Ayah tidak suka terong, tetapi dia tetap memakannya kalau dimasak dengan bumbu yang enak.

In Indonesian, family words like Ayah, Ibu, Kakak, and Adik are often used by themselves when the relationship is already clear.

So Ayah tidak suka terong can naturally mean:

• Dad doesn’t like eggplant
• My father doesn’t like eggplant

If you want to be extra explicit, you can say ayah saya, but it is not necessary here.

Also, Ayah is capitalized here because it is the first word of the sentence. In some contexts, Indonesians also capitalize kinship terms when using them almost like names.

Because tidak is used to negate verbs, adjectives, and states, while bukan is mainly used to negate nouns or noun phrases.

Here, suka means to like or to be fond of, so it is negated with tidak:

• tidak suka = doesn’t like

Compare:

• Dia tidak suka terong = He doesn’t like eggplant
• Dia bukan dokter = He is not a doctor

So bukan suka would sound wrong here.

Indonesian usually does not use articles like a/an/the.

So terong can mean:

• eggplant
• an eggplant
• the eggplant
• sometimes even eggplants

The exact meaning depends on context.

Plural is also often left unmarked unless it matters. If you really wanted to show plural clearly, you could say terong-terong, but that is not needed in this sentence.

They mean the same thing: but.

The difference is mainly style:

• tetapi = more formal or neutral
• tapi = more casual, common in everyday speech

So this sentence uses the more standard/formal form:

• Ayah tidak suka terong, tetapi...

In conversation, many speakers would naturally say:

• Ayah tidak suka terong, tapi...

Tetap means something like:

• still
• nevertheless
• anyway

It adds the idea that even though Dad does not like eggplant, he still eats it under certain conditions.

So:

• dia tetap memakannya = he still eats it

Without tetap, the sentence would simply say that he eats it if it is cooked well. With tetap, there is a stronger contrast with tidak suka.

Memakannya can be broken down like this:

• makan = eat
• meN- → mem- = active verb prefix
• -nya = it / him / her

So:

• memakan = to eat, to consume
• memakannya = to eat it

In this sentence, -nya refers to terong.

A useful note: in everyday Indonesian, people very often just say makan with an object:

• dia makan terong

But with -nya, the form memakannya is very natural and clear.

Here, -nya refers back to terong.

So:

• memakannya = eat it
• it = eggplant

Indonesian often uses -nya to avoid repeating a noun. It can mean:

• his / her / its
• him / her / it

In this sentence, it is an object pronoun: it.

Repeating terong would also be possible, but less smooth:

• Ayah tidak suka terong, tetapi dia tetap makan terong kalau...

Using memakannya sounds more natural and connected.

Because dimasak is a passive form.

• memasak = to cook something
• dimasak = cooked, be cooked

So:

• kalau dimasak dengan bumbu yang enak = if it is cooked with tasty seasoning

The passive is natural here because the focus is on the eggplant and how it is prepared, not on who cooks it.

If you wanted an active version, you would need a subject:

• kalau Ibu memasaknya dengan bumbu yang enak = if Mom cooks it with tasty seasoning

All three can mean if:

• kalau
• jika
• bila

The main difference is tone:

• kalau = very common, natural in speech
• jika = more formal
• bila = also formal/literary in many contexts

So in this sentence, kalau sounds everyday and natural.

You could replace it with jika without changing the core meaning:

• ...tetap memakannya jika dimasak dengan bumbu yang enak.

That just sounds a bit more formal.

Yang links a noun to a description. In this sentence, it introduces information about bumbu.

• bumbu = seasoning / spices
• yang enak = that is tasty / that tastes good

So:

• bumbu yang enak = seasoning that is tasty

You can think of yang as something like that/which in English, although it is often used more broadly than English speakers expect.

It helps clearly show that enak describes bumbu.

Enak is a very common Indonesian adjective for food and flavor. It can mean:

• delicious
• tasty
• good
• pleasant

So bumbu yang enak means seasoning that tastes good or makes the food taste good.

English speakers sometimes expect a word closer to good or well-seasoned, but Indonesian often uses enak very naturally in food contexts.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So this sentence does not explicitly mark present, past, or future through verb endings. Time is understood from context.

Here, the most natural reading is a general present fact or habit:

• Dad doesn’t like eggplant, but he still eats it if it is cooked with tasty seasoning.

If you wanted to make time clearer, you could add time words such as:

• sekarang = now
• kemarin = yesterday
• besok = tomorrow

But without those, the sentence is understood as a general statement.