Setelah rapat, kami berfoto; aku terakhir pulang dari kantor cabang.

After the meeting, we take photos; I am the last to go home from the branch office.

Breakdown of Setelah rapat, kami berfoto; aku terakhir pulang dari kantor cabang.

• adalah: to be
• kami: we
• rapat: the meeting
• pulang: to go home
• setelah: after
• dari: from
• aku: I
• kantor cabang: the branch office
• berfoto: to take photos
• terakhir: last

Questions & Answers about Setelah rapat, kami berfoto; aku terakhir pulang dari kantor cabang.

Is the semicolon (;) natural in Indonesian here, or should I use something else?

• Semicolons are grammatical but not very common in everyday Indonesian. A period is more typical.
• Alternatives:
  • Period: Setelah rapat, kami berfoto. Aku pulang terakhir dari kantor cabang.
  • Connector: Setelah rapat, kami berfoto lalu aku pulang terakhir dari kantor cabang. You can also use kemudian or setelah itu.

Why kami and not kita?

• Kami = we, excluding the listener.
• Kita = we, including the listener.
• If the listener wasn’t part of the meeting/photo, kami is correct. If the listener was involved, use kita.

What’s the difference between aku and saya, and is mixing registers OK?

• Aku: informal/intimate. Saya: neutral–polite, preferred in professional settings.
• In a business context, use saya: Setelah rapat, kami berfoto; saya...
• Be consistent in formal writing; mixing is common in speech but looks sloppy in formal text.

What exactly does berfoto mean? How is it different from memotret or memfoto?

• Berfoto: intransitive; to take photos (often of ourselves) or to be photographed. Example: Kami berfoto (bersama).
• Memotret/memfoto: transitive; to photograph something/someone. Example: Saya memotret mereka.
• Passive: Saya difoto oleh teman.

Do I need bersama after berfoto?

• Not required. Kami berfoto already implies a group activity.
• Kami berfoto bersama adds emphasis to the “together” idea.

Is the comma after Setelah rapat required?

• Yes. When a temporal clause comes first, use a comma: Setelah rapat, ...
• If the time phrase comes after, no comma: Kami berfoto setelah rapat.

Are setelah, sesudah, usai, and habis/sehabis interchangeable?

• Setelah/sesudah: standard and interchangeable.
• Usai: slightly formal/literary: Usai rapat, kami berfoto.
• Habis/sehabis: colloquial: Sehabis rapat, kami berfoto.

Is aku terakhir pulang natural, or should it be aku pulang terakhir or aku yang terakhir pulang?

• Most natural: Aku pulang terakhir dari kantor cabang or Aku yang terakhir pulang dari kantor cabang.
• Aku terakhir pulang is understandable but less common and can feel clunky.
• You may also hear paling akhir: Aku pulang paling akhir. Many people say paling terakhir, but it’s redundant.

Why pulang dari and not pulang ke or pulang di?

• Pattern:
  • Origin: pulang dari [tempat] → Aku pulang dari kantor cabang.
  • Destination: pulang ke [tempat] → Aku pulang ke rumah.
• Pulang di is ungrammatical.

Do I need itu after kantor cabang to mark a specific branch office?

• Indonesian has no articles; definiteness is usually clear from context.
• Add itu for specificity/emphasis: ... dari kantor cabang itu. Without it is often fine.

Is kantor cabang the correct phrase, or should it be cabang kantor?

• The standard term is kantor cabang (branch office).
• Cabang kantor is rarely used and can sound odd. With names, prefer kantor cabang + [name] (e.g., kantor cabang Bank ABC).

How is past time conveyed here if Indonesian has no tense?

• Time is shown by context words, not verb changes.
• Setelah signals sequence; you can add time markers for clarity:
  • tadi/barusan (earlier/just now), kemarin (yesterday), sudah (already).
  • Example: Tadi setelah rapat, kami berfoto, lalu saya pulang terakhir.

Can I say terakhir kali here?

• No. Terakhir kali means “the last time (it happened).”
• Here you need “last in order,” so use terakhir/paling akhir: Saya pulang terakhir, not terakhir kali pulang.

What’s the difference between pulang, pergi, and the phrase pulang-pergi?

• Pulang: go back home/return. Aku pulang dari kantor.
• Pergi: go/leave (to somewhere). Aku pergi ke kantor.
• Pulang-pergi (PP): round trip/commute; don’t use pergi pulang in this context.

Could I connect the clauses with a word instead of punctuation?

• Yes. Common connectors:
  • lalu/kemudian (then): Setelah rapat, kami berfoto, lalu saya pulang terakhir...
  • dan kemudian (and then) is also fine, though lalu/kemudian are more concise.