Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya. - The documentary film about the rainy season in Indonesia is very memorable for me.

Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.

The documentary film about the rainy season in Indonesia is very memorable for me.

Breakdown of Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.

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Questions & Answers about Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.

Why is it film dokumenter and not dokumenter film?

In Indonesian, the main noun usually comes first, and any descriptive word (including many loanwords used as adjectives) comes after it.

film dokumenter = film (main noun) + dokumenter (type of film)
→ literally “documentary film”

If you said dokumenter film, it would sound wrong or at best very odd, because dokumenter is not normally used in front position as a pure noun in this context. You treat it like an adjective or a classifier following the noun.

Other similar examples:

buku pelajaran = textbook (literally “lesson book”)
musik klasik = classical music
majalah ilmiah = scientific journal/magazine

Could I just say dokumenter instead of film dokumenter?

Yes, in many contexts dokumenter by itself can mean “documentary (film)”, especially when it’s clear you’re talking about movies or TV.

Saya suka dokumenter.
→ I like documentaries.

However:

film dokumenter is more explicit and slightly more formal/neutral.
dokumenter alone is short and casual; it might also mean “documentary program” on TV or streaming.

In your sentence, Film dokumenter... is very natural and slightly more formal or written-sounding than Dokumenter... alone.

What exactly does tentang mean, and can I replace it with something else?

tentang means “about / regarding / on the topic of”. It introduces the topic or subject matter.

In your sentence:

tentang musim hujan di Indonesia = about the rainy season in Indonesia

Common near-synonyms:

mengenai – about, regarding (often a bit more formal)
perihal – regarding, concerning (formal/written)
soal – about, on the matter of (more informal/colloquial in many uses)

You could say:

Film dokumenter mengenai musim hujan di Indonesia...
Film dokumenter soal musim hujan di Indonesia... (more informal)

All sound natural; tentang is the safest, most neutral choice.

Why is it musim hujan and not something like hujan musim?

Indonesian normally uses the pattern:

Head noun + modifier noun

So:

musim hujan = “season (of) rain” → rainy season
(musim = season, hujan = rain)

Putting it the other way (hujan musim) would sound wrong. Some more examples of the same pattern:

rumah sakit = hospital (literally “sick house”)
kartu kredit = credit card (literally “card credit”)
kota pelabuhan = port city (literally “city port”)

So musim is the main noun “season”, and hujan tells you which kind of season.

What does di in di Indonesia mean, and how is it different from ke or pada?

di is a preposition meaning “in / at / on” (location).

di Indonesia = in Indonesia

Compare:

ke = to (movement, direction)
- Saya pergi ke Indonesia. = I go to Indonesia.
pada = at / on / in but used more for time or abstract things
- pada tahun 2020 = in the year 2020
- pada kesempatan ini = on this occasion

So here:

musim hujan di Indonesia = literally “the rainy season in Indonesia”
You cannot use ke or pada here; they would be ungrammatical or very unnatural.

What does sangat berkesan mean, and how strong is sangat?

berkesan comes from kesan (impression).
berkesan = impressive / memorable / left an impression.
sangat means “very” (intensifier).

So sangat berkesan ≈ “very impressive / very memorable”.

Strength and alternatives:

berkesan = impressive / made an impression
cukup berkesan = quite / fairly impressive
sangat berkesan = very impressive
sangat amat berkesan / benar-benar berkesan = really, truly impressive (stronger)

You can also say:

berkesan sekali (once again: very impressive)
Here sekali works like “very” when placed after an adjective.

Can I move sangat to a different position, like berkesan sangat?

Not in standard Indonesian. With adjectives:

sangat normally goes before the adjective:
sangat berkesan, sangat bagus, sangat penting

You cannot say:

✗ berkesan sangat (incorrect in standard Indonesian)

If you want an intensifier after the adjective, use sekali:

berkesan sekali = very impressive
bagus sekali = very good
penting sekali = very important

So the natural options are:

sangat berkesan
berkesan sekali

What is the function of bagi saya, and how is it different from menurut saya or untuk saya?

bagi saya literally means “for me” / “to me” in the sense of personal impact.

In this sentence:

sangat berkesan bagi saya = was very impressive / made a deep impression on me personally

Nuances:

bagi saya
- Emphasizes how something affects you or matters to you.
- Common in slightly more formal or written language.
- Similar to “for me (personally)” in English.
menurut saya
- Means “in my opinion / according to me”.
- Used when you are expressing an opinion or judgment.
- Example: Menurut saya, film itu bagus. = In my opinion, that film is good.
untuk saya
- Literally “for me”, usually in terms of benefit, purpose, or suitability.
- Example: Hadiah ini untuk saya? = Is this present for me?
- In evaluation, untuk saya can sound closer to “for me (personally)” but is less common than bagi saya in this emotional/impact sense.

