How to Say What Are You Doing in Indonesian

Useful Indonesian Phrases #5 - Halo, apa kabar? Ketemu lagi sama saya, Iman Prabawa. This time, we will talk about how to say [what are you doing] in Bahasa Indonesia.

We will also watch scenes from Indonesian movies where this phrase is spoken to better understand this phrase and how it is being used.

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 dive in!

What Are You Doing In Bahasa Indonesia

First, I will give you a formal phrase, and then I will also give you an informal phrase that we use in our daily conversation.

Anda sedang melakukan apa?

This sentence is very formal. Let's hear how to pronounce this sentence below.

And then, you can change [Anda] into [kamu] to make it less formal. So the sentence would change into.

Kamu sedang melakukan apa?

Let's hear how to pronounce this sentence below.

Again, to make it less formal, you can omit the word [melakukan]. So the sentence would change into.

Kamu sedang apa?

Let's hear how to pronounce this sentence below.

You can also change [sedang] with the word [lagi]. It has the same meaning, but we use [lagi] more than [sedang] in daily conversation. 

It also sounds less formal if we use [lagi] instead of [sedang]. So the sentence would change into.

Kamu lagi apa?

Let's hear how to pronounce this sentence below.

And this last sentence is the one that we use a lot in our daily conversation. The sentence is,

Kamu lagi ngapain?

Let's hear how to pronounce this sentence below.

And you can omit the word [kamu], so the sentence would change into.

Lagi ngapain?

Let's hear how to pronounce this phrase below.

The last form is the one that we're going to watch in a movie scene. This is the phrase that is being spoken in that scene.

Lagi Ngapain in a Movie Scene

The first scene that we are about to watch is a clip from a movie called Perahu Kertas 1. Let's watch how the phrase [lagi ngapain] is spoken in this clip.

In the scene above, Keenan was looking from outside Kuggy's room. And then he said this,

Lagi ngapain?

Which means,

What are you doing?

Because he wanted to know what she was doing at the moment. As you can see, Keenan omit the word [kamu], so instead of saying the full sentence,

Kamu lagi ngapain?

He said it,

Lagi ngapain?

And here, Kuggy was doing nothing, so she replied,

Lagi ngga ngapa-ngapain.

If I translated this literally into English, the translation would be.

I'm doing nothing.

You can say this if you think you are doing nothing special.

The second clip that we are about to watch is from a TV Serial called Tetangga Masa Gitu. Let's watch it down below.

Conversation in the scene with English translations is as follows.

Bintang: Belanja bulanan 565ribu, ditambah bayar listrik, ditambah bensin mobil.. (Monthly shopping for this month is 565 thousand rupiahs, plus the electricity bill, plus car gasoline...)

Bastian: Hai, Bi! Lagi ngapain? (Hey, Bi! What are you doing?)

Bintang: Hai! Aku lagi ini, bikin catatan ini lho..apa..keuangan kita per bulannya. (Hey, I'm making this paperwork of... what... our income budget for a month.)

Bastian: Ehmm. (Okay.)

As you can see from the scene, Bastian came into the room and saw his wife was doing something, and he wanted what his wife was doing at that time. He said this,

Lagi ngapain? (What are you doing?)

You will see that this phrase [lagi ngapain] is used often in everyday Indonesian, so you need to remember this phrase if you want to know what somebody is doing in the Indonesian language.

     Read also: Anjing Meaning In the Indonesian Language

So, I think this is all for now. If I find another scene in another movie where this phrase is spoken, Insya Allah, I will update this article. If you have any questions regarding this topic, you can just ask in the comment section down below, and I'll be happy to answer them.

Thank you very much, and have a good time studying Bahasa Indonesia. Bye-bye now.