Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kami parkir di garasi belakang rumah.

Habitual: We (usually) park…
Present (generic): We park…
Past: We parked… (if context/time words make it clear) To be explicit, add markers: sedang (ongoing), sudah/tadi (past), akan (future), biasanya (habitual). Examples:
Kami sedang parkir di garasi… (We are parking…)
Kami sudah parkir di garasi… (We have/already parked…)
Besok kami akan parkir di garasi… (Tomorrow we will park…)

What’s the difference between kami and kita?

kami = we/us (excluding the listener)
kita = we/us (including the listener) If you mean “you and I,” use kita: Kita parkir di garasi…

Can I drop the subject and just say Parkir di garasi belakang rumah?

Yes, but be careful:

As a statement, dropping kami relies on context and can sound incomplete.
As an instruction/imperative, it’s natural: Parkir di garasi belakang rumah. (Park in the back-of-house garage.)

Is parkir the right verb here, or should it be memarkir or memarkirkan?

parkir is common and intransitive in everyday speech (no explicit object): Kami parkir di garasi…
memarkir/memarkirkan are more formal/transitive (take an object): Kami memarkir (kan) mobil di garasi… Note: Standard forms are memarkir and memarkirkan (without the p). You’ll hear memparkir, but it’s nonstandard.

Can parkir take a direct object?

Colloquially, yes: Kami parkir mobil di garasi… This is very common in speech. In careful/formal Indonesian, prefer Kami memarkir/memarkirkan mobil di garasi…

Why is it di garasi belakang rumah and not di garasi di belakang rumah?

Both are fine:

di garasi belakang rumah = “in the back-of-house garage” (a compact noun phrase).
di garasi di belakang rumah = “in the garage that is behind the house” (more explicit). The first is shorter; the second is crystal-clear spatially.

What exactly does belakang rumah do here? Why no di before belakang?

Here belakang rumah is a noun phrase (“the back of the house”) modifying garasi. Inside a noun phrase, you don’t use di. If you’re making a prepositional phrase, you use di belakang rumah (behind the house).

Modifier: garasi belakang rumah
Prepositional phrase: garasi di belakang rumah

Should it be belakang rumah kami if it’s our house?

If you want to be explicit, yes: di garasi belakang rumah kami or di garasi di belakang rumah kami. Without kami, rumah refers to a contextually known house (not necessarily yours).

There’s no word for “the.” How do I make it definite?

Definiteness comes from context, or you can add:

itu/ini: di garasi belakang rumah itu (in the garage at the back of that house)
Possessives: rumah kami/rumahnya For “a garage,” you can use sebuah garasi, but it’s optional in speech.

Why di and not ke?

di = at/in (location)
ke = to (movement toward) You park at/in a location: parkir di garasi. Use ke with verbs of motion: mengemudi ke garasi (drive to the garage).

Does this mean “the garage behind the house” or “the back garage of the house”?

Typically “the garage at the back of the house.” If you mean “the back garage” (as opposed to a front garage), garasi belakang can work when the property has multiple garages. To avoid ambiguity, say:

Location: garasi di belakang rumah
Contrast (two garages): garasi belakang vs garasi depan

Is garasi the same as tempat parkir?

Not exactly:

garasi = a private/house garage or enclosed garage space.
tempat parkir/area parkir/lahan parkir = parking area/lot (public or open). So a supermarket has a tempat parkir, a house has a garasi.

Where do modifiers go? Could I say belakang garasi?

Modifiers follow the noun:

garasi besar (a big garage)
garasi belakang (rear/back garage) But belakang garasi means “the back of the garage,” not a type of garage. Different meaning.

How do I say “We are parking / We already parked / We will park” more explicitly?

Ongoing: Kami sedang parkir di garasi belakang rumah.
Completed: Kami sudah parkir di garasi belakang rumah.
Future: Kami akan parkir di garasi belakang rumah. Habitual: Biasanya kami parkir di garasi belakang rumah.

How do I turn it into a suggestion/command like “Let’s park …”?

Suggestion: Mari/Ayo kita parkir di garasi belakang rumah.
Imperative (to someone): Parkirkan mobil di garasi belakang rumah. / Parkir di garasi belakang rumah.

How do I say it in the passive, focusing on the car?

Event/action passive: Mobil kami diparkir di garasi belakang rumah.
Stative/result: Mobil kami terparkir di garasi belakang rumah. (emphasizes “is parked” as a state)

Can I say berparkir?

It appears occasionally (e.g., on signs), but it’s uncommon and often avoided. Prefer parkir (intransitive) or memarkir/memarkirkan (transitive). Signs typically say Dilarang parkir (No parking), not Dilarang berparkir.

Why is di separate in di garasi but attached in forms like diparkir?

di as a preposition (location) is written separately: di garasi.
di- as a passive prefix is attached to the verb: diparkir, ditutup.