Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.

The bank closes earlier today.

Breakdown of Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.

• adalah: to be
• hari ini: today
• lebih awal: earlier
• bank: the bank
• tutup: closed

Questions & Answers about Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.

Why is there no word for “the” before bank?

Indonesian does not use articles like “the” or “a/an”.
Bank can mean “a bank” or “the bank”, depending on context.

If you really want to make it clear you mean a specific bank, you might add itu (“that”):

• Bank itu tutup lebih awal hari ini. = That / the (particular) bank closes early today.

Is tutup here a verb (“closes”) or an adjective (“closed”)?

It can function as both, and Indonesian doesn’t always separate them clearly.

In Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini:

• You can understand tutup as “is closed” (adjective)
  → The bank is closed earlier today.
• Or as “closes” (stative verb)
  → The bank closes early today.

Both readings are natural; Indonesian often uses stative verbs/adjectives like this without extra “to be” verbs (there is no separate “is/are”).

Why isn’t there a word like “is” in the sentence?

Indonesian usually omits a verb like “to be” before adjectives or stative verbs.
So instead of:

• The bank is closed early today.

Indonesian simply says:

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  literally: Bank closed/close more early today.

How do we know the tense? Could this also mean “The bank closed early today”?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense with verb changes like English. Context and time words do the job.

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  Most naturally: The bank closes early today / is closing early today (a general notice, e.g., sign on the door).

If you clearly want past:

• Bank tadi tutup lebih awal.
• Bank sudah tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  (The bank closed early today / has already closed early today.)

If you clearly want future:

• Bank akan tutup lebih awal hari ini. (will close)

What exactly does lebih awal mean? Is it “earlier” or just “early”?

• awal = early
• lebih = more / -er (comparative)

So lebih awal literally means “earlier (than usual / than something else)”.

In practice:

• Bank tutup awal hari ini. = The bank closes early today.
• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini. = The bank closes earlier today (than usual / than normal hours).

The lebih implies a comparison with a usual or expected time.

Can I say lebih cepat instead of lebih awal?

Sometimes, but they’re not identical:

• awal = early (in time)
• cepat = fast, quick, or sometimes “earlier than expected”

For closing times:

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini. → “The bank closes earlier today.” (safer, clearly about time)
• Bank tutup lebih cepat hari ini. → can also mean “closes earlier today”, but lebih awal is more standard/natural when talking about a scheduled time being earlier.

Use lebih awal when you want to be clearly about earlier time rather than speed.

Can I move hari ini to the front, like Hari ini bank tutup lebih awal?

Yes, that is very natural:

• Hari ini bank tutup lebih awal.
• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.

Both are correct and mean the same thing.
Fronting Hari ini puts a bit more emphasis on “Today…”, like:

• Today, the bank closes earlier.

Could I also say Bank hari ini tutup lebih awal? Is that okay?

Yes, it’s grammatically okay and understandable:

• Bank hari ini tutup lebih awal.

But in practice, the two more common orders are:

• Hari ini bank tutup lebih awal.
• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.

Putting hari ini right after bank is less typical but still acceptable in speech.

How would I say “Why does the bank close early today?” using this sentence?

You keep most of the sentence and add mengapa or kenapa at the front:

• Mengapa bank tutup lebih awal hari ini?
• Kenapa bank tutup lebih awal hari ini?

Both mean: Why does the bank close early today?
(Kenapa is more colloquial; mengapa is a bit more formal.)

How do I make it plural: “The banks close early today”?

Indonesian often leaves plurals unmarked; the context shows if it’s singular or plural:

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  can also mean The banks close early today.

If you really need to stress “banks” (plural):

• Bank-bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  (reduplication bank-bank = banks)

Or:

• Semua bank tutup lebih awal hari ini. = All banks close early today.

What’s the difference between bank and bank itu at the start?

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  = The bank (in general context) closes early today / A bank closes early today.

• Bank itu tutup lebih awal hari ini.
  = That bank / that particular bank closes early today.

Itu points to something specific, often known to both speaker and listener or visible in the situation.

Is pada hari ini more correct than hari ini?

Pada is a preposition roughly like “on” or “at”, but it’s often dropped in everyday speech.

• Bank tutup lebih awal hari ini. (very natural)
• Bank tutup lebih awal pada hari ini. (more formal / written style)

For normal conversation and signs, hari ini without pada is preferred.