Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kakak laki-laki saya terlihat lebih dewasa setelah mulai bekerja paruh waktu. - My older brother looks more mature after starting to work part-time.

In Indonesian, possessive pronouns like saya (my), kamu (your), dia (his/her), usually come after the noun (or noun phrase) they possess.

So:

kakak laki-laki = older brother (literally “older sibling male”)
saya = my
kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother

Word order pattern:
[thing owned] + [owner] → kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother

What exactly does kakak mean? Does it already mean “older brother”?

Kakak means older sibling, without specifying gender. It can be:

older brother
older sister

To specify male, you add laki-laki (male/man):

kakak laki-laki = older brother
kakak perempuan = older sister

So in the sentence:

kakak = older sibling
laki-laki = male
kakak laki-laki = older brother

Could I just say kakak saya to mean “my older brother”?

Yes, you can, but it’s gender-neutral.

kakak saya = my older sibling (could be brother or sister)
kakak laki-laki saya = my older brother
kakak perempuan saya = my older sister

In real conversations, if context makes the gender obvious, people often just say kakak saya and listeners infer whether it’s a brother or sister.

What does laki-laki mean, and why is there a hyphen?

Laki-laki means male / man.

The hyphen shows reduplication: laki is repeated to form laki-laki.
In this word, the reduplication is fixed; it’s not something you freely create. You don’t usually say laki alone.

Synonyms:

laki-laki = male, man
pria = man (more formal)
lelaki = man (a fused form, from laki-laki)

In family terms, laki-laki is used to specify male:

anak laki-laki = son (literally “male child”)
kakak laki-laki = older brother

Why is there no word for he in the sentence? Where is dia?

Indonesian often omits pronouns (like dia, he/she) when the subject is already clear.

The sentence:

Kakak laki-laki saya terlihat lebih dewasa setelah mulai bekerja paruh waktu.

literally is:

My older brother looks more mature after (he) started working part-time.

There is no dia before mulai, but it’s understood that my older brother is also the subject of mulai bekerja.

You could include the pronoun:

Kakak laki-laki saya terlihat lebih dewasa setelah dia mulai bekerja paruh waktu.

Both are correct. Leaving dia out is very natural and common.

What does terlihat mean, and how is it different from kelihatan, tampak, or melihat?

Terlihat means to appear / to look (seem) in the sense of “gives the impression visually”.

In this sentence:

terlihat lebih dewasa = looks more mature / appears more mature

Differences:

terlihat – fairly neutral, often a bit more formal/written.
kelihatan – very common in spoken Indonesian, slightly more casual.
- Kakak laki-laki saya kelihatan lebih dewasa…
tampak – also “appears / looks”, often formal or literary.

These three (terlihat, kelihatan, tampak) all mean roughly “looks/appears”.

Different from melihat:

melihat = to see (someone sees something).
It’s an active verb (“to look at”), not “to look/seem”.

So:

Dia terlihat lelah. = He looks tired.
Saya melihat dia lelah. = I see that he is tired.

What does lebih do in lebih dewasa?

Lebih means more in comparative structures.

dewasa = mature / adult
lebih dewasa = more mature

Indonesian comparatives are formed with lebih + adjective:

lebih besar = bigger
lebih cantik = more beautiful
lebih cepat = faster

Often, the phrase “than before” is just implied:

terlihat lebih dewasa = looks more mature (than before / than he used to)

If you want to say “than X” explicitly, you can add daripada:

Dia lebih dewasa daripada adiknya.
He is more mature than his younger sibling.

Does dewasa mean “adult” or “mature”? Is it an adjective or a noun?

Dewasa can mean both, depending on context.

Adjective – “mature, grown-up”
- Dia sangat dewasa untuk usianya.
  He/She is very mature for his/her age.
- terlihat lebih dewasa = looks more mature
Noun – “adult”
- Film ini hanya untuk orang dewasa.
  This movie is only for adults.

In your sentence, dewasa is clearly an adjective: “more mature” / “more grown-up”.

How do I know this happened after he started working, if Indonesian doesn’t mark tense like English?

Indonesian doesn’t use verb endings for tense (no -ed, -s, etc.), so time is indicated by time words and context.

Here, the key word is setelah:

setelah = after

So:

…terlihat lebih dewasa setelah mulai bekerja paruh waktu.
= …looks/appears more mature after starting to work part-time.

This tells you the change happened following the start of the part-time job. English might choose present (“looks”) or present perfect (“has looked”), but Indonesian leaves the verb unmarked and uses setelah for the time relation.

What’s the difference between setelah, sesudah, and sejak? Could I use them here?

Meanings:

setelah = after
sesudah = after (very close in meaning to setelah)
sejak = since (starting from a point in time up to now)

In your sentence:

setelah mulai bekerja paruh waktu = after (he) started working part-time

You could also say:

sesudah mulai bekerja paruh waktu – grammatically fine, similar meaning; setelah is a bit more common in many contexts.

If you use sejak, the nuance changes slightly:

sejak mulai bekerja paruh waktu = since (he) started working part-time

That sounds more like “From the time he started working part-time onwards, he looks more mature.”
Both setelah and sejak could fit naturally; setelah emphasizes the event coming after, sejak emphasizes the starting point of an ongoing state.

Why do we say mulai bekerja instead of just bekerja?

bekerja = to work
mulai = to start
mulai bekerja = to start working / begin to work

Using mulai highlights the beginning of the action, which fits the idea “after (he) started working part-time”.

If you said just:

setelah bekerja paruh waktu = after working part-time

it’s still understandable, but it focuses less on the start and more on the state of working in general.
Mulai bekerja makes it clear that this is a new phase in his life that caused the change.

What does paruh waktu mean, and is this the usual way to say “part-time”?

Paruh waktu literally means half time, and it’s the standard term for part-time (especially in more formal or neutral Indonesian).

bekerja paruh waktu = to work part-time
pekerjaan paruh waktu = a part-time job

In casual speech, people also say:

kerja sambilan = side job / part-time job
kerja part-time (borrowing from English; informal)

So your sentence uses a clear, neutral expression for “working part-time”.

Why is it bekerja paruh waktu and not kerja paruh waktu?

Both can appear, but there is a nuance:

bekerja = to work (full verb, slightly more formal/neutral)
kerja = work / job (noun), but also used as a verb in everyday speech

So:

bekerja paruh waktu – neutral, a bit more standard
kerja paruh waktu – very common in speech, slightly more casual

Examples:

Dia bekerja paruh waktu di kafe.
He works part-time at a café. (neutral)
Dia kerja paruh waktu di kafe.
Same meaning, just more colloquial.

Your sentence is perfectly natural with bekerja paruh waktu.

Is the overall word order similar to English? How can I map each part?

Yes, the structure is quite parallel to English. Break it down:

Kakak laki-laki saya = My older brother (subject)
terlihat = looks / appears (verb)
lebih dewasa = more mature (complement of the verb)
setelah mulai bekerja paruh waktu = after (he) started working part-time (time clause)

Rough mapping:

Kakak laki-laki saya → My older brother
terlihat → looks / appears
lebih dewasa → more mature
setelah → after
mulai bekerja → (he) started working
paruh waktu → part-time

So the sentence order is very close to English; the main differences are in how possession is shown (kakak laki-laki saya) and the omitted pronoun before mulai bekerja.