Saya pergi ke kantor lewat jalan belakang.

I go to the office via the back road.

Breakdown of Saya pergi ke kantor lewat jalan belakang.

• sebuah: a
• saya: I
• kantor: the office
• pergi: to go
• ke: to
• jalan: the road
• lewat: via
• belakang: back

Questions & Answers about Saya pergi ke kantor lewat jalan belakang.

Why doesn’t pergi change form to indicate that the action happened in the past?

Indonesian verbs do not inflect for tense. pergi is the base form and can refer to past, present, or future. Time is usually shown by adverbs or context:

• kemarin saya pergi… (yesterday I went…)
• sekarang saya pergi… (now I’m going…)
• besok saya pergi… (tomorrow I will go…)

Can I use berangkat instead of pergi here? What’s the difference?

Both pergi and berangkat mean “to go,” but:

• pergi is more general (“to leave/go somewhere”).
• berangkat emphasizes departure or a scheduled trip (train, flight, etc.).
  In everyday speech Saya pergi ke kantor is more common; Saya berangkat ke kantor sounds slightly more formal or focused on the act of departing.

There are two prepositions: ke in ke kantor and lewat in lewat jalan belakang. Why both?

They serve different functions:

• ke marks the destination: ke kantor = “to the office.”
• lewat indicates the route: lewat jalan belakang = “via the back road.”
  You need ke to show where you’re going and lewat to show how you get there.

What exactly does lewat mean here, and how is it different from melalui?

• lewat is the colloquial way to say “via/through.”
• melalui is the formal equivalent.
  So you can also say Saya pergi ke kantor melalui jalan belakang in more formal contexts.

What is jalan belakang literally, and could it mean “alley” or “side street”?

• jalan = “road/street,” belakang = “back/behind.”
• jalan belakang usually means a “back road” or service road behind buildings.
  If you specifically want “alley,” use gang, e.g., melewati gang = “passing through an alley.”

Can I change the word order to Saya lewat jalan belakang ke kantor or start with the route first?

Yes. Indonesian is flexible:

• Saya lewat jalan belakang ke kantor still means “I go to the office via the back road.”
• Lewat jalan belakang, saya pergi ke kantor emphasizes the route before the action.

Can I drop saya and just say Pergi ke kantor lewat jalan belakang?

Yes. In Indonesian, pronouns are often omitted when context is clear:

• Pergi ke kantor lewat jalan belakang is perfectly fine in casual speech or notes.
  Include saya when you want to emphasize “I” or for extra clarity.

Why is there no article like “the” before kantor or jalan belakang?

Indonesian does not use articles (the/a) as English does. Nouns stand alone without them, and specificity is inferred from context or added descriptors.

If I wanted to say I’m “going back to the office,” could I use kembali?

Yes. kembali means “to return.”

• Saya kembali ke kantor lewat jalan belakang = “I’m returning to the office via the back road.”
  Use kembali when you want to stress that it’s a return trip.