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Band yang tampil malam ini membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana.

Band yang tampil malam ini membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana.
The band performing tonight plays three romance songs with simple lyrics.
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Questions & Answers about Band yang tampil malam ini membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana.

What is the function of yang in band yang tampil malam ini?

Yang introduces a relative clause, similar to that / who / which in English.

  • band yang tampil malam ini literally = the band that is performing tonight
  • Structure:
    • band = head noun
    • yang tampil malam ini = clause describing which band

In English, you need a separate relative pronoun (that, who), but in Indonesian you just put yang after the noun and then continue with the clause:

  • orang yang duduk di sana = the person who is sitting there
  • film yang saya tonton kemarin = the movie that I watched yesterday

So here yang links band with tampil malam ini.

How do we know the tense of tampil and membawakan, since the verbs don’t change form?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense (no -ed, -s, -ing, etc.). Time is shown by time expressions and context.

  • malam ini = this evening / tonight

Because of malam ini, the sentence most naturally means:

  • The band that is performing tonight is performing / will perform three romance songs with simple lyrics.

Depending on context, it could be:

  • Present: they’re on stage now
  • Near future: they will perform later tonight

If you wanted to clearly talk about earlier tonight, you would usually change malam ini to tadi malam (last night / earlier tonight):

  • Band yang tampil tadi malam membawakan tiga lagu romansa...
    = The band that performed earlier tonight performed three romance songs...
What exactly does tampil mean here? Is it “play”, “perform”, or “appear”?

Tampil literally means to appear / come out / be on stage / be on display.

In entertainment contexts (concerts, TV shows, talent shows), tampil is best translated as to perform or to appear (on stage / on a show):

  • Dia akan tampil di panggung utama.
    = He/She will perform / appear on the main stage.
  • Mereka sering tampil di televisi.
    = They often appear on TV.

For a band, tampil is a natural way to say they perform.
If you wanted to emphasize “play (music)”, you might see:

  • bermain musik (to play music)
  • manggung (colloquial: to gig, to perform on stage)
What is the difference between membawakan and membawa in this sentence?

Both come from the root bawa (to carry / bring), but:

  • membawa = to bring (physically)
  • membawakan = to bring/perform for someone / for an audience; also a set phrase with “songs”

In performance contexts:

  • membawakan lagu is a fixed expression meaning to perform a song (sing or play it on stage).
  • It doesn’t literally mean “to carry a song” in everyday use; it’s idiomatic.

Compare:

  • Dia membawa gitar ke sekolah.
    = He/She brings a guitar to school.
  • Dia membawakan lagu baru untuk penonton.
    = He/She performs a new song for the audience.

If you said membawa tiga lagu romansa, it wouldn’t sound natural for “perform three romance songs.” The verb people expect with lagu in this context is membawakan (or menyanyikan, memainkan depending on nuance, see next question).

Could we use menyanyikan or memainkan instead of membawakan with lagu?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly:

  • membawakan tiga lagu romansa
    Neutral: to perform three romance songs (covers both singing and playing; very common in music reports/reviews).

  • menyanyikan tiga lagu romansa
    Focuses on singing three romance songs (emphasis on vocals).

  • memainkan tiga lagu romansa
    Focuses on playing three romance songs (emphasis on instruments / playing the pieces).

All can be correct depending on what you want to emphasize. Membawakan is the safest, general choice for “perform songs” on stage.

Why is it tiga lagu romansa, not something like tiga romansa lagu?

Indonesian noun phrases usually follow this order:

Number → (Classifier) → Noun → Modifiers

So:

  • tiga = three
  • lagu = song
  • romansa = romance (here, used like “romance-type”)

Hence:

  • tiga lagu romansa
    = three romance songs / three songs of romance

You don’t put the descriptive noun before the head noun the way English sometimes does (“romance songs”). You also don’t say tiga romansa lagu; that word order is ungrammatical.

Some other examples:

  • dua buku sejarah = two history books
  • lima film komedi = five comedy movies
  • beberapa lagu cinta = several love songs
Why is there no plural ending on lagu even though it’s “three songs”?