So in your sentence, bagi saya is the best choice to express “to me, personally, it left a strong impression.”

Can I put bagi saya somewhere else in the sentence, like at the beginning or in the middle?

Yes, bagi saya is quite flexible in position. All of these are grammatical:

Bagi saya, film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan.
- Emphasis: “For me, the documentary ... was very impressive.”
- Sounds natural, slightly formal/emphatic.
Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.
- Neutral, very natural, the original version.
Film dokumenter itu, bagi saya, sangat berkesan.
- If you add itu (“that”), this sounds very natural in speech, with bagi saya as a side comment.

The meaning stays basically the same; moving bagi saya can subtly change emphasis, but all are fine.

There is no word for “was” in the sentence. How do Indonesians express past tense here?

Indonesian does not use “to be” (am/is/are/was/were) before adjectives, and it also does not mark tense on verbs or adjectives the way English does.

sangat berkesan can mean:
- “is very impressive”
- “was very impressive”
  depending on context.

To show past time, you usually add a time expression:

Kemarin, film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.
→ Yesterday, the documentary ... was very impressive to me.
Dulu, film dokumenter itu sangat berkesan bagi saya.
→ Back then, that documentary was very impressive to me.

So no explicit “was” is needed; the time phrase (kemarin, tadi, dulu, waktu itu, etc.) does the job.

Why is there no verb “to be” like adalah in ...sangat berkesan bagi saya?

In Indonesian, when an adjective functions as the predicate, you normally do not use “to be”:

Film itu bagus. = That film is good.
Makanan ini enak. = This food is delicious.
Dia capek. = He/She is tired.

Here:

(Film dokumenter ...) sangat berkesan
→ The subject + the adjective phrase; no adalah needed.

adalah is used mainly:

Before nouns in formal definitions or identifications:
- Indonesia adalah negara kepulauan. = Indonesia is an archipelagic country.
Before phrases in formal writing.

You wouldn’t normally say:

✗ Film dokumenter... adalah sangat berkesan bagi saya.
This sounds unnatural or over-formal; just sangat berkesan is correct.

How do I know if film dokumenter here is singular or plural? Does it mean “the documentary” or “documentaries”?

Indonesian does not mark singular vs plural by default. film dokumenter can mean:

a documentary film
the documentary film
documentary films
the documentary films

The exact meaning depends on context or added words. To clarify:

sebuah film dokumenter = a/one documentary film
beberapa film dokumenter = several documentary films
film-film dokumenter = documentary films (plural, by reduplication)

In your sentence, with no extra clues, it could be either “the documentary” or “a documentary” or even “documentaries” in English translation, depending on what makes sense in the broader context.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral in terms of politeness and style?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal:

film dokumenter – neutral
tentang – neutral
musim hujan di Indonesia – neutral
sangat – neutral (more common than amat, which is more formal)
berkesan – neutral, slightly literary compared to just bagus
bagi saya – feels a bit more formal than buat saya
saya – neutral-formal pronoun for “I”

In casual speech with friends, someone might say:

Dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia berkesan banget buat gue.
(Jakarta slang: banget, buat, gue)

Your original sentence is perfectly appropriate for polite conversation, presentations, or writing (articles, essays, etc.).

Does di Indonesia describe the rainy season or the documentary? In other words, is it “rainy season in Indonesia” or “documentary in Indonesia”?

By default, the most natural reading is:

film dokumenter → main noun phrase
tentang musim hujan di Indonesia → prepositional phrase describing the film’s topic
Within that phrase, di Indonesia is attached to musim hujan.

So the understood structure is:

A documentary film
about [the rainy season in Indonesia]

In other words:

musim hujan di Indonesia = the rainy season in Indonesia.

If you wanted to emphasize that the film was made or shown in Indonesia, not that the rainy season is in Indonesia, you’d typically change the structure, e.g.:

Film dokumenter di Indonesia tentang musim hujan itu sangat berkesan bagi saya.
(still a bit ambiguous without context, but now di Indonesia is more attached to film dokumenter)

Context usually makes the intended meaning clear.

Are there simpler or alternative ways to say the same idea?

Yes. Depending on style, you could rephrase:

Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat bagus menurut saya.
- Uses bagus (“good”) and menurut saya (“in my opinion”)
- Simpler vocabulary, more like “very good in my opinion”.
Menurut saya, film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat mengesankan.
- mengesankan is another word meaning “impressive”.
Bagi saya, film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia benar-benar berkesan.
- Adds benar-benar = truly/really.

Your original sentence:

Film dokumenter tentang musim hujan di Indonesia sangat berkesan bagi saya.
is already natural and good Indonesian; these are just stylistic variants.