Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol saat hujan deras. - He/She drives slowly on the toll road when it is raining heavily.

The verb berkendara already expresses the action. There is no need for something like “dia *sedang berkendara” unless you specifically want to emphasize that the action is *in progress right now.

So:

Dia berkendara pelan-pelan… = He/She drives / was driving / is driving slowly (tense depends on context).
Dia sedang berkendara pelan-pelan… = He/She is currently driving slowly (clearly ongoing at that moment).

Indonesian leaves tense (past/present) to context or to separate time words, not to a form of “to be.”

How can this sentence mean “drives,” “is driving,” or “was driving”? Where is the tense?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. The verb berkendara is the same for:

He drives slowly…
He is driving slowly…
He drove slowly…

To show tense, Indonesian relies on:

Time words:
- kemarin (yesterday)
- tadi (earlier)
- nanti (later)
Or context in the conversation.

Examples:

Kemarin dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol saat hujan deras.
= Yesterday he/she drove slowly on the toll road when it was raining heavily.
Sekarang dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol saat hujan deras.
= Now he/she is driving slowly…

Without those words, the sentence is neutral in tense; your understanding comes from context.

What is the difference between “dia berkendara”, “dia mengemudi”, and “dia menyetir”?

All three can be related to driving, but they have different nuances:

Dia berkendara
- Verb: berkendara
- Literally: “He/She is riding/operating a vehicle.”
- More general and a bit more formal/neutral; it doesn’t say what vehicle.
Dia mengemudi
- Verb: mengemudi = to drive (a vehicle).
- Neutral, slightly formal; common in writing, news, driving tests, etc.
- Often used with an object:
  - Dia mengemudi mobil. = He/She drives a car.
Dia menyetir
- Verb: menyetir = to drive (from Dutch stuur “steer”).
- Very common in everyday speech, informal.
- Example: Dia menyetir pelan-pelan di tol.

Your sentence:

Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol…
sounds natural and is fine, slightly more neutral/formal than menyetir.

Why is “pelan-pelan” repeated? What’s the difference between “pelan” and “pelan-pelan”?

Pelan means slow or slowly.

Reduplication (repeating a word) like pelan-pelan is very common in Indonesian. Here it adds nuance:

pelan = slow
pelan-pelan = slowly, gently, carefully, often with a sense of “take your time / don’t rush.”

Examples:

Jalan pelan. = Walk slowly.
Jalan pelan-pelan. = Walk slowly, carefully, don’t rush.

In your sentence:

Dia berkendara pelan-pelan…
suggests he/she is driving quite slowly, carefully because of the heavy rain, not just “not fast.”

Do I need “dengan” before “pelan-pelan”? Can I say “Dia berkendara dengan pelan-pelan”?

You can say “Dia berkendara dengan pelan-pelan,” and it’s grammatically acceptable, but it’s less natural in everyday speech.

Two common patterns:

Verb + adverb directly
- Dia berkendara pelan-pelan.
- Very natural and common.
Verb + dengan + noun/adverb
- Dia berkendara dengan pelan.
- Dia berbicara dengan pelan. = He/She speaks softly.

With pelan-pelan, most native speakers prefer without dengan:

✅ Dia berkendara pelan-pelan. (best)
⚪ Dia berkendara dengan pelan. (OK)
⚪ Dia berkendara dengan pelan-pelan. (understandable, but feels a bit clunky)

Why is there a hyphen in “pelan-pelan”? Can I write “pelan pelan” instead?

In standard Indonesian spelling (EYD), full reduplication should use a hyphen:

pelan-pelan
pelan-pelan is the correct formal spelling.

In informal writing (texts, chats), many people write:

pelan pelan (with a space), or even
pelan² (using the superscript 2).

But if you want to follow proper written Indonesian, especially in formal contexts (school, exams, official texts), use the hyphen: pelan-pelan.

What does “jalan tol” literally mean, and why is it two words?

Jalan tol is a compound noun:

jalan = road, street
tol = toll (fee)

So jalan tol literally = toll road.

