Muka Ditekuk in the Indonesian Language

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk to you about the meaning of [muka ditekuk] in the Indonesian language, and as always, we will watch scenes from movies where this phrase is spoken. 

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 talk about this.

Meaning of Muka Ditekuk 

Let's translate this word for word before I explain the meaning of this phrase. If translated word for word, this phrase [muka ditekuk] doesn't make any sense.

[Muka] is [face], while [ditekuk] is [bent]. So, [muka ditekuk] when translated word for word means [the face is bent]. It doesn't make any sense, right?

[Muka ditekuk] is a state where you feel down, sad, not happy because of something. Someone might say to you, "Muka loe kenapa ditekuk gitu sih? (Why the long face?)" when they saw that you are kind of sad, not happy, because of something.

Examples of Muka Ditekuk In Use

The first scene we are about to watch is taken from Devil On Top (2021). Let's watch the scene below.

Conversation from the scene with English translations is as follows.

Waitress: Lho? Kenapa mukanya pada ditekuk? Lagi pada ngedown, ya? (Hey, why the long faces? You guys seem a bit off.)

Angga: Biasa lah, mba. Masalah kerjaan. (It's about work, miss. As usual.)

Waitress: Oalah, kerjaan. Bisa lah, mas. Masa ganteng-ganteng pada cemberut? Ya ngga, mas Rudi? (Oh, it's about work. It's not good when men as handsome as you guys are frowning like this. I think you will be able to handle it. Right, Mr. Rudi?)

Rudy: Hmm? Iya, mba. (Umm? Right, miss.)

In this scene, the waitress saw those guys' faces were not in a good mood. That's why then she said,

Kenapa mukanya pada ditekuk? (Why the long faces?)

And then Angga explained that they were like that because of their work.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Pada] in the this sentence [kenapa mukanya pada ditekuk?] indicates plural. For example, [Lagi pada ngapain sih?] (What are you guys doing?). It means that the person was talking to more than one person. Another example, [Eh, pada mau ke mana sih?] (Where are you guys going?).

[Biasa lah] <--this is usually spoken when something someone is doing is routine and nothing special. Or, it can be something that always happens.

[Oalah] is an interjection. It is used when somebody is surprised.

[Bisa lah] <--- is an encouraging word to build up someone's confidence. It translates to [I believe you can do it].

[Ganteng] = handsome.

[Mba] is an honorific title used to address women. For more about this, you can read my article, Mba in the Indonesian Language.

[Mas] is an honorific title used to address men. For more about this, you can read my article, Mas in the Indonesian Language.

[Cemberut] = frown.

So, I guess this will wrap up for this article, and if I find another example where the phrase [muka ditekuk] is spoken, Insha Allah, I will update this article again.

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