Nembak Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya, apa kabar? This time, I'm gonna talk about the meaning of [nembak] in Bahasa Indonesia. But this time, what I want to talk about is the meaning of nembak in the slang meaning. Where in slang terms, the meaning of this word is really different than the literal meaning.

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 jump right in.

Nembak In Bahasa Indonesia

The basic word is [tembak], which means to shoot. But usually, in slang terms, the meaning of [nembak] means that you ask someone to be your girlfriend or your boyfriend.

Let's see first the literal meaning of the word [tembak], which is to shoot. I will give you example sentences. The first example sentence is,

Terjadi baku tembak antara polisi dengan penjahat itu.

If I translate this into English, the translation would be,

There was gunfight between the police and the robber.

The second example using [tembak] which means to shoot is,

Jangan tembak! Saya menyerah!

The English translation for this is,

Please, don't shoot! I surrender!

Later, I will give you 3 example sentences where nembak here means to ask someone to be your girlfriend or your boyfriend.

How to Pronounce Nembak

Let's listen to the audio down below.


So, that's how you pronounce nembak. Now, let's watch a scene from an Indonesian movie, Lamaran, where this word is spoken.

Nembak In a Movie Scene

Let's watch the scene down below.

The conversation with English translation is as follows.

Woman: Aku yakin di luar sana banyak perempuan yang suka sama kau. (I believe out there, there are a lot of women that are fall in love with you.) 

Man: Dari dulu saya tidak pernah berhasil pacaran. (But I never have any girlfriend until now.) 

Woman: Mungkin karena kau belum buka hati. Kalau kau sudah buka hati, perempuan bisa-bisa nembak kau. Yakin aku! (It is maybe because you haven't opened your heart yet. If you have already opened your heart to women, it's not impossible that women will ask you to be their boyfriend. I'm pretty sure about this!)

In that conversation, the woman said this sentence.

Kalau kau sudah buka hati, perempuan bisa-bisa nembak kau.

If I translate this word for word, then the translation would be.

If you have already opened your heart, it's not impossible that women will shoot you.

Nembak here means (s)he is expressing his or her feeling to you, and they ask you to be your girlfriend or your boyfriend.

That's why I translate that sentence into,

If you have already opened your heart, it's not impossible that women will ask you to be their boyfriend.

Actually, in Indonesia, it's not a common thing if women ask men to be their boyfriend. Usually, men who ask women to be their girlfriend.

Because the literal meaning from this nembak is to shoot, sometimes we make a joke like this.

Loe kemarin ditembak sama dia? Mati dong loe?

The English translation for this sentence is.

He shot you yesterday? Then why don't you dead yet?

Next, I will give you 3 example sentences using this word.

Nembak In Example Sentences

The first example sentence is,

Eh, tahu ngga? Kemarin, itu cowo tiba-tiba nembak gue lho!

The English translation for this sentence is.

You know what? Yesterday, that man suddenly asked me to be his girlfriend.

The second example sentence is.

A: Eh, tahu ngga loe? Si Bobby kemarin nembak si Ratna lho. 

B: Diterima ngga sama si Ratna? 

A: Gue dengar sih diterima, pacaran deh mereka sekarang.

The English translation for these sentences is.

A: You know what? Yesterday, Bobby asked Ratna to be his girlfriend. 

B: Then? Was she accept Bobby? 

A: From what I heard is yes. They are now a lover.

The third example sentence is.

Pelaku penembakan anak kecil itu sudah diamankan oleh polisi.

Here, I add prefix pe and suffix an to the word [tembak], and it becomes [penembakan]. Penembakan is a noun. In this sentence, the meaning nembak we use the literal meaning. So, you need to know precisely the context when you want to know the meaning of a word. So the translation for this sentence would be,

The man who shot dead a child has been caught by the police.

I think this is a wrap. I hope you understand my explanation, and if there is something that you want to ask regarding this topic, just write down in the comment section. Bye-bye for now and I'll talk to you soon.

Update #1 (August 16th, 2020)

I just found another scene from a movie where this word [nembak] is spoken. This clip is taken from a film called Radio Galau FM. Let's watch the clip down below.

What he said in the scene with English translations is as follows.

Bara: Fanny, junior gue pas SMP. Dulu, kita sama-sama anggota ekskul Pramuka. Gue suka Fanny. Teman-teman Fanny bilang, Fanny juga suka gue. Gue mau nembak Fanny, tapi gue ngga berani! Bukan, bukan. Itu bukan tangan gue sama Fanny. Itu tangan Fanny sama pacarnya. Gue telat! (Fanny, she is my junior when I was in Junior Highschool. We were in the same extracurricular activity that is in Pramuka. I liked her. My friends told me that Fanny also loved me. I wanted to say my feeling to her, but I didn't have the courage! Not, that was not me. Those hands with her were not my hands. Those are Fanny's boyfriend's hands. I was late!)

Bara here makes a confession that when he was in Junior Highschool, he was in love with his junior in school. Her name is Fanny, but he didn't have the courage to tell her that he liked her. In this scene, he said this,

Gue mau nembak Fanny. (I wanted to tell her that I liked her.)

This word [nembak] is very commonly used by the younger generations in Indonesia. But don't get confused with the literal meaning [to shoot]. You need to look at the context.

So, I think that's all for the updates for today. If I find another scene where this word is spoken, Insya Allah, I will update this article again. Bye now.