Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Tim debat pemula kami berlatih setiap sore. - Our beginner debate team practices every afternoon.

In Tim debat pemula kami berlatih setiap sore, kami implies that the debate team belongs to “us, but not you (the person being spoken to)”.

Use:

tim debat kami = our debate team (listener is not part of the team)
tim debat kita = our debate team (listener is part of the team)

Why is the word order “tim debat pemula kami” and not something like “kami tim debat pemula”?

In Indonesian, the main noun usually comes first, followed by its descriptors and possessors:

tim = team (main noun)
debat = debate (what kind of team)
pemula = beginner (what level of team)
kami = our (who owns the team)

So the pattern is:

Noun + Classifier/Type + Descriptor + Possessor
tim + debat + pemula + kami

Putting kami in front (kami tim debat pemula) is not natural here.
You can, however, rephrase using a relative clause:

Tim debat kami yang pemula berlatih setiap sore.
= Our debate team, which is the beginner one, practices every afternoon.

But this adds emphasis/clarification and feels slightly more complex than the original.

What exactly does pemula mean here? Is it an adjective or a noun?

Pemula literally means “beginner” and is grammatically a noun.

In tim debat pemula, it works like “beginner debate team” in English:

tim = team
debat = debate
pemula = the beginner one (i.e., the team of beginners / beginner-level)

So it’s similar to:

tim basket pemula = beginner basketball team
kelas bahasa pemula = beginner language class

Even though pemula is a noun, Indonesian often lets one noun describe another noun.

How does berlatih differ from latih, melatih, and latihan?

All of these come from the root latih (train/practice), but the prefixes/suffixes change the meaning:

berlatih (ber- + latih)
- Intransitive verb: to practice (oneself)
- Subject is the one doing the practicing.
- Example: Kami berlatih setiap sore. – We practice every afternoon.
melatih (meN- + latih)
- Transitive verb: to train someone / to coach
- Needs an object.
- Example: Pelatih melatih tim debat. – The coach trains the debate team.
latihan (latih + -an)
- Noun: practice, training session, exercise
- Example: Kami ada latihan setiap sore. – We have practice every afternoon.

You cannot say kami latih setiap sore by itself; you must choose berlatih (practice) or melatih [someone] (train someone).

Can I move setiap sore to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible with time expressions. These are all natural:

Tim debat pemula kami berlatih setiap sore.
Setiap sore, tim debat pemula kami berlatih.

Putting setiap sore at the beginning just emphasizes the time a bit more, similar to English:

Our beginner debate team practices every afternoon.
Every afternoon, our beginner debate team practices.

What’s the difference between setiap sore and tiap sore?

Both mean “every afternoon” and are almost interchangeable.

setiap sore
- Slightly more formal/neutral.
- Very common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
tiap sore
- Slightly more casual/colloquial.
- Very common in everyday speech.

In this sentence, you could use either:

Tim debat pemula kami berlatih setiap sore.
Tim debat pemula kami berlatih tiap sore.

Does tim debat pemula mean one team or multiple teams? There is no plural marker.

Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural with an -s or equivalent like English. Number is understood from context.

tim debat pemula kami most naturally means “our beginner debate team” (one specific team).
If needed, you can clarify:
- Tim debat pemula kami (singular; one team)
- Beberapa tim debat pemula kami = several of our beginner debate teams
- Semua tim debat pemula kami = all of our beginner debate teams

The verb berlatih doesn’t change form for singular/plural; it stays the same.

Why is it tim debat, and not something like tim berdebat?

In tim debat, debat is a noun meaning “debate”:

tim debat = debate team (a team for debate)

If you said tim berdebat, berdebat is a verb meaning “to debate”:

tim berdebat would literally be “a team that debates”, which is grammatically possible but not the natural way to name a debate team.

When naming types of teams, Indonesian usually uses noun + noun:

tim sepak bola = soccer team
tim basket = basketball team
tim debat = debate team

Is sore “afternoon” or “evening”? What time of day does it refer to?

Sore covers the time from late afternoon into early evening, roughly:

about 3 or 4 pm until around sunset / just after sunset.

Typical divisions of the day in Indonesian:

pagi = morning
siang = mid‑day / early afternoon
sore = late afternoon / early evening
malam = night

So setiap sore is more like “every late afternoon/early evening,” but in natural English we usually just say “every afternoon” or “every evening” depending on context.

Is it possible to say “tim kami yang pemula berlatih setiap sore” instead? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Tim kami yang pemula berlatih setiap sore.

This literally means “Our team that is the beginner one practices every afternoon.”

Differences:

Tim debat pemula kami berlatih setiap sore.
- Simple, compact.
- Clearly says it is our beginner debate team.
Tim kami yang pemula berlatih setiap sore.
- Uses yang pemula as a relative clause: “the one that is beginner.”
- Sounds slightly more explanatory, as if there might be more than one type of team and you’re specifying which one.

The original sentence is the more straightforward way to say “Our beginner debate team practices every afternoon.”

Where does the possessive pronoun like kami usually go in a noun phrase?

For possessive pronouns such as saya, kamu, kami, kita, mereka, the usual pattern is:

[Noun + its modifiers] + [possessive pronoun]

Examples:

buku baru saya = my new book
guru bahasa Inggris kami = our English teacher
tim debat pemula kami = our beginner debate team

So in tim debat pemula kami, the possessive kami naturally comes at the end of the whole noun phrase.