Masa In the Indonesian Language

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. This time, I'm going to talk about the meaning of [masa] in the Indonesian language. As usual, I will give you examples from movies, talk shows, reality shows, youtube videos, and whatnot that have [masa] in it.

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 right in!

The Meaning of Masa In the Indonesian Language

[Masa] in the Indonesian language can have multiple meanings. It can mean the time period, era, tense, season. When [masa] is used with a question mark, it shows that the listener is surprised or doesn't believe in what you just said.

[Masa sih?], this phrase is used when someone is surprised with what you just said, and he, kind of, doesn't believe you with what you just said. Here is how you pronounce [masa sih?].

[Masa ah?] has the same meaning as [masa sih?]. It is just another way of expressing it. Here is how you pronounce [masa ah?].

Next, we will look at real example sentences that were written by people, and let's see the meaning of [masa] in those example sentences.

Let's look at the screenshot below.

Example sentence number 1, 

Kenapa masa sekolah menjadi masa yang paling indah? (Why school time is the most beautiful time ever?)

[Masa] in this sentence means a time when you were still in school.

Example sentence number 2,

Masa sekolah itu masa yang menyenangkan. (The days at school are the most fun.)

[Masa] in this sentence collocates with [sekolah], which means days when you were at school. Those days were enjoyable.

Example sentence number 3,

15 kenangan masa sekolah ini susah untuk dilupakan. (These 15 memories from days at school are hard to forget.)

[Masa] in this sentence means the time when you were still at school. Those moments are the most precious moment of your life. I hope you can understand me well.

How to Pronounce Masa

Let's hear how to pronounce [masa] with a question mark below.

Next, we will watch scenes from movies and whatnot where this word [masa] is spoken.

Masa In Movie Scenes

The first clip that we are about to watch is taken from a movie titled Dua Garis Biru. Let's watch it down below.

Conversation in the scene with English translations is as follows.

Dara: Majuan! (Come closer!)

Bima: Dah. Kurang maju? He? (Here you go. I still need to come closer?)

Dara: Jangan. Ini tuh namanya highlighter. Ini tuh make up yang bikin aku jatuh cinta sama suami-suami aku yang ada di sini. (No. This is called a highlighter. This makeup made me fall in love with my husbands, who are here.)

Bima: Masa? (Really?)

Dara: Tuh lihat contohnya. (You can see the examples right there.)

In this scene, actually, Bima only said [sa], he kinds of like drop the syllable [ma] there, so what you heard in the clip is just [sa]. But, actually, it comes from the word [masa]. By saying the word [masa], Bima was kind of like didn't believe what Dara just said to him.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Majuan] <--- this is from the base word [maju], which means to move forward. As you can see, when Dara said [majuan], Bima move his face forward.

[Dah] is short for [sudah]. Usually, we said [udah], but Bima in this scene drops [su], and he just said [dah] instead of [udah]. [Udah] in this scene means that Bima has already done what is being asked by Dara.

[Tuh] = itu = that.

[Jatuh cinta] = falling in love.

[Suami] = husband.

[Contoh] = example.

     Read also: Janda Kembang In the Indonesian Language

The second clip is taken from Nikita Mirzani's youtube channel. Nikita Mirzani is a famous Indonesian celebrity, and in this clip, she interviewed Celine Evangelista, an Indonesian actress. Let's watch the clip down below.

Conversation from the clip with English translations is as follows.

Nikita Mirzani: Emang kamu sama Stefan udah berapa lama sih berumah tangga? (How long have you been married to Stefan?)

Celine Evangelista: Mau 5 tahun ya. (It's been almost five years.)

Nikita Mirzani: Oh iya. Luar biasa lho! Aku aja belum pernah sampe satu tahun tu belum pernah. (Wow! That's amazing! I've never been that long, even just for one year.)

Celine Evangelista: Masa?? (You're kidding, right??)

Nikita Mirzani: Demi Allah. (No, I'm not kidding. I'm serious.)

In this clip, [masa] is used to express a feeling of surprise. Celine was very surprised and couldn't believe what she just heard from Nikita. You can see her body language when she said the word [masa].

Vocabulary From the Clip

[Emang] is short for [memang] = indeed, actually. But in this context, it's just a filler, you can omit this word and the sentence still have the same meaning. Emang kamu sama Stefan udah berapa lama sih berumah tangga? = Kamu sama Stefan udah berapa lama sih berumah tangga?

[Berumah tangga] has the same meaning as [menikah] = married.

[Udah] is short for [sudah] = already. In conversational Indonesia, usually, you hear [udah] more often than [sudah].

[Mau] = want, but in this context [mau] followed by days, months, year, shows the duration of something. In this case, [mau 5 tahun] shows how long Celine has married Stefan, which is almost 5 years.

[Sampe] is the colloquial form of [sampai] = until.

[Luar biasa] = amazing, awesome.

[Belum pernah] = not even once.

[Tu] is short for [itu] = that.

[Demi Allah] in literal translation means [in the name of God]. When someone says [Demi Allah], it means that she is very serious about what she just said. She is not lying or making a joke.

So, I think that's all for now. If you have any questions, just leave them in the comment section, and I'll be happy to answer them. If I find another scene where this word [masa] is spoken, Insha Allah, I will update this article again.

Thank you for reading my article, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye now.