Paling Bisa Deh Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk to you about the meaning of the Indonesian phrase [paling bisa deh]. As always, we are going to be watching examples from movies and whatnot where this phrase 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.

Let's get started!

Meaning of Paling Bisa Deh In Indonesian

This phrase can't be translated word for word because the meaning doesn't make sense, and sometimes you will hear this phrase spoken without the word [deh]. The word [deh] in this phrase is just to emphasize.

If we want to translate this phrase word for word, [paling] means the most, and [bisa] means can, and the word "deh" is kind of like a filler word. Its function is just to emphasize.

So, if we translate this phrase word for word, then the translation would be,

The most can.

But the real meaning of [paling bisa] is,

Have a way with words.

Sometimes, people mix the two words [paling] and [bisa] into [palbis], so sometimes you will hear it as [palbis deh].

Now, let's watch a scene from a movie. In this scene, the husband takes his wife to their new house. He wants to give some kind of surprise to his wife.

Below is the conversation in that scene with English translation.

Husband: Aku itung sampai 3 kamu baru boleh liat. (I will count until 3 and then you can open your eyes.) 

Wife: 1.. 3.. 

Husband: Taraa.. 

Wife: Yeah.. Tapi kenapa mataku harus pake ditutup segala sih? Kan aku udah sering ke sini. (Yeah.. But why did I have to close my eyes? I’ve been here quite often.) 

Husband: Oh.. hehe.. Biar kaya di film-film, sayang. (Oh.. hehe.. So that it is like in the movie, honey.) 

Wife: Oh, gitu? Kalau gitu, "Yeah, Bastian aku senang banget sama rumah baru kita!" Oh, give me a hug. (Oh, is that why you’re doing it? Then, “Yeah, Bastian I really love our new house!” Oh, give me a hug.) 

Husband: Tapi, aku lebih senengnya sama kamu. (But, I love you much better than this house.) 

Wife: Ah, kamu! Paling bisa deh! (Ah, you! You have a way with words!) 

Husband: I love you istriku! (I love you, my wife!)

In that conversation, [itung] is [hitung], but in everyday conversation, we usually do not pronounce the letter [h]. Also, with the word [senang], sometimes we just write it down as [seneng]. It is the same. So, if you find a variety of writings of these words, you don't get confused.

You can also see in that scene the word "sih." I've already written an article explaining the meaning of the word "sih." You can read the explanation in my article titled The Meaning of Sih In Bahasa Indonesia.

     Related article: The Meaning of Sih In Bahasa Indonesia

You can see when his wife was saying, "I love this house," and then the husband answered it with, "I love you much better than this house."

And then that's why the wife is saying, "Paling bisa deh!", meaning that he always has a way to win her heart, or he has a way with words.

Paling Bisa In a Song

I found a song titled [paling bisa] from a band named Sisitipsi. I will embed the song below so you can watch and hear it.


The lyrics in that song containing the phrase [paling bisa] are written like this below,

Keadaan memaksa, ku tak kuasa. 

Untuk menjadi si paling bisa.

If translated into English, it will become,

The situation forced me. I'm so helpless. 

To be the ablest one.

That wraps up for this explanation about the phrase [paling bisa]. I hope you can understand it well, and if you have any questions or are still confused about this, you can comment in the comment section below this article—Bye for now.