Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. - He/She walks slowly in the school hallway.

Context (earlier sentences, names, pictures, etc.)
Sometimes people add words like laki-laki (male) or perempuan (female), e.g.
- Dia laki-laki itu berjalan pelan… – That man walks slowly…
- Dia perempuan itu berjalan pelan… – That woman walks slowly…

If there’s no context, dia is just neutral: he/she.

What tense is Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah? Is it past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense.
Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah could mean:

He/She walks slowly in the school corridor. (general/habitual or right now)
He/She walked slowly in the school corridor. (past)
In some contexts, even He/She will walk slowly in the school corridor. (future)

To make the time clearer, Indonesians add time words:

Kemarin dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. – Yesterday he/she walked…
Sekarang dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. – Now he/she is walking…
Besok dia akan berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. – Tomorrow he/she will walk…

The verb berjalan itself does not change.

What’s the difference between berjalan and jalan?

Jalan is the base word (root) meaning road or to walk.
Berjalan is the verb form with the prefix ber-, also meaning to walk.

In practice:

Dia berjalan pelan. – Standard/neutral; very common in writing and formal speech.
Dia jalan pelan. – More informal, very common in conversation.

Both are correct in spoken Indonesian. In more formal situations or writing, berjalan is preferred.

Is pelan an adjective or an adverb here? Can I say pelan-pelan or perlahan instead?

Pelan literally means slow and is used both as:

an adjective:
- Mobil itu pelan. – That car is slow.
an adverb:
- Dia berjalan pelan. – He/She walks slowly.

In Dia berjalan pelan, it functions like an adverb (slowly).

Variants:

pelan-pelan – more colloquial, often sounds softer or more casual:
- Dia berjalan pelan-pelan. – He/She walks very slowly / walk slowly, take your time.
perlahan – more formal/literary, also means slowly.
perlahan-lahan – emphasizes slowness or care.

All of these are understandable; choice depends on style:

everyday, casual: pelan / pelan-pelan
more formal: pelan / perlahan / perlahan-lahan

Can I move pelan to another position, like in English “He slowly walks …”?

The natural position is after the verb:

Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. ✅ (most natural)

Other positions:

Dia pelan berjalan di lorong sekolah. ❌ sounds odd
Pelan dia berjalan di lorong sekolah. ⚠️ possible but marked; sounds poetic or very emphatic, not normal everyday speech.

So in normal Indonesian, keep pelan right after berjalan.

What does di mean exactly? How is it different from ke?

Di and ke are both prepositions, but they’re different:

di = at / in / on (location, where something is)
- Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. – He/She walks slowly in the school corridor.
ke = to (direction, movement toward a place)
- Dia berjalan pelan ke lorong sekolah. – He/She walks slowly to the school corridor.

So:

If you mean inside/at a place: use di.
If you mean going to a place: use ke.

How does lorong sekolah work grammatically? Why isn’t it like “sekolah lorong”?

In Indonesian, when you have two nouns together:

The first noun is the main thing.
The second noun usually explains or owns it.

Lorong sekolah literally: corridor (of) school
= the school corridor / the corridor of the school

So:

lorong = corridor
sekolah = school
lorong sekolah = school corridor

You don’t reverse the order like in English. You would not say sekolah lorong for this meaning.

How do I say “the school corridor” vs “a school corridor”? Does Indonesian mark “the/a”?

Indonesian does not have articles like the or a/an.
Lorong sekolah can mean a school corridor or the school corridor, depending on context.

To make it more specific, you can add itu (that/the) or ini (this):

Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah itu.
– He/She walks slowly in that school corridor / in the school corridor.
Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah ini.
– …in this school corridor.

But in many cases lorong sekolah alone is enough, and context tells you whether it’s “a” or “the”.

Can I drop dia and just say Berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah?

You can drop dia in some contexts, but it changes how the sentence is understood.

Berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah.
– Grammatically okay, but it feels incomplete or like a sentence fragment. It may sound like:
- part of a description, like a caption: Berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah…
- a command to an implied “you” in some contexts (but that’s less common; commands usually use base verb: Jalan pelan di lorong sekolah.)

If you mean a clear statement “He/She walks slowly in the school corridor”, keep Dia:

Dia berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah. ✅

How would I say “He/She is walking slowly in the school corridor right now”?

You can make “right now” explicit with sedang and/or a time word:

Dia sedang berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah.
– He/She is walking slowly in the school corridor (right now).

You can also add sekarang:

Sekarang dia sedang berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah.
Dia sedang berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah sekarang.

Sedang indicates an action in progress, similar to English “is …ing”.

Is pelan the same as lambat and pelan-pelan?

They’re related but not identical:

pelan – slow/slowly; sounds neutral, common in daily speech.
pelan-pelan – literally “slow-slow”;
- can mean very slowly or
- used like “slowly, OK?” / “take it easy” (softening or giving advice).
lambat – slow (often for speed, pace; slightly more formal or stronger):
- Internetnya lambat. – The internet is slow.
- Dia berjalan lambat. – He/She walks slowly (a bit more “slow” than pelan).

In your sentence, pelan and pelan-pelan are both natural; lambat is also possible but sounds more like a judgment of slowness, not just a neutral description.

How would I negate this sentence: “He/She does not walk slowly in the school corridor”?

To negate the verb berjalan, use tidak before the verb phrase:

Dia tidak berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah.
– He/She does not walk slowly in the school corridor.

This means the walking doesn’t happen slowly. If you wanted to say something like “He/She walks fast, not slow” with contrast, you might say:

Dia tidak berjalan pelan, tetapi berjalan cepat di lorong sekolah.
– He/She doesn’t walk slowly, but walks fast in the school corridor.

Is dia formal or informal? Would people use something else in very polite situations?

Dia is neutral: common in both spoken and written Indonesian, and acceptable in most situations.

More polite options:

beliau – respectful he/she, used for:
- older people you respect
- important figures, teachers, leaders, etc.

Example:

Beliau berjalan pelan di lorong sekolah.
– He/She (respected person) walks slowly in the school corridor.

Don’t use beliau for yourself or for friends/peers—only for people you want to show respect to.