Meaning of Sok-sokan In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo, semuanya. Apa kabar? Ketemu lagi sama saya, Iman Prabawa. This time we are going to talk about the meaning of [sok-sokan] in Bahasa Indonesia. As always, we are going to be watching examples from movies and whatnot, where the phrase [sok-sokan] is spoken by Indonesians.

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly. You can see how to do that on my About Me page. 

If you are a beginner in the Indonesian language, you can learn step by step with My Lesson Here.

So, let's get started!

Sok-sokan In Bahasa Indonesia

The phrase [sok-sokan] came from a single word [sok] which means arrogant. In this phrase, the word [sok] is repeated and added a suffix [an] and then becomes [sok-sokan].

The meaning of [sok-sokan] is different than the meaning of the word [sok]. When you put a suffix [an] at the end of a word then the meaning of that word changes.

[Sok-sokan] is kind of, you are bluffing that you can do something that's actually it's still not sure that you really can do it well or not. You just do it to show off to someone else.

We can see later from the scene from a movie, and I'm going to explain the situation so that you'll understand the meaning.

To pronounce the word, you can hear it below.


And to pronounce the phrase sok-sokan you can hear it below.


Now, let's watch a scene from a movie called Mimpi Metropolitan. 

Sok-sokan In a Movie Scene

The situation here is this couple was going to eat chicken porridge. We call it in Bahasa Indonesia "bubur ayam".

And when they eat the chicken porridge, the man who sells chicken porridge asking whether she wants to be his second wife or not. Because she's so pretty that the man attracted to her.

Now, let's watch the scene below.

The conversation happening in that scene is as follows.

A: Oh iya, neng. Mau ngga jadi istri abang yang kedua? (By the way, do you want to be my second wife?) 

 B: Ih! (What?!) 

 C: Heh, mas! Masak nasi aja jadi bubur. Sok-sokan mau istri dua! (Hei, you! You tried to cook rice and it became porridge, and now you’re asking her to be your second wife?!)

Neng is a call for women. This came from a local language, that's from Sundanese. Next, I will give you a few example sentences using this phrase.

Example Sentences Using Sok-sokan

First example,

Karena sok-sokan update status pake bahasa Inggris, artis ini dihujat oleh netizen.

The English translation is as follows,

Trying to post an update using English, this artist was blasphemed by netizens.

Not many people can speak English well in Indonesia, and when you try to speak or update your status using English, many people will mock at you. They will say, "Why don't you just write your status using Bahasa Indonesia? Now, we can see how stupid you're cause you're making a lot of grammar mistakes!"

Second example,

Anak kota sok-sokan melaut, begini jadinya.

The English translation is as follows,

If a city kid is trying to pretend as a sailorman then this is what will happen.

Third example,

Sok-sokan pamer hidup mewah, padahal sebenarnya hanyalah pura-pura kaya.

The English translation is as follows,

Pretend to show off living in luxury, when in fact she's just pretending to be rich.

It's really hard to translate this phrase into English but I think that's all for now. I hope you understand what I just explained here. Thank you and I'll talk to you soon. Bye now.