok dia mau menonton… = Tomorrow he/she wants to watch…

Why is there no word for the in pertandingan bulu tangkis? How do you say the vs a in Indonesian?

Indonesian does not have articles like a/an and the. Nouns are usually bare, and definiteness is understood from context.

So:

pertandingan bulu tangkis
can mean: a badminton match or the badminton match, depending on context.

If you really need to emphasize:

sebuah pertandingan bulu tangkis – a badminton match (indefinite; more written/formal)
pertandingan bulu tangkis itu – that/the badminton match (definite, already known or pointed out)

In everyday conversation, pertandingan bulu tangkis is enough, and the listener uses context to decide whether you mean “a match” or “the match”.

Can I drop dia and just say Suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis…?

Yes, you can drop the subject pronoun if it is clear from context, especially in conversation:

(Dia) suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi sambil minum teh.

If you’re already talking about this person, native speakers might simply say:

Suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di TV sambil minum teh.

But:

For learners, it’s safer to keep the pronoun (Dia) until you’re confident, because leaving it out can make sentences vague if the context isn’t very clear.

What’s the difference between dia and ia? Could I say Ia suka menonton…?

Both dia and ia mean he/she (third person singular), but they differ in style and position:

dia
- More common in spoken Indonesian.
- Can appear in more positions in the sentence.
- Neutral and widely used: Dia suka menonton…
ia
- More common in written, especially formal Indonesian (news, literature).
- Usually appears before the verb and not after prepositions.
- Ia suka menonton… – correct and sounds more formal/“written”.

So yes, you could say:

Ia suka menonton pertandingan bulu tangkis di televisi sambil minum teh.
It sounds more like something from a story or article, rather than casual speech.

Why is it minum teh and not meminum teh? What’s the difference?

Both minum teh and meminum teh are grammatically correct, but differ in style and nuance:

minum teh – the most natural, everyday expression: to drink tea
- Dia suka minum teh. = He/She likes drinking tea.
meminum teh – more formal, sometimes emphasizes the action of drinking that specific tea, or appears in formal/written contexts (instructions, warnings, literature).
- Meminum teh terlalu panas dapat melukai mulut.
  = Drinking tea that is too hot can injure your mouth.

In your sentence:

…sambil minum teh is natural and idiomatic.
…sambil meminum teh sounds more formal or slightly over‑emphatic for everyday speech.