Saya tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi.

I arrive at the office before the morning meeting.

Breakdown of Saya tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi.

• saya: I
• di: at
• kantor: the office
• sebelum: before
• tiba: to arrive
• rapat pagi: the morning meeting

Questions & Answers about Saya tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi.

What does tiba mean here, and how is it different from sampai?

tiba means “to arrive” or “to reach a destination.” You’ll often see it with di + place (e.g. tiba di bandara “arrive at the airport”).
sampai can also mean “arrive,” but:

• sampai is more versatile; it also functions as “until.”
• With location, you can say sampai di kantor or sampai ke kantor, but native speakers often prefer tiba di kantor when talking about arrival itself.

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How do you know this is past tense? Why isn’t there a word like “arrived” or any tense marker?

Indonesian has no obligatory tense markers. Time is shown by:
• Contextual words (here sebelum “before”)
• Optional aspect words like sudah or telah for “already”/perfective
In Saya tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi, sebelum rapat pagi implies the action happened before the meeting (i.e. in the past).

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Why is it di kantor and not ke kantor after tiba?

Prepositions of direction vs. location:
• ke marks direction toward a place (e.g. Pergi ke kantor “go to the office”).
• di marks the location where something happens (e.g. tiba di kantor “arrive at the office”).
With tiba, you describe the point of arrival, so you use di.

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What is the role of sebelum here? Can I move it to the beginning of the sentence?

sebelum is a subordinating preposition/conjunction meaning “before.” It introduces the time clause sebelum rapat pagi.
Yes—you can front it for emphasis or style:
Sebelum rapat pagi, saya tiba di kantor.
The meaning stays the same; the focus shifts slightly to the time.

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Why is there no word for “the” or “a” before rapat?

Indonesian does not use articles like a, an, or the.
Nouns stand alone, and context (or quantity words like sebuah, beberapa) tells you if something is singular, plural, definite, or indefinite.

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Is rapat pagi the same as rapat di pagi hari? Why choose one over the other?

They’re very similar:
• rapat pagi = “morning meeting” (compound noun)
• rapat di pagi hari = “meeting in the morning” (meeting + time adverbial)
rapat pagi is more compact. Use di pagi hari when you want to emphasize the time frame as an adverbial phrase.

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Could I say Saya sudah tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi? What does sudah add?

Yes. sudah means “already” or indicates a completed action.
• Saya sudah tiba… stresses that your arrival is complete, maybe in response to “Have you arrived yet?”
• Without sudah, the sentence is neutral—context alone tells you it’s finished before the meeting.

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Do you have to say Saya? Can the subject be dropped?

Indonesian often omits pronouns when context is clear.
• In conversation or writing where it’s obvious who you’re talking about, you can say:
Tiba di kantor sebelum rapat pagi.
• In more formal contexts or to avoid ambiguity, include Saya (or other pronouns/names) at the start.