Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setelah jam dinding diperbaiki, kami lega dan kembali belajar di lorong yang sejuk. - After the wall clock is repaired, we feel relieved and go back to studying in the cool hallway.

Both setelah and sesudah mean after and are interchangeable in most contexts. Setelah tends to sound a touch more formal or written; sesudah can feel slightly more conversational, but both are standard. You can also move the clause: Kami lega… setelah jam dinding diperbaiki is equally natural.

Are the two di’s in the sentence the same thing?

No. In diperbaiki, di- is a prefix marking passive voice and is attached to the verb. In di lorong, di is a preposition meaning at/in/on and is written separately from the noun. This is a common spelling point in Indonesian.

Why use the passive diperbaiki instead of the active memperbaiki?

Diperbaiki places focus on the thing repaired (the wall clock) and keeps the agent (who did it) unspecified or backgrounded. If you want to state the doer, switch to active: Setelah kami memperbaiki jam dinding…. Indonesian often prefers the passive when the agent is unknown, irrelevant, or obvious from context.

How do I include the agent (the person who fixed it) in the passive?

Add oleh plus the agent: Setelah jam dinding diperbaiki oleh teknisi, …. Another very common pattern is passive type 2 (no di-), where a pronoun agent stands before the base verb: Jam dinding kami perbaiki kemarin.

What is the word formation in diperbaiki?

Root: baik (good). Causative/verb: memperbaiki (to repair, make good). Passive: diperbaiki. Imperative base form you’ll see in dictionaries and commands: perbaiki!

Can I say Setelah jam dinding sudah diperbaiki?

Yes. Sudah adds an explicit already/completed nuance: After the wall clock had already been repaired… Without sudah, completion is still understood from setelah + passive, but sudah can emphasize it.

Is Setelah jam dinding diperbaiki missing a subject?

Grammatically, jam dinding is the subject of the passive verb diperbaiki. What’s omitted is the agent (the doer), which is normal and perfectly acceptable in Indonesian.

What’s the difference between kami and kita?

Both mean we, but kami is exclusive (we, not including you the listener) and kita is inclusive (we, including you). Here kami implies the speaker’s group felt relieved, not necessarily including the person addressed.

Why is it kami lega and not kami merasa lega?

In Indonesian, adjectives commonly function as predicates without a copula: kami lega literally means we relieved. Merasa (to feel) is optional and adds a nuance of subjective perception: kami merasa lega is also fine.

What does kembali mean here, and how is it different from lagi?

Here kembali means to resume or go back to doing something: kembali belajar = resume studying. Lagi means again and is more colloquial: belajar lagi. Both are common; kembali is a bit more formal or neutral, lagi more casual.

Does kembali mean “go back (physically)” or “resume” here?

In kembali belajar, it means resume. For physical return, use kembali ke + place, e.g., kembali ke lorong = go back to the corridor. You can combine both ideas if needed: Kami kembali ke lorong dan belajar lagi.

What exactly does di lorong yang sejuk modify?

It modifies belajar (study). The phrase says where the studying happened: in the corridor. Yang sejuk is a relative clause describing the corridor.

How does yang work in lorong yang sejuk?

Yang introduces a relative clause or descriptor that narrows a noun. Lorong yang sejuk = the corridor that is cool. You can expand it: lorong yang sejuk karena kipas angin = the corridor that is cool because of a fan.

What’s the nuance difference between sejuk and dingin (and adem)?

Sejuk: pleasantly cool, refreshing.
Dingin: cold (can feel chilly).
Adem: colloquial (Javanese-influenced) for pleasantly cool, like sejuk, common in everyday speech.

What’s the difference between lorong, koridor, and gang?

Lorong: hallway/corridor inside a building; also a passageway.
Koridor: more formal/technical for corridor, often in official contexts.
Gang: a small outdoor alley between buildings, not inside a building.

Why is there a comma after the opening clause?

Indonesian places a comma after an initial adverbial clause: Setelah … , kami …. You can also put the subordinate clause afterward and drop the comma: Kami … setelah ….

Can I reorder the sentence?

Yes. Natural alternatives:

Kami lega dan kembali belajar di lorong yang sejuk setelah jam dinding diperbaiki.
Setelah kami memperbaiki jam dinding, kami lega dan kembali belajar di lorong yang sejuk.

How do I indicate “the” vs “a” (definiteness) for jam dinding and lorong?

Indonesian has no articles. Definiteness comes from context or markers:

jam dinding itu = that/the wall clock (specific).
sebuah jam dinding = a wall clock (one unit). Similarly: lorong itu = that/the corridor.

Is diperbaiki the only way to say repaired?

You can also use dibetulkan (from betul, correct), which in many contexts means fixed: Setelah jam dinding dibetulkan…. Diperbaiki is slightly more general/neutral; both are common in everyday speech.

Why is it lorong yang sejuk and not something like di sejuk lorong?

In Indonesian, adjectives and descriptive clauses follow the noun, not precede it. So you say lorong yang sejuk, not a fronted adjective phrase. Prepositions like di come before the noun: di lorong.