Sepanjang pagi, hujan deras, tetapi kami tetap bekerja.

Throughout the morning, heavy rain falls, but we keep working.

Breakdown of Sepanjang pagi, hujan deras, tetapi kami tetap bekerja.

• adalah: to be
• pagi: the morning
• kami: we
• bekerja: to work

Questions & Answers about Sepanjang pagi, hujan deras, tetapi kami tetap bekerja.

Where is the verb in hujan deras? In English we can’t say “rain heavy.”

Indonesian allows clauses without an explicit “be” verb, and weather expressions are often verb-less. Hujan can function as a noun (“rain”) or as an intransitive verb (“to rain”). So hujan deras is a perfectly natural clause meaning “It rained heavily” or “There was heavy rain.” If you want an explicit verb, you can say:

• Sepanjang pagi, turun hujan deras.
• Sepanjang pagi, hujan turun deras.
• Sepanjang pagi, ada hujan deras.

Do I need the commas here, especially before tetapi?

Yes in formal writing. Use a comma after the fronted time phrase and before tetapi when it links two independent clauses:

• Sepanjang pagi, hujan deras, tetapi kami tetap bekerja. In casual texting people often drop commas, but the above punctuation is the standard.

Can I replace tetapi with other contrast words like tapi, namun, meskipun/walaupun?