Plurality in Indonesian is usually shown by:

  • Numbers or quantifiers: tiga, banyak, beberapa, etc.
  • Or reduplication: lagu-lagu

Here, tiga already clearly marks plurality, so lagu stays in its base form:

  • tiga lagu = three songs (plural already understood)

You could say lagu-lagu in some contexts for a general plural (“songs” in general), but not with a specific number:

  • lagu-lagu romansa = romance songs (in general, plural)
  • tiga lagu romansa = three romance songs (specific number)

Saying tiga lagu-lagu romansa would be incorrect.

What’s the difference between lagu romansa and lagu romantis?

Both relate to romance, but there is a nuance:

  • romansa = romance (as a noun), often used for “romance” as a story/genre/theme

    • lagu romansa = songs whose theme/genre is romance

  • romantis = romantic (as an adjective, describing mood/feeling)

    • lagu romantis = songs that feel romantic (sweet, sentimental)

In many real-life contexts they can overlap:

  • lagu romansa might sound a bit more “genre” or “literary”
  • lagu romantis sounds more like “romantic songs” in the emotional sense

Both are grammatically correct; the original sentence chooses lagu romansa, likely emphasizing the romance genre/theme.

What does dengan lirik sederhana mean structurally, and could we say it another way?

Structurally:

  • dengan = with
  • lirik = lyrics
  • sederhana = simple

So dengan lirik sederhana = with simple lyrics.

Alternative ways to express the same idea:

  1. berlirik sederhana

    • Band yang tampil malam ini membawakan tiga lagu romansa berlirik sederhana.
    • More compact; berlirik = “having lyrics / with lyrics”.

  2. yang liriknya sederhana

    • ...tiga lagu romansa yang liriknya sederhana.
    • More colloquial / explanatory: “whose lyrics are simple.”

The original dengan lirik sederhana is clear and neutral, and very common in written descriptions.

Why is it lirik sederhana and not sederhana lirik?

In Indonesian, adjectives almost always come after the noun they modify.

  • lirik sederhana = simple lyrics
  • lagu baru = new song
  • film lama = old movie

Putting the adjective before the noun (sederhana lirik) is wrong in standard Indonesian (with a few special idiomatic exceptions that don’t apply here).

So the general rule for noun phrases:

[Noun] + [Adjective]
lirik sederhana, lagu romansa, band terkenal, etc.

Can we move malam ini to another position in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions are fairly flexible in Indonesian. All of these are grammatical, with small shifts in emphasis:

  1. Original:

    • Band yang tampil malam ini membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana.

  2. Time at the front (very natural):

    • Malam ini, band yang tampil membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana.

  3. Time at the end:

    • Band yang tampil membawakan tiga lagu romansa dengan lirik sederhana malam ini.

Differences:

  • Front position (Malam ini, ...) strongly highlights “Tonight” as the setting.
  • Original version ties malam ini more closely to tampil (the band that performs tonight).
  • End position can sound a bit heavier, but is still used, especially in speech.

The original is slightly clearer that malam ini modifies tampil (the performance time), not membawakan only.

How do we know this refers to “the band” and not just “a band”, since there is no article like “the” or “a”?

Indonesian has no direct equivalents of English a and the. Definiteness is understood from context and from how specific the noun phrase is.

Here:

  • band yang tampil malam ini
    = “the band that is performing tonight” (a specific, identifiable band)

The relative clause yang tampil malam ini makes it clear which band you’re talking about, so in English we naturally translate it as the band.

If you wanted to stress “a band” (non-specific), you might say:

  • sebuah band membawakan tiga lagu romansa...
    = A band performed three romance songs...

But as written, it sounds like both speaker and listener know which band is meant (the one performing tonight), so the band is the best translation.

What is the overall tone/register of this sentence? Is anything especially formal or informal?

The sentence is in neutral, standard Indonesian. It would fit well in:

  • a concert review
  • an event description
  • a newspaper or online article about a show

Word choices:

  • Band – everyday loanword from English; neutral.
  • tampil – standard, neutral verb for “perform/appear”.
  • membawakan – standard and common in music contexts.
  • lagu romansa – slightly more literary/formal than lagu cinta, but still common.
  • dengan lirik sederhana – straightforward, neutral description.

Nothing here is slangy or very formal; it’s good “textbook plus real-world” Indonesian.