Sebelum berangkat ke hutan, pemandu mengecek kompas dan kamera kami.

In Indonesian, you can put an adverbial or time-clause like Sebelum berangkat ke hutan (“Before departing to the jungle”) either at the start or end of a sentence without changing the core meaning. Here, sebelum is a subordinating conjunction meaning before. It introduces the clause berangkat ke hutan. You could also say:

• Pemandu mengecek kompas dan kamera kami sebelum berangkat ke hutan.
  Both word orders are perfectly acceptable; fronting the time-clause often emphasizes the “before” aspect.

Berangkat is a verb meaning to depart or to set off. It’s formed with the prefix ber- plus the root angkat (“lift/move”), but its idiomatic meaning is “depart.”

• ke hutan is a prepositional phrase: ke (“to”) + hutan (“jungle/forest”). It indicates the destination of the departure. Without ke hutan, berangkat is incomplete—you’d wonder, “Depart to where?”

ke marks direction or movement to a place, while di marks location or position in/at a place.

• berangkat ke hutan = “depart to the jungle” (motion).
• di hutan = “in the jungle” (static location).

cek is a loanword from English check, but to make it a standard transitive Indonesian verb, we add the active prefix meN-, yielding mengecek. The pattern is:

1. Drop any initial consonant cluster if needed.
2. Attach meN- to the base word.
   So cek → mengecek (“to check”). This makes the verb behave like other active verbs:
   
   • Subject (pemandu) + meN-verb + object (kompas dan kamera kami).

Yes. Memeriksa is the “pure” Indonesian verb for to inspect/examine. It’s derived from periksa and generally sounds more formal or “bookish.”

• mengecek = “to check” (more colloquial, borrowed sense).
• memeriksa = “to examine/inspect” (more formal).
  Both are correct; choice depends on register and nuance.

In Indonesian, possessive pronouns follow the noun they modify:

• kamera saya = “my camera.”
• kompas dan kamera kami = “our compass and camera.”
  Kami means “we/us” excluding the listener (first-person plural, exclusive). If you wanted to include the person you’re speaking to, you’d use kita instead.

Yes, punctuation rules are largely similar. A comma separates the introductory time-clause (Sebelum berangkat ke hutan) from the main clause (pemandu mengecek kompas dan kamera kami) for clarity. In everyday writing, you’ll often see that pattern:

• Setelah makan, kami tidur.
• Jika cuaca cerah, kita pergi.
  It’s optional in simple sentences but recommended to avoid misreading.