Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.

I feel safe when my friends keep my personal secrets.

Breakdown of Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.

• saya: I
• teman: the friend
• ketika: when
• merasa: to feel
• saya: my
• aman: safe
• pribadi: personal
• rahasia: the secret
• menjaga: to keep

Questions & Answers about Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.

What does merasa add here, and could I just say Saya aman instead of Saya merasa aman?

Merasa means to feel (a certain way emotionally or physically).

• Saya merasa aman = I feel safe (focus on my inner feeling).
• Saya aman = I am safe (more about the objective situation, like “I’m out of danger”).

In this sentence, the emphasis is on your emotional state when your friends keep your secrets, so merasa is natural and more accurate than just Saya aman. You can say Saya aman grammatically, but the nuance changes from a feeling to a factual condition.

What’s the difference between ketika, saat, waktu, and kalau here? Could I replace ketika?

All of these can introduce a clause related to time, but they differ in tone and nuance.

• ketika – neutral, standard “when (at the time that)”. Good for writing and speech.
  
  • Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga… – natural, slightly formal/neutral.
• saat – similar to ketika, often a bit more formal/literary, but very common.
  
  • Saya merasa aman saat teman-teman menjaga… – sounds fine too.
• waktu – literally “time”, but also used as “when” in casual speech.
  
  • Saya merasa aman waktu teman-teman menjaga… – more colloquial.
• kalau – usually “if”, but in casual speech it can mean “when/whenever”.
  
  • Saya merasa aman kalau teman-teman menjaga… – sounds like “I feel safe if/whenever my friends keep my secrets”, with a slight conditional nuance.

So yes, you can replace ketika with saat or waktu without changing much. Using kalau shifts it toward a conditional meaning.

Why is teman-teman repeated like that? Is it just plural, and do I have to use it?

The reduplication in teman-teman is the usual Indonesian way to mark plural or a group:

• teman = friend
• teman-teman = friends (more than one friend / my group of friends)

You don’t have to use it; you have options:

• teman-teman – friends in general, a group.
• teman-teman saya – explicitly my friends (still plural).
• teman saya – my friend (could be one; context might imply more).

In the original sentence, teman-teman naturally implies your own group of friends, so adding saya is optional. If you said ketika teman menjaga…, it tends to sound like just one friend, unless context says otherwise.

Why is saya used twice? Could I drop the second saya in rahasia pribadi saya?

Yes, you can drop the second saya if context is clear:

• Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.
• Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi.

Both are grammatically correct.

Differences:

• rahasia pribadi saya = specifically my personal secrets.
• rahasia pribadi = “personal secrets” in general; in context listeners will still understand they’re yours.

Indonesian often omits repeated pronouns when it’s obvious who is meant. Keeping saya makes it explicit and slightly more formal/clear. Dropping it is more concise and somewhat more conversational.

What exactly is the difference between menjaga and menyimpan in the context of secrets?

Both can be used with rahasia (secret), but they have different core meanings:

• menjaga = to guard, watch over, protect.
  
  • menjaga rahasia = to guard/protect a secret (not letting it get out).
• menyimpan = to keep, store.
  
  • menyimpan rahasia = to keep a secret (not revealing it).

In everyday use:

• menjaga rahasia emphasizes protecting the secret from being exposed.
• menyimpan rahasia emphasizes holding onto the secret and not telling.

In this sentence, menjaga sounds very natural, but menyimpan rahasia pribadi saya would also be fine, with very similar meaning.

What does rahasia pribadi mean exactly, and how is it different from just rahasia saya?

• rahasia = secret.
• pribadi = personal/private (related to someone’s private life).

So:

• rahasia saya = my secrets (could be any kind of secrets).
• rahasia pribadi saya = my personal/private secrets (specifically about my private life or inner personal matters).

Pribadi narrows it down to personal/private nature, not, for example, work secrets or national secrets.

Is aman an adjective here, like “safe”, or an adverb like “safely”? How does it work with merasa?

Aman is an adjective meaning safe / secure.

In Indonesian, adjectives can follow merasa the same way they follow to feel in English:

• Saya merasa aman. = I feel safe.
• Saya merasa senang. = I feel happy.
• Saya merasa lelah. = I feel tired.

So aman is functioning as an adjective complement of merasa. Indonesian doesn’t need a separate adverb form like “safely” here.

How would I say “I felt safe” or “I will feel safe”? There’s no tense marking in Saya merasa aman.

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense; time is usually understood from context or from time words.

To make tense explicit, you can add adverbs:

• I felt safe (in the past)
  
  • Dulu saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.
  • Kemarin saya merasa aman… (yesterday)
• I will feel safe (in the future)
  
  • Saya akan merasa aman jika/ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya.
  • Nanti saya merasa aman… (later I will feel safe…) – common in speech.

Without any time word, Saya merasa aman… can be interpreted as present, habitual, or general truth, depending on context.

What’s the difference in tone between saya and aku in this sentence?

Both mean I, but:

• saya – neutral/formal/polite; used with strangers, in formal writing, or polite conversation.
• aku – informal/intimate; used with close friends, family, or in casual contexts.

Your sentence with aku:

• Aku merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadiku.

Notice that with aku, the possessive often changes to -ku:

• saya → rahasia pribadi saya
• aku → rahasia pribadiku

So:

• Using saya sounds neutral and safe to use with almost anyone.
• Using aku sounds more personal and colloquial.

Can I move aman somewhere else, like Saya aman merasa ketika… or put it at the end?

No, the word order in this pattern is quite fixed. The natural structure is:

Saya merasa [adjective] ketika [clause]

So:

• Saya merasa aman ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya. ✔
• Saya aman merasa ketika teman-teman… ✘ (unnatural/ungrammatical)
• Saya merasa ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya aman. ✘ (wrong placement of aman)

If you really want aman at the end, you need a different structure, which changes the nuance:

• Ketika teman-teman menjaga rahasia pribadi saya, saya merasa aman. ✔
  (Same meaning, just different order of clauses.)

How would this sentence look in more casual, spoken Indonesian among close friends?

A natural casual version might be:

• Aku merasa aman kalau kalian jagain rahasia pribadiku.

Changes and notes:

• Aku instead of Saya – more intimate.
• kalau instead of ketika – very common in speech for “when/if”.
• jagain instead of menjaga – colloquial/shortened form.
• pribadiku instead of pribadi saya – colloquial possessive.

The original sentence is standard and correct; this version shows how it might actually sound among close friends in everyday conversation.