Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah setelah konsultasi dengan dokter. - He/She undergoes simple therapy at home after a consultation with the doctor.

Menjalani literally comes from jalan (to walk), but as a verb it means “to go through / to undergo / to live through” something, usually a process, period, or experience.

Typical collocations:

menjalani terapi – to undergo therapy
menjalani operasi – to undergo surgery
menjalani hukuman – to serve a sentence
menjalani kehidupan – to live (one’s) life

In this sentence, Dia menjalani terapi sederhana…, menjalani sounds natural because therapy is seen as a process you “go through”.

Other options and their nuance:

melakukan terapi – “to do therapy”; grammatically OK but sounds more like the agent doing/performing therapy (more natural for a therapist: dokter melakukan terapi pada pasien).
mengikuti terapi – “to attend/join therapy”; focuses on participation (signing up, attending sessions).
mendapat terapi – “to receive therapy”; focuses on therapy as something given to you.

For a patient talking about their own treatment, menjalani terapi is the most idiomatic and common.

Does dia mean “he” or “she”? How do we know the gender?

Dia can mean he, she, or they (singular) in Indonesian. It does not mark gender.

The sentence Dia menjalani terapi sederhana… by itself does not tell you whether the person is male or female.
Gender is usually clear from context (earlier in the conversation, a name, or some description).
If needed, Indonesian can add clarity with words like:
- laki-laki / pria – male
- perempuan / wanita – female

Example:

Dia (seorang pria) menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah… – He (a man) undergoes simple therapy at home…
Dia (seorang wanita) menjalani terapi… – She (a woman) undergoes therapy…

But in everyday speech, people usually just say dia and let context carry the meaning.

How do we know the tense of this sentence? Is it past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense, so menjalani itself has no tense. The sentence:

Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah setelah konsultasi dengan dokter.

could mean, depending on context:

He/She is undergoing simple therapy at home after (having) consulted a doctor.
He/She underwent simple therapy at home after a consultation with a doctor.
Less commonly, in the right context, it might refer to a future plan.

To make the time reference explicit, Indonesians often add time markers:

sudah – already (past/completed):
Dia sudah menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah…
sedang – currently (progressive):
Dia sedang menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah…
akan – will (future):
Dia akan menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah…

Without such words or a time expression (like kemarin, besok), tense is understood from broader context.

Why is it terapi sederhana and not sederhana terapi? How does adjective order work?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun they modify.

terapi sederhana = simple therapy
- terapi (noun) – therapy
- sederhana (adjective) – simple

Putting the adjective before the noun (sederhana terapi) is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.

You can also say:

terapi yang sederhana – literally “therapy that is simple”; this can add a slight emphasis or contrast (e.g. not complex/intensive therapy).

So the normal, neutral order is:

noun + adjective → terapi sederhana, rumah besar, dokter terkenal, etc.

What nuance does sederhana have here? Does “simple therapy” mean easy, or something else?

Sederhana most commonly means simple, modest, not complicated / not luxurious.

In terapi sederhana, depending on context, it usually suggests:

The therapy is not complex or high-tech.
It may involve basic exercises or treatments.
It’s likely low-cost or not intensive compared to hospital-based treatment.

It can carry one or more of these nuances:

simple (not technically complex)
basic (not advanced)
modest (not luxurious or expensive)

The exact nuance depends on the broader medical context, but it does not usually mean “simple” in the sense of “not important”; more like “not complicated / basic”.

Is terapi a noun or a verb here? Could we use something like berterapi instead?

In this sentence, terapi is a noun (therapy), and menjalani is the verb:

Dia [menjalani] [terapi sederhana]…
- menjalani – verb
- terapi – noun
- sederhana – adjective modifying terapi

About berterapi:

berterapi exists but is much less common in everyday speech.
You might see it in more formal or technical contexts, meaning “to undergo therapy / to do therapy”.
Dia berterapi di rumah is grammatical, but Dia menjalani terapi di rumah sounds more natural and idiomatic.

For everyday language, especially about a patient’s treatment, menjalani terapi is preferred.

