kapan

When with Kapan

Level 1

Use kapan to ask 'when' in both direct and indirect questions. It is tense-neutral, meaning it works for the past, present, and future.

How It Works

In Indonesian, kapan is the standard way to inquire about time. Here are the key rules for its usage:

General vs. Specific Time: Use kapan for general time (e.g., 'When is the holiday?'). To explicitly request a clock time, use jam berapa (e.g., 'What time is the meeting?').
Tense Neutrality: Because Indonesian has no grammatical tense inflection, kapan relies on context. Kapan dia datang? can mean 'When did he come?' or 'When is he coming?'
Placement: It usually appears at the beginning of a sentence, and can also occupy the time phrase’s position toward the end (e.g., Kamu pergi kapan?).
Formal Usage: The particle -kah can be attached (kapankah) for focus. The word bilamana is a formal synonym that can also act as a conjunction (meaning 'if' or 'when') in literary contexts.
Indefinite Forms: While kapan-kapan means 'sometime', use kapan saja or kapan pun to mean 'whenever' or 'anytime'.

Choosing the Precision: Kapan rapat itu dimulai? is a valid time question and can receive an exact-hour answer. Jam berapa rapat itu dimulai? explicitly requests that level of precision. Kapan can also refer to past events; it does not require a future interpretation.

Examples (6)

Kapan acara itu dimulai?
When does the event start?
Word by Word: When event that [passive]-start?
A standard direct question using 'kapan' at the beginning for a general time.
Kamu berangkat kapan?
When are you leaving?
Word by Word: You leave when?
In casual conversation, 'kapan' is often placed at the end of the sentence.
Saya tidak tahu kapan dia sampai.
I don't know when he arrived.
Word by Word: I not know when he arrive.
An example of 'kapan' used in an indirect question.
Kapankah Indonesia merdeka?
When did Indonesia become independent?
Word by Word: When-kah Indonesia independent?
The suffix -kah is added here for a more formal or historical tone.
Ayo makan bersama kapan-kapan.
Let's eat together sometime.
Word by Word: Let's eat together when-when.
Reduplicated 'kapan-kapan' changes the meaning from a question to the adverb 'sometime'.
Kamu boleh datang kapan saja.
You may come whenever.
Word by Word: You may come when just.
To say 'whenever' or 'anytime', use 'kapan saja' or 'kapan pun'.

Common Mistakes

Using 'kapan' as a conjunction in a statement.
Saya senang kapan kamu datang.
Saya senang ketika kamu datang.
For the intended temporal statement I am happy when you come, use ketika or saat. Kapan instead introduces a time question, including an embedded question, and forms compounds such as kapan pun with other meanings.

How It Connects

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kapanLevel 1When with Kapan

Learn This First

To use 'kapan' (when), learners need to understand basic Indonesian sentence structure and the general behavior of question words, which typically replace the information being sought or appear at the beginning of the sentence.

apaWhat with Apa
Learning the basic question word 'apa' introduces the concept of how interrogatives function in Indonesian before moving to time-based questions.
Level 1

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