Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Selesainya rapat malam ini membuat saya bisa pulang lebih awal. - The end of the meeting tonight lets me go home earlier.

Nominalizing: it turns selesai (an adjective/verb) into a noun-like idea: selesainya ≈ “the finishing / the completion / the end”.
Making it definite: it suggests something like “the specific completion”, not just completion in general.

So Selesainya rapat malam ini ≈ “The completion/end of tonight’s meeting”.
It’s not “his/her/its finished”; it’s “the (act of) finishing / the end” of the meeting.

So is selesainya a verb, an adjective, or a noun in this sentence?

Here selesainya functions as a noun.

selesai by itself can act like an adjective or a stative verb (“to be finished”).
With -nya in this structure, it’s turned into a noun phrase: selesainya (rapat…) = “the completion/ending (of the meeting…)”.

That’s why Selesainya rapat malam ini can stand as the subject of the sentence, just like a noun.

What is the grammatical role of Selesainya rapat malam ini in the whole sentence?

Selesainya rapat malam ini is the subject of the sentence.

The structure is:

Subject: Selesainya rapat malam ini
Verb: membuat
Object + complement: saya bisa pulang lebih awal

So literally:
“The completion of tonight’s meeting makes (causes) me to be able to go home earlier.”

Could I instead say Karena rapat malam ini sudah selesai, saya bisa pulang lebih awal? What is the difference?

Yes, that sentence is natural and correct.

Selesainya rapat malam ini membuat…
Uses a noun phrase (“the completion of the meeting”) as the subject, with membuat (“makes/causes”). It sounds a bit more formal / written.
Karena rapat malam ini sudah selesai, saya bisa pulang lebih awal.
Uses karena (“because”) to introduce a reason clause. This is very common in spoken Indonesian and feels more straightforwardly causal.

Meaning-wise, they’re very close. The first highlights the event of finishing as the subject; the second just uses a normal “because …” structure.

Why is membuat used here, and how does it work with saya bisa pulang lebih awal?

Membuat literally means “to make”, but very often it means “to cause / to result in”.

The pattern here is:

X membuat Y (adjective/verb phrase)
= “X causes Y to …” / “X makes Y …”

In the sentence:

X: Selesainya rapat malam ini
Verb: membuat
Y: saya bisa pulang lebih awal

So it’s: “The completion of tonight’s meeting causes me to be able to go home earlier.”

You can use membuat in many similar causative structures, e.g.

Cuaca buruk membuat kami terlambat. = Bad weather made us late.
Berita itu membuat dia sedih. = That news made him/her sad.

Why does the sentence use bisa? Could I use dapat or boleh instead?

Bisa, dapat, and boleh all translate to “can” in English, but with different nuances:

bisa: general ability / possibility, very common in everyday speech.
- saya bisa pulang = I can/am able to go home (because the situation allows it).
dapat: similar to bisa, often a bit more formal / written.
- saya dapat pulang lebih awal also works and sounds slightly more formal.
boleh: about permission — “may, be allowed to”.
- saya boleh pulang lebih awal implies “I am allowed to go home earlier” (someone gave permission).

In the original sentence, bisa fits well because the ending of the meeting creates the possibility for going home earlier.

What exactly does lebih awal mean, and how is it different from lebih cepat?

Both can relate to “earlier” or “faster”, but the focus is different:

lebih awal: literally “more early” → at an earlier time than usual.
- pulang lebih awal = “go home earlier (than usual / than planned)”.
lebih cepat: literally “faster / more quickly”. It focuses on speed, or finishing sooner in terms of duration or schedule.
- pulang lebih cepat can mean “go home earlier”, but it can also sound like you finish your work faster so you go home sooner.

In the context of a meeting that ends earlier than expected, lebih awal is very natural: it clearly refers to the time you go home.

Does malam ini describe rapat or selesainya? Is it “the meeting tonight” or “the finishing tonight”?

In Selesainya rapat malam ini, the default reading is:

rapat malam ini = “tonight’s meeting / the meeting tonight”.

So the structure is:
[Selesainya [rapat malam ini]]
= “the completion of [tonight’s meeting]”.

If you wanted to emphasize that the finishing itself happens tonight (not, say, tomorrow), you might say something like:

Selesainya rapat itu malam ini membuat saya bisa pulang lebih awal.
Here, rapat itu is “that meeting”, and malam ini more clearly attaches to selesainya (“its finishing is tonight”).

Can I say Setelah rapat malam ini selesai, saya bisa pulang lebih awal? Is that the same?

Yes, that sentence is also natural and very common.

Setelah rapat malam ini selesai, saya bisa pulang lebih awal.
= “After tonight’s meeting is finished, I can go home earlier.”

The difference:

Selesainya rapat malam ini membuat…
→ uses a noun phrase + membuat to express cause.
Setelah rapat malam ini selesai, …
→ uses setelah (“after”) to express time sequence, which in context also implies the reason.

Both are acceptable; the setelah version is perhaps more obviously about time order (“once it’s over, then I can go”) rather than a direct causative construction.

Can I change the word order at the end, like saya bisa lebih awal pulang, or omit saya?

Word order:

saya bisa pulang lebih awal is the normal and most natural order.
saya bisa lebih awal pulang is understandable, but it sounds a bit less natural; lebih awal usually comes right after pulang in this kind of sentence.

About omitting saya:

In Indonesian, subjects can be dropped when they are very clear from context, but:
- bisa pulang lebih awal without saya could refer to “(someone) can go home earlier” in general.
- If you specifically want to say I, keep saya:
  Selesainya rapat malam ini membuat saya bisa pulang lebih awal.

So: keep both the subject (saya) and the word order as in the original if you want the clearest, most natural sentence.