Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.

That promise is important for my family.

Breakdown of Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.

• adalah: to be
• itu: that
• penting: important
• bagi: for
• keluarga: the family
• janji: the promise

Questions & Answers about Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.

What exactly is the function of itu in Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya? Does it mean that promise or just promise in general?

Itu is a demonstrative that usually means that (as in that promise), but it can also have a more general or topicalizing function.

In this sentence, Janji itu can be understood in two main ways, depending on context:

1. Specific:

   • Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
   • That promise is important to my family.
     This is the most straightforward reading: referring to a particular promise already known in the conversation.

2. More general / generic:
   Sometimes Indonesian uses itu to talk about something in a more general or “as a concept” way, a bit like saying Promises are important (you know, that thing called promise).
   Context and intonation would clarify whether it’s really specific or more general.

If you clearly want the general idea of promises (not one specific promise), you could also say:

• Janji itu penting dalam keluarga saya. (Promises are important in my family.)
• Janji-janji penting bagi keluarga saya. (Promises are important to my family – explicitly plural.)

Why don’t we use adalah in Janji itu penting? Is Janji itu adalah penting wrong?

In Indonesian, when you say A = adjective, you normally do not use adalah:

• Janji itu penting. = The promise is important.
• Rumah ini besar. = This house is big.
• Makanan itu enak. = That food is delicious.

Adalah is generally used before nouns or noun phrases:

• Janji itu adalah hal yang penting.
  The promise is an important thing.
• Dia adalah dokter.
  He/She is a doctor.

So:

• Janji itu penting. ✅ (natural, correct)
• Janji itu adalah penting. ❌ (grammatically possible in very formal or written contexts, but sounds unnatural or overly bookish in everyday speech)

For normal speech or writing, stick with Janji itu penting.

Can I change the word order to Itu janji penting bagi keluarga saya? Does it mean the same thing?

You can say Itu janji penting bagi keluarga saya, but the nuance changes slightly.

• Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
  Focus: the promise (or that promise) is important to my family.

• Itu janji penting bagi keluarga saya.
  More like: That’s an important promise for my family.
  Here itu is more like that is / that (as a subject pronoun) pointing to something just mentioned or seen. You might be identifying something: “That (thing) is an important promise for my family.”

So both are grammatical, but:

• Janji itu penting … = “That promise is important …” (describing the promise)
• Itu janji penting … = “That is an important promise …” (identifying something as a promise)

They’re close in meaning but used in slightly different discourse contexts.

Why is there no word for a or the? How do I know if janji means a promise, the promise, or promises?

Indonesian has no articles like a/an or the. The bare noun janji can cover several English possibilities:

• A promise
• The promise
• Promises (plural in general)

Context usually tells you which one is intended. In this sentence:

• Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.

The presence of itu tends to push the meaning toward that promise or the promise, or in some contexts “the thing called promise (as a concept).”

If you really want to show plural, you can reduplicate:

• Janji-janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
  Those promises are important to my family.

But in many cases, Indonesians don’t bother to mark number; context does the work.

What’s the difference between bagi and untuk here? Could I say Janji itu penting untuk keluarga saya instead?

Yes, you can say:

• Janji itu penting untuk keluarga saya. ✅

Both bagi and untuk can often be translated as for, but there are nuances:

• Bagi

  • Slightly more formal, often used in written language, statements, or when talking about opinions, effects, or perspectives.
  • Feels like “in the view of / for (someone, as a matter of perspective or importance)”.
  • Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
    That promise is important for my family (from my family’s point of view / in relation to them).

• Untuk

  • Very common, neutral, very broad meaning of for / intended for / in order to.
  • Works fine here too: Janji itu penting untuk keluarga saya.

In this specific sentence, bagi and untuk are practically interchangeable, with bagi sounding a bit more formal or “statement-like.” In casual spoken Indonesian, untuk or even buat are more common:

• Janji itu penting buat keluarga saya. (colloquial)

Can I just drop bagi and say Janji itu penting keluarga saya?

No, you should not drop bagi/untuk/buat here.

• Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya. ✅
• Janji itu penting untuk keluarga saya. ✅
• Janji itu penting buat keluarga saya. ✅ (informal)
• Janji itu penting keluarga saya. ❌ (ungrammatical / sounds wrong)

You need a preposition (bagi/untuk/buat) to link penting (important) with keluarga saya (my family). Without it, the sentence is incomplete and unnatural.

Why is it keluarga saya and not saya keluarga for my family?

Indonesian typically puts the possessed noun first, then the possessor:

• rumah saya = my house
• buku kamu = your book
• mobil mereka = their car
• keluarga saya = my family

So the pattern is:

• [NOUN] + [POSSESSIVE PRONOUN]

Saya keluarga would not mean my family; it would just sound like two separate words (I / me – family) without a clear grammatical relation.

If you want to emphasize possession, you can also say:

• keluarga saya sendiri = my own family (more emphasis)
• keluarga saya yang penting = it’s my family that is important (different structure)

Does keluarga saya always mean my nuclear family, or can it also mean relatives in general?

Keluarga saya is flexible. It can mean:

1. Nuclear family (parents + children)
2. Household (people living together as a family)
3. Extended family / relatives, depending on context

Some rough guidelines:

• If you’re talking about daily home life, parents, siblings, children, etc., it’s usually understood as your nuclear family/household.

• In cultural or value-based statements, it often covers a broader sense of family:

  • Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
    Could mean: “In my family (i.e., among my relatives / in how I was raised), promises are important.”

If you want to be more precise:

• keluarga inti saya = my nuclear family
• keluarga besar saya = my extended family / big family

Can Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya also mean Promises are important to my family (plural)?

Yes, it can be interpreted that way. Because Indonesian doesn’t mark plural by default, janji can be understood as:

• a promise, the promise
• promises (in general)

So:

• Janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
  With the right context, this can be taken as Promises are important to my family, especially if you’re making a general statement about your family’s values.

If you want to clearly show plural:

• Janji-janji itu penting bagi keluarga saya.
  Those promises are important to my family.

But many speakers would still just use janji and let context show that they mean promises in general.

Is this sentence formal or informal? How would it sound in more casual speech?

As written, the sentence is neutral to slightly formal, mainly because of:

• bagi (slightly more formal than buat)
• saya (neutral/fairly formal pronoun)

In casual spoken Indonesian, you might hear:

• Janji itu penting buat keluarga aku.
  (using buat and aku)

Or still quite natural and not too formal:

• Janji itu penting untuk keluarga saya.
  (untuk is very common in speech too)

So you can adjust formality via:

• bagi → more formal / written
• untuk → neutral
• buat → casual
• saya → neutral/formal
• aku → informal, used with friends/family in many regions

If I want to say That promise is very important to my family, how do I modify penting correctly?

You typically add an adverb like sangat, sangatlah, or sekali:

Common options:

• Janji itu sangat penting bagi keluarga saya.
• Janji itu penting sekali bagi keluarga saya.

Both mean That promise is very important to my family.

Notes:

• sangat goes before the adjective: sangat penting
• sekali goes after the adjective: penting sekali
• sangatlah penting is quite formal/emphatic, more common in formal writing or speeches.