Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pada tingkat lanjutan, ungkapan yang kami pelajari lebih rumit dan sulit dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu. - At the advanced level, the expressions we learn are more complex and hard to explain in our native language.

Pada here means “at / on / in (a level or stage)” and is often used with more abstract nouns like tingkat (level), masa (period), awal (beginning), etc.

Pada tingkat lanjutan = at the advanced level
It sounds slightly more formal and is common in written or careful speech.

You can say di tingkat lanjutan in everyday conversation, and people will understand you. The difference is small:

pada tingkat lanjutan – a bit more formal / written
di tingkat lanjutan – more neutral / conversational

Both are grammatically acceptable.

What’s the difference between lanjutan and lanjut in tingkat lanjutan?

Both come from the root lanjut (continue, further), but:

lanjut is usually an adjective/verb-like word:
- lanjutkan – to continue (something)
- melanjutkan – to continue / to proceed
lanjutan is a derived noun/adjective meaning “continuation / advanced / further (stage)”.

In tingkat lanjutan:

tingkat = level
lanjutan = advanced/further

So tingkat lanjutan = advanced level.
You would not normally say tingkat lanjut for this meaning; lanjutan is the standard choice here.

Why is there a comma after pada tingkat lanjutan?

Pada tingkat lanjutan is an adverbial phrase of time/condition (“at the advanced level”) placed at the beginning of the sentence. In Indonesian writing, it’s common (though not absolutely required) to put a comma after such a fronted phrase:

Pada tingkat lanjutan, ungkapan …
Di sekolah, kami belajar …
Secara umum, hal itu benar.

So the comma is good style, but the sentence would still be understandable without it.

In ungkapan yang kami pelajari, what does yang do?

Yang introduces a relative clause that describes the noun ungkapan (“expression(s)”).

ungkapan = expressions
yang kami pelajari = that we study / that we learn

So:

ungkapan yang kami pelajari = the expressions (that) we study

In English you’d use “that” or “which”; in Indonesian, yang marks this descriptive clause.

Why is it yang kami pelajari and not yang kami belajar?

Because belajar and (mem)pelajari behave differently:

belajar = to study / to learn (intransitive, no direct object)
- Kami belajar di sekolah. – We study at school.
mempelajari / pelajari = to study/learn something (transitive, takes an object)
- Kami mempelajari ungkapan. – We study expressions.

In ungkapan yang kami pelajari:

ungkapan is the object.
pelajari is the verb that takes that object.
Literally: “the expressions that we study (them).”

So yang kami pelajari is correct; yang kami belajar is wrong because belajar does not take a direct object here.

What exactly is the subject of the sentence?

The core structure (ignoring the opening phrase) is:

Ungkapan yang kami pelajari = subject
lebih rumit dan sulit dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu = predicate (description of the subject)

So the subject is “the expressions that we study”.

Why is there no word like “are” in ungkapan … lebih rumit? In English we say “are more complicated”.

Indonesian usually does not use a separate verb like “to be” (am/is/are) before adjectives.

English: The expressions are more complicated.
Indonesian: Ungkapan itu lebih rumit. (literally: “The expressions more complicated.”)

So:

ungkapan yang kami pelajari lebih rumit
works as “the expressions we study are more complicated” without needing a word like adalah or ialah.

Adalah is used mainly when the complement is a noun phrase, not an adjective:

Ungkapan itu adalah metafora. – Those expressions are metaphors.
But: Ungkapan itu rumit. – Those expressions are complicated. (no adalah)

In lebih rumit dan sulit dijelaskan, does lebih apply to both rumit and sulit dijelaskan?

Yes. The structure is:

lebih [rumit] dan [sulit dijelaskan]

So lebih (“more”) modifies both:

lebih rumit = more complicated
lebih sulit dijelaskan = more difficult to explain

Indonesian often avoids repeating lebih when the meaning is clear. If you wanted to be extra explicit, you could say:

lebih rumit dan lebih sulit dijelaskan,
but the original is natural and standard.

What pattern is sulit dijelaskan? How does this grammar work?

Sulit dijelaskan combines:

sulit = difficult
dijelaskan = to be explained (passive form of menjelaskan, “to explain something”)

Literally: “difficult to be explained” → “hard to explain”.

This is a common pattern in Indonesian:

mudah dimengerti – easy to understand
sulit dipercaya – hard to believe
susah dijawab – hard to answer

It’s an adjective + passive verb construction that expresses “X is hard/easy to [do to it]”.

Could I say sulit untuk dijelaskan or sulit untuk menjelaskan instead of sulit dijelaskan? Are they different?

All three exist, but the meanings differ slightly:

sulit dijelaskan
- Focus: the thing itself is hard to explain.
- Most natural in this sentence.
sulit untuk dijelaskan
- Very close in meaning to sulit dijelaskan, a bit more explicit/formal.
- Also acceptable here.
sulit untuk menjelaskan
- Focus: it is difficult for someone to do the explaining (the act is hard for the speaker/people).
- Often needs an object or context:
  - Sulit untuk menjelaskan hal itu. – It’s hard to explain that.

In the given sentence, the best matches are sulit dijelaskan or sulit untuk dijelaskan, because the focus is on the expressions being hard to explain.

Why is dalam used in dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu? Could I use ke dalam?

Here, dalam means “in (a language)”:

dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu = explained in the mother tongue

This is the normal preposition when talking about the language used:

diterjemahkan dalam bahasa Indonesia – translated into Indonesian
ditulis dalam bahasa Inggris – written in English

Ke dalam literally means “into” (movement/change into something) and is not normally used for the language of explanation in this way. So:

dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu = correct and natural
dijelaskan ke dalam bahasa ibu = sounds odd/wrong in this context

What does bahasa ibu mean exactly, and how is it different from bahasa pertama or bahasa asli?

Bahasa ibu literally means “mother language” and corresponds to “mother tongue / native language”. It’s the language you first acquired at home as a child.

Differences:

bahasa ibu – mother tongue / native language (most common, natural term)
bahasa pertama – first language (more technical/linguistic term)
bahasa asli – can mean “original language / indigenous language”, context-dependent; not always used for an individual’s native language.

In this sentence, bahasa ibu is the most idiomatic choice.

Should it be bahasa ibu kami to mean “our mother tongue”? Why is there no kami or kita?

Indonesian often leaves the possessor implicit when it’s obvious from context:

bahasa ibu can mean “one’s mother tongue” in general, not tied to a specific person.

So:

sulit dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu
≈ “hard to explain in (one’s) mother tongue.”

If you really want to emphasize our specifically, you can say:

sulit dijelaskan dalam bahasa ibu kami.

But in many educational or general statements, bahasa ibu alone feels natural and not incomplete.

Why is kami used instead of kita in ungkapan yang kami pelajari?

Both mean “we”, but:

kami = we (excluding the listener)
kita = we (including the listener)

Ungkapan yang kami pelajari suggests:

The group doing the learning (kami) does not include the person being spoken to (the listener/reader), or it’s written from the perspective of a particular group (e.g., “we students in this class”).

If the speaker wanted to include the listener (e.g., teacher speaking to students as part of the same learning group), they might say:

ungkapan yang kita pelajari – the expressions that we (you and I) learn.

So kami is a deliberate choice about inclusion/exclusion of the listener.