Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Penonton setia yang selalu hadir mendapat tiket VIP dengan harga lebih murah. - Loyal audience members who always attend get VIP tickets at a cheaper price.

Context tells you whether it is specific or general.
In this sentence, context makes it natural to understand penonton setia as “loyal audience members” or “loyal viewers” who regularly come to an event or show.

How do we know penonton is plural “audience members” and not singular “a viewer”?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with an ending like -s. A noun can be singular or plural depending on context.

Here:

The sentence talks about a rule or benefit: certain people “get VIP tickets at a cheaper price.”
That kind of statement is normally about a group, not just one person.

So penonton setia is naturally understood as “loyal audience members” (plural), even though the word itself isn’t changed. If you really want to emphasize plural, you can say:

para penonton setia = the loyal audience members (clearly plural)

What is the difference between penonton setia and penonton yang setia?

Both are grammatical, but there’s a nuance:

penonton setia
- Very natural and common.
- setia works like a plain adjective (“loyal audience”).
- Sounds a bit more compact and descriptive.
penonton yang setia
- Also correct.
- The yang … structure makes it feel slightly more like “those audience members who are loyal.”
- It can sound a bit more explicit or slightly more formal/emphatic, depending on context.

In this sentence, penonton setia is smoother and more typical.

What exactly does yang selalu hadir do in the sentence?

yang selalu hadir is a relative clause describing penonton setia.

penonton setia = loyal audience members
yang selalu hadir = who always attend / who always show up

So together:

penonton setia yang selalu hadir
= loyal audience members who always attend

Grammatically:

yang introduces a clause that modifies the noun before it.
selalu hadir is the predicate of that clause (“always attend / are always present”).

This whole phrase is the subject of the sentence.

Why is there no word for the English “who” other than yang? Is yang really “who”?

yang is not exactly “who,” but it often functions like “who/that/which” in English.

Its job is to:

connect a noun to a describing clause.

Examples:

orang yang baik = a person who is kind
film yang saya tonton = the movie that I watched

In this sentence:

penonton setia yang selalu hadir
= loyal audience members who always attend

So yang is the marker that tells you “what follows describes the noun before it.”

Why is the adjective setia placed after penonton, not before it like in English?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

Basic pattern:

noun + adjective

Examples:

rumah besar = big house
baju merah = red shirt
penonton setia = loyal audience members

Putting the adjective before the noun (setia penonton) is not natural in standard Indonesian.

Does selalu hadir mean “always present” or “always come”? Why not use datang?

Both hadir and datang involve the idea of showing up, but they feel different:

hadir
- Literally: “to be present”
- Slightly more formal or “event-like.”
- Common for meetings, ceremonies, shows, etc.
datang
- Literally: “to come”
- More general and neutral.

In this sentence, yang selalu hadir suggests people who are regularly present at the event/show.
You could say yang selalu datang, and it would still be understandable, but hadir fits well with the context of spectators attending events and sounds a bit more formal/natural there.

Where can selalu go? Could we say yang hadir selalu?

In this sentence, the natural position is:

yang selalu hadir = who always attend

selalu typically goes before the verb/adjective it modifies:

selalu datang = always come
selalu sibuk = always busy
yang selalu hadir = who are always present

yang hadir selalu is not natural here. That order would sound odd or poetic and is not standard for this meaning.

What is the difference between mendapat, mendapatkan, dapat, and menerima here?

All relate to getting/receiving, but with nuances:

dapat
- Can mean “can” / “be able to” or “get”.
- Simple, common, a bit more casual.
- Penonton setia … dapat tiket VIP = Loyal audience members get VIP tickets. (informal, but okay in speech).
mendapat
- More clearly “to get / obtain.”
- Slightly more formal/neutral than dapat alone.
- Very natural in written or semi-formal Indonesian.
- That’s what is used in the sentence.
mendapatkan
- Often interchangeable with mendapat, sometimes a bit more “complete” or “emphatic.”
- Penonton setia … mendapatkan tiket VIP would also be correct.
menerima
- Specifically “to receive” (focus on the act of being given something).
- Penonton setia … menerima tiket VIP = Loyal audience members receive VIP tickets.
- Slightly different nuance: you’re stressing that the tickets are given to them.

In your sentence, mendapat is a good neutral choice for “get.”

Why is it dengan harga lebih murah? What does dengan do here?

dengan usually means “with” or “using/by means of.”
In pricing, dengan harga … is a common pattern:

dengan harga 50 ribu rupiah = at a price of 50,000 rupiah
dengan harga lebih murah = at a cheaper price

So:

mendapat tiket VIP dengan harga lebih murah
= get VIP tickets at a cheaper price (literally: “with a price that is cheaper”).

You could also say:

tiket VIP dengan harga lebih murah = VIP tickets at a cheaper price

The dengan ties “VIP tickets” and “cheaper price” together in one phrase.

Could we say dengan harga yang lebih murah instead of dengan harga lebih murah?

Yes, both are correct:

dengan harga lebih murah
- Very natural and common.
- Literally: “with a cheaper price.”
dengan harga yang lebih murah
- Adds yang, making it like “with a price that is cheaper.”
- Can sound slightly more explicit or formal, but not a big difference.

In everyday usage, yang is often omitted when it’s clearly understood, so dengan harga lebih murah is perfectly fine and very idiomatic.

How does Indonesian show the comparative “cheaper” in lebih murah?

Indonesian uses lebih + adjective for the comparative form:

lebih murah = cheaper / more cheap
lebih besar = bigger / larger
lebih cepat = faster

So lebih murah on its own implies “cheaper (than the usual/normal price)”, even if the comparison target (than what?) is not stated. Context fills that in:

Here, it’s understood as “cheaper than the regular VIP ticket price.”

Could we say para penonton setia yang selalu hadir? What would that change?

Yes, that is correct:

para penonton setia yang selalu hadir
= loyal audience members who always attend

para:

Marks a group of people (plural), often used with human nouns.
Adds a sense of “the group of …” or “all those …”.

So with para, the sentence feels a bit more formal and clearly plural, like:

Para penonton setia yang selalu hadir mendapat tiket VIP dengan harga lebih murah.
= The loyal audience members who always attend get VIP tickets at a cheaper price.

Without para, it’s still usually understood as plural, just a bit more neutral.