Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di Bandung.

Last month, I went on vacation in Bandung.

Breakdown of Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di Bandung.

• saya: I
• di: in
• berlibur: to go on vacation
• Bandung: Bandung
• bulan lalu: last month

Questions & Answers about Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di Bandung.

Do I need the comma after Bulan lalu?

It’s optional. Indonesian often puts a comma after a fronted time phrase for clarity.

• With comma: Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di Bandung.
• Without comma: Bulan lalu saya berlibur di Bandung.

Why isn’t there a past tense marker? Should I add sudah/telah?

Indonesian verbs don’t inflect for tense. The time word bulan lalu already shows it’s past. You can add sudah (already) for emphasis or in answers, and telah in formal writing:

• Saya sudah berlibur di Bandung.
• Saya telah berlibur di Bandung. (formal) With bulan lalu, adding them is often unnecessary.

Should it be di Bandung or ke Bandung?

• di = at/in (location): Saya berlibur di Bandung. (the vacation took place there)
• ke = to (destination): Saya berlibur ke Bandung. (I went there for vacation) Both are natural with a slight focus difference.

Why use berlibur instead of pergi?

pergi ke Bandung just means “went to Bandung,” no purpose implied. berlibur encodes the purpose (to vacation):

• Bulan lalu, saya pergi ke Bandung. (I went)
• Bulan lalu, saya pergi ke Bandung untuk berlibur.
• Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di/ke Bandung.

What’s the difference among berlibur, liburan, and libur?

• berlibur (verb, intransitive): to go/be on vacation. Saya berlibur di Bandung.
• liburan (noun): vacation/holiday period. Musim liburan. Waktu liburan.
  • Colloquially used as a verb: Aku liburan ke Bandung. (informal)
• libur (state “off/closed”): Sekolah libur besok. Saya sedang libur.

Can I drop saya?

Yes, if context makes the subject clear. Indonesian is pro‑drop:

• Bulan lalu, berlibur di Bandung. In formal writing, keep saya for clarity.

Can I move bulan lalu to the end?

Yes. Word order is flexible:

• Bulan lalu, saya berlibur di Bandung.
• Saya berlibur di Bandung bulan lalu.

Is bulan yang lalu or bulan kemarin okay?

• bulan yang lalu: grammatical but less common in everyday speech.
• bulan kemarin: very common colloquially.
• Note: sebulan (yang) lalu = “a month ago” (not necessarily the last calendar month).

How do I say “we were on vacation…”? Do I use kami or kita?

• kami = we (excluding the listener): Bulan lalu, kami berlibur di Bandung.
• kita = we (including the listener): Bulan lalu, kita berlibur di Bandung.

How do I add duration or say who I went with?

• Duration: use selama + duration. … berlibur di Bandung selama tiga hari/seminggu.
• Companions: use dengan/bersama + noun. … berlibur di Bandung bersama keluarga.

How do I say it in the present or future?

• Present/progressive: Sekarang saya (sedang/lagi) berlibur di Bandung.
• Future/plan: Bulan depan saya (akan/mau) berlibur ke Bandung.

Any pronunciation tips (especially Bandung and berlibur)?

• Vowel u like “oo” in “book”; e in ber- is a schwa.
• r is tapped; ng is [ŋ] as in “sing.”
• Approx: Bandung [ban-doong], berlibur [bər-lee-boor], bulan [boo-lan], lalu [la-loo], saya [sa-ya].

Why is Bulan capitalized here? Should bulan be lowercase?

It’s capitalized only because it’s the first word. Normally it’s lowercase: Saya berlibur di Bandung bulan lalu. Proper names like Bandung are always capitalized.

Can I say Saya libur di Bandung?

It sounds like “I’m off in Bandung,” not specifically “on vacation.” For vacations, use berlibur:

• Better: Saya berlibur di Bandung.
• Saya sedang libur = “I’m off (from work/school).”

Is di Kota Bandung necessary?

Not usually. di Bandung is enough. Use di Kota Bandung only if you need to stress the municipal area (e.g., in formal or administrative contexts).