Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Bagasi saya belum tiba di hotel. - My baggage hasn’t arrived at the hotel.

Belum means “not yet” and implies the action is expected to happen in the future. Tidak simply negates (“does not”), without the “yet” nuance. So bagasi saya belum tiba = “my luggage has not arrived yet,” while bagasi saya tidak tiba would sound odd, like it will never arrive.

Where does belum go in the sentence? Can it be moved?

In Indonesian, belum generally precedes the verb or predicate: belum tiba. You cannot move it after tiba (i.e., tiba belum)—that would be ungrammatical.

What does tiba mean, and is it transitive or intransitive?

Tiba means “to arrive.” It is intransitive, so it does not take a direct object. You simply say tiba di [place], not tiba [something].

Why is the preposition di used before hotel, not ke?

Di marks a static location (“at”). With tiba you describe where something arrives, so you use di hotel (“at the hotel”). Ke expresses motion toward (“to the hotel”), but after “arrive” we need the location marker di.

Why is there no “the” or “my” article before hotel?

Indonesian does not use articles like “the” or “a.” Ownership is shown by possession (e.g., hotel saya = “my hotel”), but here you’re just naming the location di hotel (“at the hotel”), and context tells you which hotel.

Could you say bagasi saya belum sampai di hotel instead? What’s the difference?

Yes. Sampai also means “to arrive/reach” and is very common in speech. Tiba is slightly more formal or literary. So both belum tiba di hotel and belum sampai di hotel are correct, with only a small register difference.

Why is the phrase bagasi saya (“my luggage”) ordered the way it is, instead of saya bagasi?

In Indonesian possessive constructions, the noun comes first and the possessor second: bagasi saya (“luggage my” = “my luggage”). You never do saya bagasi.