Setelah hujan, kami mengelap meja dengan tisu.

we

Breakdown of Setelah hujan, kami mengelap meja dengan tisu.

• dengan: with
• setelah: after
• hujan: the rain

Questions & Answers about Setelah hujan, kami mengelap meja dengan tisu.

What’s the difference between kami and kita?

Both mean we, but:

• kami = we (excluding you, the listener)
• kita = we (including you) In the sentence, kami implies the listener wasn’t part of the wiping.

Why is it mengelap and not melap?

The base word is lap (a cloth; also the act of wiping). With the meN- prefix, monosyllabic roots typically take the form menge- + root, so you get mengelap. Compare: mengecat (from cat, to paint), mengebor (bor, to drill), mengepel (pel, to mop). Note: melap exists but is much less common; mengelap is the standard choice.

Is hujan a noun or a verb here?

Here it’s a noun: setelah hujan = after the rain. Indonesian lets hujan act as a verb too: Kemarin hujan = It rained yesterday. You can also be more specific: setelah hujan berhenti/reda (after the rain stopped/subsided).

Can I say setelah hujan turun or setelah turun hujan?

Yes. All are acceptable:

• setelah hujan (most concise)
• setelah hujan turun (after the rain fell/after it rained)
• setelah hujan reda/berhenti (after the rain subsided/stopped) “Turun hujan” is a bit old-fashioned, but you’ll still see it.