Karena telanjur bilang “iya”, dia mau tidak mau ikut rapat sampai selesai.

he/she

Breakdown of Karena telanjur bilang “iya”, dia mau tidak mau ikut rapat sampai selesai.

• karena: because
• rapat: the meeting
• selesai: to finish

Questions & Answers about Karena telanjur bilang “iya”, dia mau tidak mau ikut rapat sampai selesai.

What does telanjur mean here?

Telanjur means something like already gone and done it, so now it can’t really be undone. It often carries a nuance of too late to change it now or well, that’s already happened.

So in telanjur bilang iya, the idea is:

• he/she already said yes
• and because that happened, it created an obligation or consequence

It is very common in Indonesian for situations where someone has already taken a step and now has to deal with the result.

Examples:

• Saya telanjur janji. = I already made a promise, so now I’m stuck with it.
• Dia telanjur datang. = He/she already came, so it’s too late to cancel or stop it.

Why is it bilang iya and not something more literal like mengatakan iya?

Bilang is a very common everyday verb meaning to say or to tell. It is less formal and more conversational than mengatakan.

So:

• bilang = everyday, natural speech
• mengatakan = more formal, more written, more official-sounding

In this sentence, telanjur bilang iya sounds very natural in ordinary Indonesian.

You could say:

• Karena telanjur mengatakan iya...

But that sounds more formal and less casual.

What exactly does mean?