Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti berakhirnya kebersamaan keluarga kami. - The end of the holiday does not mean the end of our family togetherness.

Without -nya, berakhir liburan would sound like “the holiday ends” (a clause), not “the end of the holiday” (a noun phrase). The sentence needs a noun phrase as the subject, so -nya is used to nominalize it.

Why is the structure berakhirnya liburan instead of akhir liburan?

Both are possible, but they feel a bit different:

berakhirnya liburan = literally “the ending of the holiday(s)”
- Focus on the process/moment of ending.
akhir liburan = “the end of the holiday(s)” (more like a fixed noun phrase)

In many contexts they are interchangeable, but:

berakhirnya liburan sounds more natural in this kind of slightly formal, reflective sentence.
akhir liburan is often used in concrete contexts, e.g. di akhir liburan (“at the end of the holidays”).

So the writer is emphasizing the event of the holiday coming to an end, not just the static point “the end”.

What exactly does bukan berarti mean, and why not just tidak berarti?

Both can be translated as “does not mean”, but they are used a bit differently.

tidak berarti literally = “does not mean / is not meaningful”
bukan berarti more like = “does not (necessarily) mean / doesn’t imply that…”

In practice:

bukan negates nouns or is used in idiomatic structures like bukan berarti, bukan main, etc.
tidak negates verbs and adjectives in a more straightforward way.

In sentences like this, bukan berarti is a set expression used to say:

“X is true, but that doesn’t mean Y (is true).”

So:

Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti berakhirnya kebersamaan…
≈ “The end of the holiday is a fact, but that does not mean the end of our togetherness.”

If you said tidak berarti here, it would not be wrong grammatically, but it would sound less idiomatic and slightly more “flat” or literal.

Why does the sentence repeat berakhirnya twice? Can you avoid that repetition?

The original:

Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti berakhirnya kebersamaan keluarga kami.
= “The end of the holidays does not mean the end of our family togetherness.”

The repetition of berakhirnya (the end/ending) creates a parallel structure:

Berakhirnya A bukan berarti berakhirnya B.

You can avoid repeating it, for example:

Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti kebersamaan keluarga kami berakhir.
(same meaning, still natural)
Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti kebersamaan keluarga kami juga berakhir.
(“…does not mean our family togetherness also ends.”)

The original just sounds nicely balanced and a bit more formal/poetic because both parts mirror each other.

Why is it bukan berarti berakhirnya kebersamaan… instead of bukan berakhirnya kebersamaan…?

The core pattern is:

X bukan berarti Y = “X does not mean Y.”

Here:

X = berakhirnya liburan (the end of the holidays)
berarti = to mean
Y = berakhirnya kebersamaan keluarga kami (the end of our family togetherness)

If you said:

Berakhirnya liburan bukan berakhirnya kebersamaan keluarga kami.

you would get something like:

“The end of the holidays is not the end of our family togetherness.”

This is grammatical, but the nuance changes: it’s now directly equating X with Y and then negating that identity, rather than saying “X does not mean Y / does not imply Y.” The version with berarti is more natural and closer to the English “does not mean…”

What does kebersamaan mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Kebersamaan comes from:

root: bersama = together
circumfix: ke- … -an

The ke- … -an pattern often turns adjectives or verbs into abstract nouns, like:

penting (important) → kepentingan (interest, importance)
adil (fair) → keadilan (justice)

So:

bersama (together) → kebersamaan ≈ “togetherness,” “the state of being together,” “shared moments / together time”.

In this sentence, kebersamaan keluarga kami is “our family togetherness” or “the time we spend together as a family.”

Why is it keluarga kami and not keluarga kita?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of “we/our”:

kami = “we / our” excluding the listener
kita = “we / our” including the listener

So:

keluarga kami = “our family (not including you, the person I’m talking to)”
keluarga kita = “our family (including you as part of this family)”

In many situations, a speaker is talking about their own family to someone outside that family, so keluarga kami is the natural choice.

If the speaker and the listener are members of the same family, they might say keluarga kita instead. That would subtly change the perspective to “our (shared) family.”

What is the function of keluarga inside kebersamaan keluarga kami? Is it like a possessive?

Yes, keluarga here works like a noun modifier, similar to a possessive or “of”-phrase in English.

kebersamaan = togetherness
keluarga = family
kami = we/our (excluding you)

Together:

kebersamaan keluarga kami ≈ “the togetherness of our family” / “our family togetherness”

This is a common Indonesian pattern:

rumah keluarga kami = our family’s house
masalah keluarga mereka = their family’s problem(s)
foto keluarga = family photo (photo of the family)

So keluarga specifies what kind of togetherness: not just any togetherness, but the family’s.

Is the word order in kebersamaan keluarga kami fixed, or can it be rearranged?

The natural order is:

kebersamaan (head noun) + keluarga kami (modifier)
→ kebersamaan keluarga kami

In Indonesian, the main noun usually comes first, and modifiers come after it. You generally cannot freely rearrange this without changing the meaning or sounding unnatural.

Compare:

kebersamaan keluarga kami = our family’s togetherness
keluarga kami = our family
kami sekeluarga = we as a whole family / “our whole family (together)”

You could express a similar idea in a different way, for example:

kebersamaan kami sekeluarga = our togetherness as a whole family

But you can’t just switch “keluarga kami kebersamaan” — that would be incorrect.

How formal or informal does this sentence sound in Indonesian?

The sentence:

Berakhirnya liburan bukan berarti berakhirnya kebersamaan keluarga kami.

sounds fairly formal and slightly poetic. Reasons:

Use of nominalization with -nya (berakhirnya liburan, berakhirnya kebersamaan)
Abstract noun kebersamaan
Pattern X bukan berarti Y, which is common in written language, speeches, articles, and reflective statements

In everyday casual conversation, people might say something simpler, like:

Liburan sudah selesai, tapi kebersamaan keluarga kami tetap ada.
(“The holiday is over, but our family togetherness still remains.”)

Liburan boleh berakhir, tapi kebersamaan keluarga kami tidak.
(“The holiday may end, but our family togetherness doesn’t.”)

So the original sentence is natural, but it fits better in written texts, captions, or speech rather than in very casual chat.