Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kami sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan di ruang tamu. - We often chat about plans for the future in the living room.

In Kami sering mengobrol..., the speaker is talking about a group that does not necessarily include the person being spoken to. For example, a parent talking about their family to a friend.

If the speaker wanted to include the listener in that group (e.g., talking about “you and me and others”), they would use kita instead:
Kita sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan di ruang tamu.
= We (you and I) often chat about plans for the future in the living room.

What is the nuance of mengobrol? Could I use berbicara or bicara instead?

Mengobrol means to chat, to have a casual conversation. It feels relaxed and informal.

You can replace it, but the nuance changes:

Mengobrol – casual chatting, like friends or family talking.
Bicara / berbicara – to talk, to speak; more general, can be neutral or slightly more formal.
Ngobrol – very colloquial/slang variant of mengobrol, common in speech.

So:

Kami sering mengobrol... → “We often chat...” (natural, friendly)
Kami sering berbicara tentang rencana... → “We often talk about plans...” (a bit more neutral/formal)

For everyday family context, mengobrol is very natural.

Where does sering usually go in a sentence, and could it be placed somewhere else?

Sering means often. In Indonesian, adverbs of frequency like sering commonly appear:

Before the verb:
- Kami sering mengobrol... (most natural)
At the start of the sentence (for emphasis):
- Sering kami mengobrol tentang rencana...
  → Possible, but sounds a bit more literary or emphatic.

You would not normally put sering after the verb in this kind of sentence.
So Kami mengobrol sering... is unnatural.

Is tentang necessary? Could I just say Kami sering mengobrol rencana untuk masa depan?

You need tentang here.

Tentang = about / regarding

The verb mengobrol does not usually take a direct object without a preposition. You talk about something:

Mengobrol tentang sesuatu = to chat about something

So:

Kami sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan. ✅
Kami sering mengobrol rencana untuk masa depan. ❌ (ungrammatical / very odd)

You could also use mengenai or soal instead of tentang, with slightly different levels of formality:

mengobrol mengenai rencana... (more formal)
mengobrol soal rencana... (colloquial, very common)

Does rencana mean “plan” or “plans”? How do I know if it’s singular or plural?

Indonesian nouns usually do not change form for singular/plural. Rencana can mean:

a plan
plans

The number is understood from context. Here, tentang rencana untuk masa depan is most naturally interpreted as about plans for the future in English, because we usually talk about multiple future plans, not just one.

If you really want to emphasize plurality, you can say:

banyak rencana = many plans
rencana-rencana = plans (reduplication to show plural, but not always necessary)

Why is it rencana untuk masa depan and not rencana masa depan? Do they mean the same thing?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance:

Rencana untuk masa depan
- Literally: “plans for the future”
- Emphasizes purpose: plans for something that will happen in the future.
- Very natural in everyday speech.
Rencana masa depan
- Literally: “future plans”
- Treats masa depan as an adjective-like phrase modifying rencana.
- Also correct and natural.

In this sentence, rencana untuk masa depan sounds very typical and clear. Rencana masa depan would also be understood the same way here.

What is masa depan exactly? Is it just “future”?

Yes, masa depan means the future.

Masa = period, era, time
Depan = front, ahead

Together they form a fixed expression: masa depan = “the time ahead” → future.

You don’t usually say just depan to mean the future in this abstract sense; you use the full phrase masa depan.

Why is the preposition di used in di ruang tamu? Could I use dalam or pada instead?

Di is the standard preposition for physical location: in, at, on (depending on context).

Di ruang tamu = in/at the living room

About the alternatives:

Dalam ruang tamu
- Dalam means inside (the inside of).
- Dalam ruang tamu would sound odd unless you are contrasting the inside vs. outside of that room in a very physical sense.
- For normal location, di ruang tamu is correct.
Pada ruang tamu
- Pada is used more with abstract locations or time expressions, not usual for a simple physical room location.
- For rooms, di is the natural choice.

So: di ruang tamu is the right and most natural form here.

Could the phrase di ruang tamu be put at the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is fairly flexible for adverbial phrases (time/place), especially for emphasis or style.

You can say:

Di ruang tamu, kami sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan.

Meaning stays the same. The difference:

Original: Kami sering mengobrol... di ruang tamu.
- Focus starts on we and our habit of chatting.
Fronted: Di ruang tamu, kami sering mengobrol...
- Adds emphasis or topicalization on the living room as the place.

Both are natural.

In English we often say “talk with someone”. Where is “with” in this Indonesian sentence?

In Kami sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan di ruang tamu, the people talking are already specified by kami (“we”), so there is no need for with.

If you want to state who you talk with, you use dengan:

Kami sering mengobrol dengan orang tua kami tentang rencana untuk masa depan.
= We often chat with our parents about plans for the future.

Here, dengan = with (in the sense of “together with someone”).
But if the subject of the sentence already covers everyone involved (like kami here), you don't need dengan.

There is no tense marker in this sentence. How do we know if it is present, past, or future?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Mengobrol is the same for past, present, and future. Tense is understood from context or from time expressions.

Kami sering mengobrol... can mean:

We often chat... (habit now)
We often chatted... (habit in the past)

To be explicit:

Past habit:
- Dulu kami sering mengobrol tentang rencana untuk masa depan di ruang tamu.
  → In the past, we often chatted...
Future habit/intention (less common):
- Nanti kami akan sering mengobrol...
  → We will often chat...

In the given sentence, without extra time words, it is normally understood as a present or general habit.