What Are You Thinking About In Indonesian

Halo semuanya, ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk to you about how to say [what are you thinking] in Indonesian. As always, we will watch examples, mostly from movies where the 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.

So, let's get started!

How to Say What Are You Thinking In the Indonesian Language

In a formal setting, you can say this.

Apa yang sedang Anda pikirkan?

And this is how you pronounce it.

To make it more informal, you can change [Anda] into [kamu].

Apa yang sedang kamu pikirkan?

And this is how you pronounce it.

You can change [pikirkan] into [pikirin] to make it more informal again.

Apa yang sedang kamu pikirin?

And this is how you pronounce it.

To make it more informal, you can change [sedang] with [lagi].

Apa yang lagi kamu pikirin?

And this is how you pronounce it.

And in daily conversation in Indonesia, we usually say this.

Kamu lagi mikirin apa?

You change [pikirin] into [mikirin], and you also switch the position of the words in the sentence. And here is how you pronounce it.

You can add the word [sih] at the end of the sentence if you want to emphasize that you really want to know what's on the mind of your speaking partner.

Kamu lagi mikirin apa sih?

And here is how you pronounce it.

And to emphasize more, you can add [an] into [apa], and it becomes [apaan].

Kamu lagi mikirin apaan sih?

And here is how you pronounce it.

And if you are in Jakarta, you will hear many Jakartans use [loe] instead of [kamu]. So, you can just change [kamu] into [loe] if you are in Jakarta and you talk to your friends. For [kamu lagi mikirin apa?] you just change [kamu] into [loe].

Loe lagi mikirin apa?

And here is how you pronounce it.

For [kamu lagi mikirin apa sih?], you change [kamu] into [loe].

Loe lagi mikirin apa sih?

And here is how you pronounce it.

For [kamu lagi mikirin apaan sih?], you change [kamu] into [loe].

Loe lagi mikirin apaan sih?

And here is how you pronounce it.

Next, let's watch examples from movies where the phrase to ask [what are you thinking about] is spoken by Indonesians.

Examples From Movies

In this section, I gather clips from movies, youtube videos, and whatnot where Indonesians say those phrases above so that you can see how Indonesians are really using them in real life.

The first clip we are about to watch is taken from Cek Toko Sebelah The Series, Season 1, Episode 1. Let's watch the clip below.

Below is the conversation from the scene with English translations.

Natalie: Kamu tu lagi mikirin apa sih? (Hey, what are you thinking about?)

Waiter: Pacar saya, mba. Di-WA ngga bales-bales, malah mainan TikTok. (My girlfriend, miss. She didn't reply to my Whatsapp chat, yet she played TikTok.)

Natalie: Eh! Saya ngga lagi ngomong sama kamu. (Hey! I wasn't talking to you.)

Waiter: Engga sama saya ya, mba? (Oh, you weren't talking to me, miss?)

In this scene, Natalie asks her boyfriend Erwin what he is thinking about because, as you can see, Erwin looks like he has something in his mind.

Erwin and Natalie are lovers, so usually, in Jakarta, for lovers, they use [aku] and [kamu] rather than [gue] and [loe].

Natalie asks this.

Kamu tu lagi mikirin apa sih?

[Tu] is short for [itu] = [that], and in this context, [tu] is used to emphasize more. Natalie really wants to know what's on her boyfriend's mind at the moment because he's not usually so quiet like that.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Mikirin] is the colloquial way of saying [memikirkan] = thinking. [Kamu lagi mikirin apa?] is informal, and if I make this into a formal sentence, it would become [Anda sedang memikirkan apa?].

[Pacar] = boyfriend or girlfriend.

[Mba] is an honorific title that addresses older women and strangers. For more about this, you can read my article, Mba Meaning In Indonesian.

[WA] is short for WhatsApp, and Indonesians usually say things like this to refer to texting through the Whatsapp app.

[Ngga] = no.

[Bales] = [balas] = reply. [Bales-bales] here is just to emphasize that his girlfriend is not replying to his messages even though he has sent her many messages.

[Mainan] in here is the colloquial way of saying [bermain] = to play. [Di-WA ngga bales-bales, malah mainan TikTok] <--- if I change this into a more formal sentence, then it would become [Di-WA tidak membalas, malah bermain TikTok].

[Eh] is a way to get someone's attention. For more about this, you can read my article, Eh In the Indonesian Language.

[Ngomong] is the colloquial way of saying [berbicara] = to talk.

[Engga] = [enggak] = [ngga] = [ga] = [tidak] = no.

     Read also: How to Ask Do You Have Any Questions In Indonesian

So, I guess this is a wrap. If I find another example from movies and other things, Insha Allah, I will update this article again. Thank you for reading my article, and if you have any questions, just drop them in the comment box below, and I'll be happy to answer them.

I'll talk to you soon, and bye now.