Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler.

Bikin means make or cause here.

So Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler literally works like:

• Aroma sate = the aroma/smell of satay
• bikin = makes
• aku = me
• ngiler = drool / salivate

So the structure is basically “The smell of satay makes me drool.”

Also, bikin is informal. In more formal Indonesian, you would often use membuat.

In Indonesian, noun + noun combinations are very common.

So aroma sate literally means satay aroma, but in natural English we translate it as the aroma of satay.

This pattern is normal in Indonesian:

• rumah saya = my house
• warna baju = the color of the shirt
• aroma sate = the aroma of satay

You can say aroma dari sate, but it usually sounds less direct and often less natural in simple everyday speech. The shorter noun-noun form is very common.

Ngiler is an informal word meaning to drool or to salivate, especially because food looks or smells very tempting.

It often suggests a strong craving, not just literal saliva.

For example:

• Lihat fotonya aja bikin aku ngiler.
  Just seeing the photo makes me drool.

A more formal or dictionary-style equivalent would be related to air liur or berselera, but ngiler is the very natural casual word people use in speech.

Both aku and saya can mean I / me, but they differ in tone.

• aku = casual, personal, everyday
• saya = more polite, formal, neutral

In this sentence, aku fits because the whole sentence is casual:

• bikin is casual
• ngiler is casual
• so aku matches that style

If you changed it to saya, the sentence would sound a bit mixed unless you also changed the other words:

• Casual: Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler.
• More formal: Aroma sate membuat saya ngiler.

It is informal or colloquial.

The strongest clues are:

• bikin instead of membuat
• aku instead of saya
• ngiler, which is very conversational

This is the kind of sentence you could say to friends or write in a casual post. It is not rude, just not formal.

Yes. That is a perfectly good version.

It means the same thing, but the tone is more polite or neutral.

Compare:

• Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler.
  casual, spoken, friendly
• Aroma sate membuat saya ngiler.
  more formal or careful

Both are understandable and natural. The choice depends on the situation and the style you want.

This pattern is very common in Indonesian.

It works like:

[something] + bikin/membuat + [person] + [result/state/action]

So here:

• Aroma sate = the thing causing something
• bikin = causes
• aku = the person affected
• ngiler = the result

It is similar to English make someone do something or make someone feel something.

Other examples:

• Film itu bikin aku nangis.
  That movie made me cry.
• Cuacanya bikin saya malas.
  The weather makes me lazy.

So aku is the affected person, and ngiler is what happens to that person.

Indonesian does not use articles like a, an, and the the way English does.

So Aroma sate can mean:

• the aroma of satay
• a satay aroma
• satay’s aroma

The exact English translation depends on context.

In this sentence, English naturally uses the: The aroma of satay makes me drool, but Indonesian does not need a separate word for it.

Yes, aroma sounds especially natural when the smell is pleasant or appetizing.

• aroma = aroma, fragrance, pleasant smell
• bau = smell; can be neutral, good, or bad depending on context, but often feels more general

So:

• Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler.
  emphasizes the delicious smell
• Bau sate bikin aku ngiler.
  also possible in conversation, and many people say this, but aroma sounds a bit nicer

So aroma fits very well here because satay smells good and tempting.

Yes, you could, but jadi is not necessary.

Compare:

• Aroma sate bikin aku ngiler.
  simple and natural
• Aroma sate bikin aku jadi ngiler.
  also natural, with a slightly stronger sense of ends up making me drool

Adding jadi can emphasize the resulting change or effect, but in many cases Indonesians leave it out.

Not always.

It can be:

1. literal — actual salivating
2. figurative — strongly craving something, especially food

So in this sentence, it may mean literal salivating, but very often it also means something like:

• That smell is making me really want it
• That smell is making my mouth water

That figurative use is extremely common.