Dewan bertemu hari ini.

Indonesian normally does not use articles like the, a, or an.

So dewan can mean:

• the council
• a council
• the board
• the assembly

The exact interpretation depends on context. In a short standalone sentence, English often has to add the, but Indonesian does not.

Dewan usually refers to a council, board, assembly, or similar decision-making body.

Depending on context, it could refer to:

• a company board
• a council
• a legislative body
• a committee-like governing group

It is a noun, and in this sentence it is the subject.

The base temu is related to the idea of meeting or encountering, but the common verb is bertemu.

The prefix ber- often forms an intransitive verb, and bertemu means to meet or to meet up.

So:

• temu = root/base idea
• bertemu = to meet

In normal speech and writing, bertemu is the standard form here.

Usually, if you say who someone meets, Indonesian often uses dengan:

• Dewan bertemu direktur itu. can sound less natural in many contexts
• Dewan bertemu dengan direktur itu. = The board met with that director

But if the sentence is just saying that a meeting happens, bertemu can appear without stating the other party:

• Dewan bertemu hari ini.

That sounds like The board is meeting today or The council meets today.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So bertemu by itself does not mean specifically:

• met
• meets
• is meeting
• will meet

The time is understood from context or from time expressions. Here, hari ini means today, so the sentence is interpreted as something like:

• The board meets today
• The board is meeting today

Context decides which English tense sounds best.

That is a very normal position for a time expression in Indonesian.

The structure here is:

• Dewan = subject
• bertemu = verb
• hari ini = time expression

So the sentence follows a common pattern: Subject + Verb + Time

But Indonesian word order is fairly flexible, so you could also say:

• Hari ini dewan bertemu.

That puts more emphasis on today.

Grammatically, Indonesian nouns usually do not change form for singular vs. plural unless the speaker wants to make it explicit.

So dewan can refer to:

• one council/board as a single body
• sometimes a plural idea, depending on context

In this sentence, English would usually treat it as a singular collective noun:

• The board meets today

Indonesian verbs do not change based on singular or plural subjects, so bertemu stays the same either way.

Yes. Indonesian often does not make the same tense/aspect distinctions that English does.

So Dewan bertemu hari ini could be translated as:

• The board meets today
• The board is meeting today

The best English choice depends on the situation:

• schedule or agenda: The board meets today
• current event or plan in progress: The board is meeting today

Yes, but it changes the meaning slightly.

Akan marks future meaning more clearly:

• Dewan akan bertemu hari ini = The board will meet today

Without akan, the sentence is more neutral and just relies on hari ini for timing:

• Dewan bertemu hari ini

In many everyday contexts, the shorter version is perfectly natural.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Dewan ≈ DEH-wan
• bertemu ≈ ber-teh-MOO
• hari ini ≈ HA-ree ee-NEE

A few helpful points:

• e in ber- is often a weak uh/schwa-like sound
• r is typically tapped or lightly rolled
• stress in Indonesian is usually not as strong or contrastive as in English, but these approximations can help

Yes. Indonesian allows some flexibility with time expressions.

All of these are possible, depending on emphasis:

• Dewan bertemu hari ini.
• Hari ini dewan bertemu.

The first is a neutral, common order. The second emphasizes today a bit more.

For learners, Subject + Verb + Time is a very good default pattern.