It’s written as two words because:

jalan and tol are both separate, meaningful words.
Many Indonesian compound nouns are written as two words:
- rumah sakit (hospital; literally “sick house”)
- kartu kredit (credit card)
- meja makan (dining table)

Sometimes in more technical names or branding you might see Jalan Tol capitalized (as part of a proper name), but generally it’s two separate words.

Can I just say “di tol” instead of “di jalan tol”?

Yes, in everyday conversation people often shorten di jalan tol to di tol, especially when it’s clear you mean the road, not just the toll system.

Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di tol saat hujan deras.
= sounds very natural in casual speech.

However, di jalan tol is:

Slightly more explicit
More formal or neutral
Suitable for writing, narration, or when you first introduce the location.

Both are correct; choice depends on formality and style.

What does “saat” mean here, and how is it different from “ketika” or “waktu”?

In your sentence:

saat hujan deras ≈ when / while it was raining heavily or during heavy rain.

Rough comparison:

saat
- Literally: moment, time.
- Common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
- Slightly more neutral/formal than waktu in many contexts.
ketika
- Also means when (for past or background time).
- Very common in narrative or written language.
- You can replace saat with ketika here with almost no change in meaning:
  - Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol ketika hujan deras.
waktu
- Literally: time.
- In this use, it’s more informal, spoken:
  - Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol waktu hujan deras.
    ≈ He/She was driving slowly… when it was raining heavily.

All three are acceptable here; saat sounds neutral and works well in both spoken and written Indonesian.

Why is it “hujan deras” and not “deras hujan”? What’s the structure here?

Hujan deras is:

hujan = rain (noun)
deras = heavy, pouring, intense (adjective)

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun:

rumah besar = big house
mobil merah = red car
hujan deras = heavy rain

So hujan deras literally means “rain that is heavy.”

“deras hujan” is not the normal way to say “heavy rain.” It would sound odd or poetic at best. Stick to hujan deras.

Does “hujan deras” mean “heavy rain” (a noun) or “raining heavily” (a verb phrase)? How would I say “when it was raining heavily”?

Hujan deras is primarily a noun phrase: heavy rain.

So your clause:

saat hujan deras
literally: during heavy rain / when there was heavy rain.

But in real usage, “saat hujan deras” often overlaps with the English idea of “when it was raining heavily”, because Indonesian doesn’t always need a separate “it was raining” verb structure.

If you want a more explicitly verbal phrase, you could say:

saat sedang hujan deras
= when it was raining heavily (with emphasis on ongoing action)

Your original sentence is still perfectly natural and commonly used as a translation of “when it was raining heavily.”

Can I move “pelan-pelan” to another position in the sentence?

Yes, Indonesian word order is fairly flexible with adverbs like pelan-pelan, but some positions sound more natural than others.

Original:

Dia berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol saat hujan deras.
(Very natural.)

Other possibilities:

Dia berkendara di jalan tol pelan-pelan saat hujan deras.
- Still natural, focus a bit more on where first, then how.
Dia berkendara di jalan tol saat hujan deras pelan-pelan.
- Understandable, but less natural; adverb sounds tacked on.
Pelan-pelan dia berkendara di jalan tol saat hujan deras.
- Possible as a stylistic choice; puts emphasis on pelan-pelan, like “Slowly, he drove on the toll road…”

For everyday, neutral Indonesian, the original position (right after the verb) is the most common and natural: berkendara pelan-pelan di jalan tol…

Does “dia” mean specifically he or she? How do Indonesians show gender here?

Dia is a gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun. It can mean:

he
she

Indonesian pronouns usually do not mark gender. To clarify gender, speakers rely on:

Context
Previous mention of the person
Or adding a noun, e.g.:
- Dia, laki-laki itu, berkendara pelan-pelan… (That man, he was driving slowly…)
- Dia, perempuan itu, berkendara pelan-pelan… (That woman…)

So your sentence can be translated either:

He was driving slowly… or
She was driving slowly…

without changing the Indonesian.