Breakdown of Kami berkemah di kaki gunung dan mendirikan tenda dekat sungai kecil.
di
at
kami
we
dan
and
dekat
near
kecil
small
berkemah
to camp
kaki gunung
the foot of the mountain
mendirikan
to set up
tenda
the tent
sungai
the river
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Questions & Answers about Kami berkemah di kaki gunung dan mendirikan tenda dekat sungai kecil.
What is the structure and meaning of berkemah in this sentence?
berkemah is an intransitive verb formed by adding the prefix ber- to the noun kemah (“camp”). In Indonesian, ber- + noun often means “to engage in that noun.” So berkemah literally means “to camp.”
What does the preposition di indicate in di kaki gunung?
In Indonesian, di is a locative preposition equivalent to English “at,” “in,” or “on.” Here, di kaki gunung means “at the foot of the mountain,” with di marking the location (kaki gunung).
Why is it kaki gunung instead of kaki dari gunung?
Indonesian often forms a “noun-of-noun” relationship simply by placing two nouns together, with the first noun modified by the second. Thus kaki gunung = “foot of (the) mountain.” You could also say kaki dari gunung, but the shorter form kaki gunung is more natural in everyday speech.
Why is the subject kami used instead of kita?
kami and kita both mean “we,” but kami excludes the listener (“we but not you”), whereas kita includes the listener (“we together”). Since the speaker is talking about their own group camping—excluding the person they’re addressing—they use kami.
Why isn’t the subject repeated before mendirikan tenda?
In Indonesian, once the subject is clear, you don’t have to repeat it before the next verb. Here kami applies to both berkemah and mendirikan tenda, so it’s natural to drop the second kami.
How is mendirikan tenda constructed morphologically?
The verb mendirikan breaks down as:
• me- (active verb prefix)
• dirik (root meaning “erect”)
• -kan (suffix that makes the verb transitive: “to do something to an object”)
So mendirikan = “to set up/erect (something).” tenda means “tent,” hence mendirikan tenda = “to set up a tent.”
Why is there no di before dekat sungai kecil?
In Indonesian, dekat by itself functions like the English preposition “near.” So you can say dekat sungai kecil = “near the small river” without adding di. (If you want to be extra explicit, you can say di dekat, but it’s not required.)
Why does the adjective kecil come after sungai?
Unlike English, Indonesian places adjectives after the noun they modify. So sungai kecil = “small river,” not **kecil sungai.”