Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan film misteri baru itu kalau dia sempat menontonnya. - My friend will send a review of that new mystery movie if he/she has time to watch it.

Teman = friend
saya = my / I (here: teman saya = my friend)
akan = will (future marker, optional)
mengirimkan = to send (verb kirim with prefix me- and suffix -kan)
ulasan = review
film = film / movie
misteri = mystery
baru = new
itu = that
kalau = if / when (depending on context)
dia = he / she (gender-neutral)
sempat = have the chance / manage (to find time)
menontonnya = to watch it (menonton = to watch, -nya = it/him/her referring back to film misteri baru itu)

What is the difference between mengirim and mengirimkan here? Could we say akan mengirim ulasan instead?

Both are possible:

mengirim = to send
mengirimkan = to send, often with a slight nuance of:
- being a bit more formal, or
- emphasizing sending something to someone (benefactive / directional sense)

In this sentence:

Teman saya akan mengirim ulasan film misteri baru itu…
Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan film misteri baru itu…

Both are correct and natural. Most speakers wouldn’t feel a big difference here; mengirimkan sounds just a touch more formal / careful.

Is akan necessary to show the future, or can I leave it out?

You can leave it out. Indonesian usually marks time with context, not tense:

With akan (explicit future):
Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan… = My friend will send a review…
Without akan (future understood from context):
Teman saya mengirimkan ulasan film misteri baru itu kalau dia sempat menontonnya.

This can still mean “My friend will send the review if…”, because of the conditional kalau dia sempat menontonnya.
akan just makes the future reading clearer or a bit more formal; it’s not grammatically required.

How is the noun phrase ulasan film misteri baru itu structured? Why is the order like that?

The structure is:

ulasan = review (head noun)
film misteri = mystery film (noun + noun modifier)
baru = new (adjective)
itu = that (demonstrative)

So literally:

ulasan [film misteri baru itu]
= review [of that new mystery movie]

Typical Indonesian noun phrase order is:

Head noun
Modifying nouns / adjectives / phrases
Demonstrative (ini/itu)

So you get:

ulasan (review)
film misteri (mystery film)
baru (new)
itu (that)

You don’t say itu film misteri baru inside this NP; itu normally comes at the very end of the whole phrase.

What is the nuance of baru in film misteri baru itu? Is it “newly released” or just “not old”?

baru can mean:

New / recently made or released
- film baru = a new movie (recently released, not old)
New to someone (just got it, recently encountered)
- teman baru = new friend (not necessarily young, just recently befriended)

In film misteri baru itu, the most natural interpretation is “that newly released mystery movie” or “that new mystery movie everyone’s talking about,” especially in this context of reviewing it.

If you needed to emphasize “brand new / just released,” you could also add a time adverb:

film misteri baru yang baru rilis kemarin = the new mystery movie that just came out yesterday

What does itu add in film misteri baru itu? How is it different from just film misteri baru?

itu points to a specific, identifiable thing for both speaker and listener.

film misteri baru
= a new mystery movie (general, not specified which one)
film misteri baru itu
= that new mystery movie (you and I both know which one; maybe it was mentioned earlier, or it’s obvious from context)

So itu adds a sense of definiteness and shared reference: “that particular one.”

What is the difference between kalau, jika, and apabila? Could we replace kalau here?

All three can mean if in a conditional sentence.

kalau
- Very common in spoken Indonesian
- Can mean if or when depending on context
- Neutral, everyday speech
jika
- More formal than kalau
- Common in writing, instructions, formal speech
apabila
- Quite formal
- Often in official documents, news, legal/administrative language

In this sentence, you can say:

Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan … kalau dia sempat menontonnya. (most natural spoken form)
… jika dia sempat menontonnya. (a bit more formal)
… apabila dia sempat menontonnya. (quite formal)

All are grammatically fine; the difference is mainly register/formality.

What exactly does sempat mean? How is it different from just “have time” like punya waktu?

sempat means:

to have the chance / manage to do something (finding time in a possibly busy schedule)

Nuance: there is some doubt or difficulty; you’re not sure you’ll manage it.

Compare:

kalau dia sempat menontonnya
= if he/she manages to find time / has the chance to watch it
kalau dia punya waktu untuk menontonnya
= if he/she has time to watch it (more neutral, stating availability of time)

So sempat suggests “if he/she is not too busy / if circumstances allow.”

What does the -nya in menontonnya refer to, and why is it attached to the verb?

menontonnya = menonton (to watch) + -nya (3rd person pronoun: it / him / her / them)

Here, -nya refers back to film misteri baru itu.

Instead of repeating the full noun phrase, Indonesian often uses -nya:

kalau dia sempat menontonnya
= if he/she has time to watch it (that new mystery movie)

You could also say:

kalau dia sempat menonton film misteri baru itu

Both are correct. -nya just avoids repetition and is very natural in Indonesian.

Why don’t we repeat akan in the second clause (kalau dia sempat menontonnya) to show future?

Indonesian doesn’t need to mark future in every clause. Once the time frame is clear from context or from one part of the sentence, it normally applies to the related clauses.

Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan … kalau dia sempat menontonnya.

Both actions (watching and sending) are future relative to now, but akan before mengirimkan is enough.
You could say:

… kalau dia akan sempat menontonnya

but this is unusual; akan sempat sounds awkward and is rarely used. Normally you just say kalau dia sempat….

Can we drop any pronouns here, like saya or dia, and still be correct?

Yes, Indonesian often drops pronouns when the referent is clear from context.

Possible variations:

Teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan film misteri baru itu kalau sempat menontonnya.
(Drop dia: the subject of sempat is understood to be teman saya.)
You normally keep saya in teman saya, because teman alone just means “friend” with no possessor. If context already established whose friend, you might say Teman akan mengirimkan…, but that’s less typical; usually you say teman saya, teman dia, or use the friend’s name.

So dropping dia in the second clause is common and natural; dropping saya here is less common unless context is very clear.

Can I change the clause order to start with kalau? Do I need a comma?

Yes, you can:

Kalau dia sempat menontonnya, teman saya akan mengirimkan ulasan film misteri baru itu.

This is fully natural. In writing, you normally use a comma after the initial kalau-clause.

Both orders are fine:

Teman saya akan … kalau dia sempat menontonnya.
Kalau dia sempat menontonnya, teman saya akan …

The meaning stays the same; it’s just stylistic preference.

Is ulasan the only word for “review”? What about resensi?

Both exist, with slightly different typical uses:

ulasan
- Very common, general “review / commentary / analysis”
- Used for books, films, music, policies, ideas, etc.
- Neutral, everyday word
resensi
- More specific to book/film reviews as a genre of writing
- Feels a bit more literary/academic/formal

In this sentence:

ulasan film misteri baru itu (very natural, neutral)
resensi film misteri baru itu (also correct; can sound a bit more like a formal/printed review)

For a general “my friend will send me a review,” ulasan is the safest and most common choice.

Does dia mean “he” or “she”? How do I specify gender in Indonesian?

dia is gender-neutral:

dia = he / she (singular)
It doesn’t show gender at all.

If you need to specify:

Add a noun:
- teman laki-laki saya = my male friend
- teman perempuan saya = my female friend

But even then, once the person is known, you still usually refer back with dia, not “he” vs “she”.

In this sentence, dia simply means “that friend” (without saying whether they are male or female).