Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kami menikmati sarapan hotel sambil mendengar ombak tenang. - We enjoy the hotel breakfast while listening to the calm waves.

kami excludes the person you’re speaking to (“we, but not you”).
kita includes the person you’re speaking to (“we, including you”).
Since the speaker is talking about themselves and others (guests) without including the listener, kami is the correct choice.

What does menikmati mean, and what is its root?

menikmati means “enjoy.” It comes from the root nikmat (pleasure/blessing). The prefix me- makes it a transitive verb:

me- + nikmat → menikmati (“to enjoy something”)
You need to follow menikmati with an object (what you enjoy), e.g. menikmati sarapan (“enjoy breakfast”).

Why doesn’t the sentence have a preposition like di before hotel?

Here sarapan hotel is a compound noun (literally “hotel breakfast”), not “breakfast at the hotel.” As a compound, it just strings the words together:

sarapan (breakfast) + hotel → “hotel breakfast”
If you want to emphasize the location rather than the type of breakfast, you could say sarapan di hotel (“breakfast at the hotel”).

What role does sambil play in the sentence?

sambil means “while” (doing something). It links two actions happening at the same time. The structure is:

Main clause (Kami menikmati sarapan hotel)
- sambil + verb phrase (mendengar ombak tenang)
  So it literally says, “We enjoyed the hotel breakfast while listening to the calm waves.”

Could you use dengan instead of sambil?

You can say dengan mendengar ombak tenang, but that shifts the nuance:

sambil emphasizes simultaneous actions (“we did A while doing B”).
dengan
- verb (gerund) often indicates the means or manner (“by doing B”).
  So Kami menikmati sarapan hotel dengan mendengar ombak tenang is grammatically correct but sounds like “we enjoyed the breakfast by listening to the waves,” focusing on “listening” as the method of enjoyment rather than “just happening at the same time.”

Why does tenang come after ombak?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally follow the nouns they describe. So you say ombak tenang (waves calm) rather than tenang ombak. If you want to be more formal or use a relative clause, you could say ombak yang tenang (“waves that are calm”), but it’s not required here.

Can you drop kami and still understand the sentence?

Yes, in casual speech you can omit the subject if context makes it clear:

(Kami) menikmati sarapan hotel sambil mendengar ombak tenang.
But explicitly including kami clarifies who’s doing the enjoying. In writing or to avoid ambiguity, it’s safer to keep it.

Is the word order flexible? For example, could you say Sambil mendengar ombak tenang, kami menikmati sarapan hotel?

Yes, you can front the sambil clause for emphasis or variety:

Sambil mendengar ombak tenang, kami menikmati sarapan hotel.
The meaning stays the same; you’re just starting with the “while listening” part. This is common in both spoken and written Indonesian.