Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Andai saja saya tidak terlalu lelah, saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan. - If only I were not too tired, I would join the fitness training on the field.

Andai saja introduces an unreal or hypothetical situation, similar to “if only” or “I wish” in English. It usually implies that the condition is not true (or is unlikely to be true).

Andai saja saya tidak terlalu lelah... → If only I weren’t/weren’t so tired... (but actually I am tired)
Kalau saya tidak terlalu lelah... → If I’m not too tired... (more neutral; could be a real possibility)

So:

andai / andai saja / seandainya → more hypothetical, often regretful
kalau / jika → more general “if”, can be real or neutral condition

Can I omit saja and just say andai saya tidak terlalu lelah? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say Andai saya tidak terlalu lelah, saya akan ikut...

Andai saja and andai are both correct.
Saja here adds a slight emotional nuance, like “if only” or “if just”.
Without saja, it sounds a bit more neutral, but the overall meaning (unreal/hypothetical condition) is the same.

You’ll also hear seandainya and andaikan used with the same function.

Is this sentence talking about the past, present, or future in Indonesian?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense the way English does, so this sentence is inherently ambiguous without context.

Andai saja saya tidak terlalu lelah, saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan can correspond to:

If only I weren’t so tired, I would join the fitness practice on the field (talking about now)
If only I hadn’t been so tired, I would have joined the fitness practice on the field (talking about a past situation)

The presence of akan marks it as a hypothetical result (a “would” idea), not a clear future or past. Context (time references around it) normally decides how it should be interpreted in English.

Why is tidak used before terlalu lelah, and not bukan?

In Indonesian:

tidak is used to negate verbs and adjectives.
bukan is used to negate nouns or equational statements (A is not B).

Here, lelah is an adjective (“tired”), and terlalu lelah is an adjective phrase (“too tired”), so you must use tidak:

tidak lelah / tidak terlalu lelah → not tired / not too tired
❌ bukan lelah (wrong in this context)

What’s the nuance of terlalu lelah compared with sangat lelah or capek sekali?

terlalu lelah = too tired (tired to an excessive degree, so that something becomes difficult or impossible)
→ matches the idea that being tired prevents joining the practice.
sangat lelah = very tired (strong intensity, but not necessarily “too much”)
capek sekali = very tired in more colloquial language (using capek instead of lelah).

In this sentence, terlalu fits well because the tiredness is the reason the speaker cannot join.

What does ikut mean here? Why not pergi or hadir?

Ikut literally means “to follow”, but very commonly it means:

to join in / to take part / to participate / to go along

So saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran means “I will join (take part in) the fitness exercise/practice”.

Comparisons:

pergi = to go (movement only, not necessarily participation)
hadir = to attend (more formal, often for meetings/ceremonies)
ikut = to join, to be part of the activity

Here ikut is the most natural verb for joining a training session.

What exactly is latihan kebugaran? Is it a fixed phrase?

Latihan kebugaran literally means “fitness training/practice”:

latihan = practice, training, exercise session
kebugaran = fitness (physical well-being)

It’s not a strict fixed idiom, but a very natural combination, especially for:

general fitness workouts
exercise sessions aimed at health/fitness (not necessarily a specific sport)

Other related phrases:

latihan fisik = physical training
latihan olahraga = sports practice

What does di lapangan imply? What kind of place is lapangan?

Lapangan is a field / court / open ground used for activities like sports, ceremonies, or gatherings. Di lapangan means “on the field” or “at the field”, depending on context.

It can refer to:

a sports field (soccer field, volleyball court, etc.)
a school yard/open ground
any open area designated for group activities

So latihan kebugaran di lapangan is a fitness training session held outdoors on a field/yard.

Could I change the word order, like saya akan ikut di lapangan latihan kebugaran?

You can move things around, but some orders sound unnatural.

Original: saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan
→ very natural: “I will join the fitness training on the field.”
saya akan ikut di lapangan latihan kebugaran
→ grammatically possible, but sounds awkward and harder to process.

Better alternatives:

Saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan itu.
Saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran yang diadakan di lapangan.

General pattern: ikut + [activity] + di + [place] is the most natural.

Could I say Kalau saya tidak terlalu lelah, saya akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can. Both are correct but the nuance changes:

Andai saja saya tidak terlalu lelah...
→ more hypothetical and often implies regret; similar to “If only I weren’t/weren’t so tired...”
Kalau saya tidak terlalu lelah...
→ more neutral/real; similar to “If I’m not too tired...” and could be used for a realistic future condition.

So use andai (saja) when you want to stress an unreal or regretful situation; use kalau for everyday “if” statements.

Is akan necessary here? Can I just say saya ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan?

You can drop akan, but the nuance changes:

saya akan ikut...
→ “I would join / I will join” (here, part of a hypothetical result of the condition)
saya ikut...
→ more like a simple present/habitual: “I join / I go to” OR, in some contexts, an immediate future (“I’m going to join”).

In andai–type hypothetical sentences, akan is often used to reflect the English “would”, making the conditional idea clearer:

Andai saja saya tidak terlalu lelah, saya akan ikut...
fits the pattern “If only X, I would Y.”

What is the level of formality of this sentence? Could I use aku or capek instead?

The sentence is neutral to slightly formal because of:

saya (neutral/formal “I”)
lelah (more formal/neutral than capek)

More casual versions could be:

Andai saja aku tidak terlalu capek, aku akan ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan.
Kalau aja aku nggak terlalu capek, aku bakal ikut latihan kebugaran di lapangan. (more colloquial)

So:

saya / lelah / akan → neutral/formal
aku / capek / bakal / nggak → informal/colloquial