Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Besok dia akan membeli tiket pulang-pergi untuk perjalanan singkat. - Tomorrow he/she will buy a round-trip ticket for a short trip.

Formal/neutral: Besok dia akan membeli...
Casual/widely used: Besok dia mau membeli...
Also correct without a marker because besok already shows the time: Besok dia membeli...

Can I move besok to other positions?

Yes. Common options:

Besok dia akan membeli... (very natural)
Dia akan membeli... besok.
Dia besok akan membeli... (less common but acceptable) Putting the time at the beginning is very typical.

What’s the difference between dia, ia, and beliau?

dia: he/she, neutral and very common in speech and writing.
ia: he/she, more formal/literary; usually used as a subject and not after prepositions.
beliau: he/she (honorific) for respected people (teachers, elders, officials). Indonesian third-person pronouns don’t mark gender; dia can mean he or she.

Why is it membeli and not just beli?

membeli is the meN- (active) verb form of the root beli. The prefix meN- turns many roots into active verbs; with roots starting with b, it becomes mem- → mem + beli = membeli. In casual speech, the prefix is often dropped: dia mau beli tiket... is fine in everyday conversation.

What does pulang-pergi literally mean, and can I say pergi-pulang?

pulang-pergi literally means back-and-forth, i.e., round trip. It’s the standard collocation for a round-trip ticket: tiket pulang-pergi. pergi-pulang is understood but not idiomatic in this context. You’ll also see the abbreviation PP in ads or schedules: tiket PP.

How do I say “one-way ticket”?

Use tiket sekali jalan or tiket satu arah. Both are common on booking sites and at counters.

What does untuk do here? Could I use buat?

untuk introduces purpose: for a short trip. buat can replace untuk in informal speech: ... tiket pulang-pergi buat perjalanan singkat. Don’t use ke here; ke is for direction/destination (to), not purpose.

Why is it perjalanan singkat and not singkat perjalanan?

Adjectives usually follow nouns in Indonesian. So it’s perjalanan singkat (short trip), tiket murah (cheap ticket), rumah besar (big house). Putting the adjective first is generally ungrammatical unless it’s part of a fixed expression.

What’s the nuance difference between singkat, pendek, and sebentar?

singkat: brief/concise in duration or formality (fits well with perjalanan).
pendek: short in physical length; can describe time but sounds less natural here.
sebentar: for a short while; often used adverbially (e.g., tunggu sebentar).

Do I need an article like “a” for tiket? How do I show quantity?

Indonesian has no articles. tiket can mean a/the/one ticket from context. To be explicit:

One ticket: satu tiket or sebuah tiket
Two tickets: dua tiket
Some tickets (unspecified plural): beberapa tiket Reduplication (tiket-tiket) can mark plurality but is less common than using numbers or quantifiers.

Is the hyphen in pulang-pergi necessary?

In standard writing, yes—the hyphen shows a fixed compound/reduplication. In casual texting you may see it without a hyphen (pulang pergi) or abbreviated (PP), but formal style prefers pulang-pergi.

Could I use mau or bakal instead of akan?

mau: very common, slightly more casual; can mean want to or about to/future. Context disambiguates.
bakal: colloquial and predictive; used in speech and media headlines.
akan: neutral to formal, especially in writing. All three can mark the future when the meaning is clear.

What’s the formation and meaning of perjalanan?

It’s from jalan (to walk/road) with the circumfix per-...-an, which often nominalizes verbs/adjectives. perjalanan = a journey/travel/trip. So untuk perjalanan singkat = for a short trip.

How would a passive version look, and when would I use it?

Passive focuses on the object: Besok tiket pulang-pergi akan dibeli olehnya (or simply Besok tiket pulang-pergi akan dibeli). Use passive to emphasize the ticket or when the agent is unknown/irrelevant. Active (dia akan membeli) is more common in everyday speech.