There are several ways to say “no problem” in Indonesian, either in formal or informal situations. Let’s see how to use each of them!
Tidak Masalah
Tidak masalah is the exact translation of “no problem”. Tidak means “no”, and masalah means “problem”. Tidak masalah is a formal phrase. To say it informally, you can use nggak as the informal form of tidak: nggak masalah. But if you want to sound slang, you should change tidak and nggak into ga. You can also add the interjection kok or sih at the end of the informal sentence. These informal interjections don’t really have meaning, but it adds emphasis to the sentence.
Let’s see the following examples:
- A: Mohon maaf saya terlambat di hari pertama. (My apologies I’m late in the first day)
B: Ah, tidak apa-apa. (Ah, no problem)
- Mobilnya bisa diparkir di mana aja, kok. Nggak masalah. (The car can be parked anywhere. No problem)
- Ga masalah sih, abisin aja. (No problem, just eat it up)
Bukan Masalah
Bukan masalah literally means “not a problem”. Bukan means “not”, and masalah means “problem”. This phrase is neutral, leaning towards formal. It is mostly used in formal sentences, but it can also be used informally.
See the examples below:
Formal: Apa tidak masalah saya cuti minggu depan? (Is it not a problem if I take my annual leave next week?)
Informal: Apa nggak masalah aku cuti minggu depan? (same meaning)
Slang: Ga masalah kan gue cuti minggu depan? (same meaning)
Tidak Apa-Apa
Tidak apa-apa is an idiom which also means “no problem”. It might be confusing since apa is a question word meaning “what”. But when we repeat it twice, apa-apa could mean “something” or “problem”. For example:
- Tidak apa-apa hujan, karena saya bawa payung. (No problem if it rains, because I brought an umbrella)
- Kok manajer manggil? Jangan-jangan ada apa-apa. (Why does the manager call? Don’t say there’s a problem!)
- Ciye jalan berdua! Pasti kalian ada apa-apa, nih. (Wow, you’re hanging out together! Surely there is something between you two.)
- Nggak ada apa-apa di dalam tas. (There’s nothing inside the bag)
Tidak apa-apa is a formal expression. To make it informal, just change the word tidak into nggak like before. And to sound slang, you may shorten it to gapapa. In the example below, you can see the different use of “no problem” in the formal, informal, and slang structures.
Formal: Tidak apa-apa Anda gagal, asal mencoba lagi hingga berhasil. (No problem if you fail, as long as you try again until it works)
Informal: Nggak apa-apa gagal, asal coba lagi sampai berhasil. (same meaning)
Slang: Gagal tuh gapapa, kali. Coba lagi aja mpe berhasil. (same meaning)
Did you get it? Now it’s your turn to go out and try it on the locals. Good luck!