What’s the difference between setelah konsultasi dengan dokter and setelah berkonsultasi dengan dokter?

Both are grammatical and very similar in meaning, but there is a small nuance.

setelah konsultasi dengan dokter
- konsultasi is a noun: consultation.
- Literally: “after (a) consultation with a doctor.”
- Focus is slightly more on the event (the consultation session).
setelah berkonsultasi dengan dokter
- berkonsultasi is a verb: to consult.
- Literally: “after consulting with a doctor.”
- Focus is slightly more on the action (the act of consulting).

Both are very natural. In many contexts, they’re interchangeable, and native speakers won’t feel much difference. You’ll also hear:

setelah konsultasi ke dokter – a common colloquial variant, roughly: “after (a) consultation with the doctor / after going to consult the doctor”.

Why is di used in di rumah? Is there any difference between di rumah and di rumahnya?

Di is the standard preposition for location (“in / at / on”) in Indonesian.

di rumah = at home / in the house
- Neutral, can mean “at (his/her) home” if context is clear.
pada rumah is not used here; pada is more for abstract objects, people (in some formal styles), or certain fixed expressions.

Difference:

di rumah
- Often understood as at home, with “whose home” left to context.
di rumahnya
- More specific: at his/her home (or sometimes “at that house” depending on context).
- The suffix -nya marks possession or “the previously mentioned one”.

So:

Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah… – He/She undergoes simple therapy at home.
Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumahnya… – He/She undergoes simple therapy at his/her own home (emphasized).

Can we move di rumah to a different place in the sentence? For example, what about Dia menjalani terapi sederhana setelah konsultasi dengan dokter di rumah?

Word order is flexible, but movement can change what di rumah seems to modify.

Original: > Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah setelah konsultasi dengan dokter.

Most natural reading:

The therapy takes place at home.
The consultation is simply “with a doctor”, location unspecified.

If you say: > Dia menjalani terapi sederhana setelah konsultasi dengan dokter di rumah.

Now di rumah is very close to dokter, so it often sounds like:

He/She undergoes simple therapy after a consultation with a doctor at home (e.g. the doctor came to the house).

It becomes ambiguous:

Either the consultation was at home (doctor’s home visit).
Or, less likely, it still refers to where the therapy happens.

To clearly keep di rumah with terapi, the original position is better:

Dia menjalani terapi sederhana di rumah setelah konsultasi dengan dokter.

Is dokter here specific (like “his doctor”) or just “a doctor”? How would we say “with his doctor” or “with a specialist doctor”?

Bare dokter is neutral; it can mean “a doctor” or “the doctor” depending on context. Indonesian doesn’t have articles (a/the) like English.

In this sentence: > …setelah konsultasi dengan dokter.

It could be translated as:

after a consultation with a doctor, or
after a consultation with the doctor
depending on what was already mentioned in the conversation.

To make it more specific:

dengan dokternya – with his/her doctor / with the (contextual) doctor.
dengan dokter pribadinya – with his/her personal doctor.
dengan dokter spesialis – with a specialist doctor.
dengan dokter spesialis jantung – with a heart specialist (cardiologist), etc.

So you adjust specificity with possessive suffixes (-nya) and additional nouns (spesialis, pribadi, etc.).

Can we omit or change some words and still be correct, like saying Dia menjalani terapi di rumah setelah konsultasi dokter?

Some changes are fine; others make the sentence sound odd or less natural.

Omitting “sederhana”:
- Dia menjalani terapi di rumah setelah konsultasi dengan dokter.
- This is perfectly natural; it just removes the “simple” detail.
Omitting “dengan”:
- Dia menjalani terapi di rumah setelah konsultasi dokter.
- This sounds awkward in standard Indonesian.
- konsultasi dokter is more like “doctor’s consultation” (a noun + noun phrase) and doesn’t clearly express “consultation with a doctor”.
- More natural forms:
  - setelah konsultasi dengan dokter (standard)
  - setelah konsultasi ke dokter (very common colloquial)
  - setelah berkonsultasi dengan dokter (using the verb form)

So:

Removing sederhana: OK.
Removing dengan before dokter: not recommended; it changes the structure and sounds off.