apakah

In Indonesian, there are several main ways to ask a yes-no question. One common way in daily life is using a rising intonation at the end of a spoken statement. In written casual Indonesian, you can simply use a question mark at the end of a declarative sentence (e.g., Kamu lapar?) without needing apakah, apa, or any tags. Another common method is using tag questions at the end of a sentence: kan is used when you expect agreement, bukan can form a confirmation tag with nominal, verbal, or adjectival predicates, and ya is used to seek confirmation or soften a statement. While bukan is the standard negator for nouns, it can also negate verbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases when setting up a contrast (e.g., Saya bukan marah, tetapi kecewa). The full tag bukan? and the shorter kan? differ in style; ya? also seeks confirmation. Their social tone depends on the interaction rather than an absolute register division. However, in formal contexts—such as news reports, speeches, or writing—the word apakah is used.

1. Direct Questions:
Simply place apakah at the very beginning of a standard declarative sentence. The word order of the rest of the sentence remains the same.
Example: Anda lapar. (You are hungry) → Apakah Anda lapar? (Are you hungry?)

2. Negative Questions:
Bukankah at the beginning can ask a negative confirmation question, often inviting agreement. A negative proposition can also follow apakah, as in Apakah dia tidak datang? (Is he/she not coming?).
Example: Bukankah dia guru? (Isn't he a teacher?)

3. Indirect Questions:
Beyond starting questions, apakah is the standard word for "whether" or "if" in indirect questions. It connects a main clause to a sub-clause when expressing uncertainty (e.g., "I don't know whether he is home"). It is frequently paired with atau tidak (or not) at the end of the clause to explicitly frame the choice. In everyday colloquial speech, however, people frequently use apa or kalau instead of apakah for this purpose (e.g., Dia tanya apa saya butuh air).

4. The -kah Suffix:
The word is formed from apa (what) and the interrogative suffix -kah. While apakah is the standard standalone word, the suffix -kah can also be attached to other question words (like siapakah or bagaimanakah) or directly to the focal word of a yes-no question to mark question focus, often with a more formal or emphatic tone (e.g., Benarkah itu? or Sudahkah Anda makan?). In standard Indonesian, the word carrying -kah is usually fronted to the beginning of the sentence. However, in casual speech and regional dialects, -kah is frequently tacked onto the end of a standard sentence without fronting (e.g., Kamu lapar kah? (Are you hungry?)).

5. Register:
Using apakah in a casual setting might sound overly stiff. Speakers can instead omit it or use apa. Apakah remains grammatical in conversation; formality is contextual. For example, instead of Apakah kamu sibuk?, people will say Apa kamu sibuk? (Are you busy?). Note that when apa is placed in front of an already complete declarative clause, it acts as a yes-no marker rather than meaning "what."

6. Answering Yes-No Questions:
To answer these questions, you can use basic yes and no answers. The negative answer depends on the predicate: use tidak for verbs and adjectives, bukan for nouns, and belum (not yet) if the question asks about a completed action (often answered with sudah for yes). Alternatively, it is very common to simply repeat the main verb or adjective to say yes.

Two Uses of Apakah: Do not confuse the polar marker with apa plus -kah in an information question. TBBI gives Apakah yang ditulis Teguh? (What did Teguh write?). For asking a person’s name, Siapa nama Anda? is the clear standard model; the contains-apa explanation does not make every apakah question a yes-no question.