Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.

I am not that tired today.

Breakdown of Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.

• adalah: to be
• saya: I
• tidak: not
• hari ini: today
• lelah: tired
• begitu: so

Questions & Answers about Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.

What exactly does begitu mean here, and how is Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini different from Saya tidak lelah hari ini?

Begitu literally means so / that / like that, but in this context it works like “so” in “not so tired”.

• Saya tidak lelah hari ini = I am not tired today (sounds more absolute: not tired at all, or at least clearly not tired).
• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini = I’m not that tired today / I’m not so tired today (you are a bit tired, but not very).

So begitu softens the statement and makes it more like “not very” or “not particularly” tired.

Why is the negation tidak placed before begitu lelah and not somewhere else?

In Indonesian, tidak comes before adjectives, verbs, and entire verb/adjective phrases that it negates.

In this sentence:

• lelah = an adjective (tired).
• begitu lelah = an adjective phrase (so tired / that tired).
• tidak begitu lelah = not so tired.

So the structure is:

• Saya (subject)
• tidak (negator)
• begitu lelah (adjective phrase)
• hari ini (time expression)

You can’t say Saya begitu tidak lelah hari ini in normal Indonesian; that sounds ungrammatical or very strange. The natural place for tidak is right before the adjective or its modifiers: tidak lelah, tidak begitu lelah, tidak sangat lelah, etc.

Can I move hari ini to the beginning, like Hari ini saya tidak begitu lelah? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can, and it’s very natural:

• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.
• Hari ini saya tidak begitu lelah.

Both mean the same thing: I’m not that tired today.

The difference is only in emphasis:

• Hari ini saya tidak begitu lelah.
  Slightly emphasizes today (as opposed to yesterday, or usually).

Indonesian word order is flexible with time expressions like hari ini, sekarang, kemarin, etc. Both positions are correct and common.

What is the difference between lelah and words like capek or capai?

All of these can translate as tired, but they differ in register and common usage:

• lelah

  • More formal/neutral.
  • Common in writing, formal speech, news, announcements.
  • Still okay in everyday conversation.

• capek (often spelled capé / cape in informal writing)

  • Very informal/colloquial.
  • Extremely common in daily conversation.
  • Typical spoken sentence: Aku capek banget hari ini. (I’m so tired today.)

• capai

  • Feels a bit older or more literary in many dialects.
  • Still understood, but you’ll hear capek more in casual speech.

So your sentence in casual spoken Indonesian might become:

• Aku nggak begitu capek hari ini.
  (I’m not that tired today.)

Can I say Aku instead of Saya here? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. The sentence will still be correct:

• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.
  More formal / polite / neutral.
• Aku tidak begitu lelah hari ini.
  More informal / intimate, used with friends, family, or people your age or younger.

In many contexts:

• Use saya with strangers, older people, in work settings, and in writing.
• Use aku with close friends, family, or in casual text messages.

The rest of the sentence doesn’t need to change; just swapping saya ↔ aku is enough.

Can I drop saya and just say Tidak begitu lelah hari ini?

Yes, that’s natural in conversation if the subject is clear from context.

Indonesian often omits the subject when it’s obvious:

• A: Capek nggak? (Are you tired?)
• B: Nggak begitu lelah hari ini. (Not that tired today.)

However, when you start a conversation or write a full sentence without prior context, it’s more complete and clear to include Saya:

• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.

Is tidak begitu the same as kurang (like Saya kurang lelah hari ini)?

They are not used the same way here.

• tidak begitu lelah
  Natural and common. Means not that tired / not so tired / not very tired.

• kurang lelah
  Sounds odd and unnatural; people don’t normally say this.
  kurang is usually used for things like:

  • kurang tidur (lack of sleep)
  • kurang makan (not eating enough)
  • kurang jelas (not clear enough)
  • kurang enak (not very good / a bit off)

So in this context, tidak begitu lelah (or tidak terlalu lelah) is what you want, not kurang lelah.

What’s the difference between begitu and terlalu in this sentence? Could I say Saya tidak terlalu lelah hari ini?

Yes, you can say:

• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.
• Saya tidak terlalu lelah hari ini.

Both are correct and very similar: I’m not that tired today / I’m not too tired today.

Nuance:

• tidak begitu lelah
  
  • Slightly softer, like not so tired or not that tired.
• tidak terlalu lelah
  
  • More like not too tired, sometimes implying within acceptable limits (e.g., I’m okay to keep going).

In everyday conversation, you will hear tidak terlalu lelah very often.

In English we often stress “that”: I’m not *that tired today. How is emphasis shown in Indonesian? Do we just stress *begitu?

Yes, usually you would put more stress on begitu when speaking:

• Saya tidak begitu lelah hari ini.

Intonation does a lot of work in Indonesian, just like in English. You don’t change the words; you just say begitu a bit more clearly or strongly to convey:

• I’m not *that tired today.* (implying: maybe yesterday I was, but today not.)

How do I pronounce lelah correctly?

Pronunciation (in simple terms):

• le: like “luh” in English “luck”, but shorter.
• lah: like “lah” in “la” from solfège, or “laa” in “laa-laa”.

Syllables: le-lah
Stress: usually on the first syllable, but Indonesian stress is quite light: LE-lah.

All vowels are pure:

• e in le is like the “e” in “taken” (a neutral sound).
• a in lah is like “a” in “father”.

So you don’t say “lee-lah” or “luh-LOH”; keep both syllables short and clear: LE-lah.