Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang bersama kelas bahasa Indonesia.

Next week we are going to the zoo with the Indonesian class.

Breakdown of Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang bersama kelas bahasa Indonesia.

• kami: we
• pergi: to go
• ke: to
• bersama: with
• pekan depan: next week
• kebun binatang: the zoo
• kelas bahasa Indonesia: the Indonesian class

Questions & Answers about Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang bersama kelas bahasa Indonesia.

Why does the sentence start with “Pekan depan”? Could I also say it at the end?

Indonesian often puts a time expression at the beginning of the sentence to set the context, so:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang…
  = Next week, we’re going to the zoo…

is very natural and common.

You can also move the time expression:

• Kami pergi ke kebun binatang pekan depan.
• Kami pekan depan pergi ke kebun binatang. (less common, but possible in speech)

All of these are grammatical. Starting with “Pekan depan” just emphasizes the time first, similar to English “Next week, we’re going to…”, which is also perfectly natural.

What’s the difference between “pekan depan” and “minggu depan”?

Both mean “next week”, but there are some nuances:

• pekan depan

  • Slightly more formal or “standard” in some contexts.
  • Often used in news, writing, and sometimes in formal speech.

• minggu depan

  • Very common and neutral in everyday conversation.
  • Probably the form you’ll hear most often in casual speech.

In most situations you can use either, and people will understand you perfectly. For daily spoken Indonesian, “minggu depan” is often more natural.

Why is it “kami pergi” and not “kita pergi”?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of “we”:

• kami = we (not including the person you’re talking to)
• kita = we (including the person you’re talking to)

So:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang…
  → The speaker and some other people are going, but not the listener.

If the listener is also going, you would say:

• Pekan depan kita pergi ke kebun binatang bersama kelas bahasa Indonesia.
  → “Next week we (you and I and others) are going to the zoo with the Indonesian class.”

In many textbooks and classrooms, kita is overused at first; just remember:

• kami = exclusive, kita = inclusive.

How can “pergi” (go) refer to the future without a future tense word like “will”?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense (past, present, future). Time is usually shown by:

• Time words: pekan depan, besok, tadi, kemarin, nanti, etc.
• Optional particles: akan (for future), sudah (already), sedang (in the middle of), etc.

In this sentence:

• Pekan depan (“next week”) already shows it’s about the future.
• pergi is just the plain verb “go”, unchanged.

So:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang…
  → understood as We are going / We will go next week.

You can add akan for emphasis or clarity:

• Pekan depan kami akan pergi ke kebun binatang…
  → slightly more explicit “We will go next week.”

Both are correct. The version without akan is very normal and natural.

Why is it “ke kebun binatang” and not “di kebun binatang”?

In Indonesian:

• ke = to (movement/direction)
• di = at / in / on (location, no movement)

So:

• pergi ke kebun binatang
  = “go to the zoo” (movement toward the zoo)

If you already are at the zoo, you would use di:

• Kami sedang di kebun binatang.
  = “We are at the zoo.”

In the sentence you gave, we’re talking about going somewhere, so ke is required.

What does “kebun binatang” literally mean, and is it one word or two?

Literally:

• kebun = garden, plantation
• binatang = animal

So kebun binatang is literally “animal garden,” but it’s the normal, standard word for “zoo”.

Spelling:

• It is written as two separate words: kebun binatang.
• You might see it hyphenated or joined in very informal contexts, but standard Indonesian uses two words.

Why is there no word for “the” before “kebun binatang” or “kelas bahasa Indonesia”?

Indonesian does not use articles like “a, an, the”. Nouns stand alone:

• kebun binatang can mean a zoo, the zoo, zoos, depending on context.
• kelas bahasa Indonesia can mean the Indonesian class, an Indonesian class, etc.

Context usually makes the meaning clear. If you need to be more specific, you can add extra information, for example:

• kebun binatang itu = that/that particular zoo
• kelas bahasa Indonesia saya = my Indonesian class

But there is no direct equivalent of English “the” that you must always put before nouns.

What is the difference between “bersama” and “dengan” here?

Both can indicate doing something with someone, but there’s a nuance:

• bersama = together with (often a bit more formal or slightly emphasizes the “togetherness”)
• dengan = with (very general preposition “with / using / by”)

In this sentence:

• … bersama kelas bahasa Indonesia.
  → stresses “together with the Indonesian class.”

You could also say:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang dengan kelas bahasa Indonesia.

This is also correct and natural. In many contexts, bersama and dengan are interchangeable when talking about doing something together with someone.

How should I understand the phrase “kelas bahasa Indonesia”? Why is “bahasa” after “kelas”?

In Indonesian, the usual order is:

• main noun
  • description

Here:

• kelas = class
• bahasa Indonesia = Indonesian language

So kelas bahasa Indonesia literally means “class [of] Indonesian language” → Indonesian class.

Compare:

• kelas musik = music class
• kelas matematika = math class
• kelas bahasa Inggris = English(-language) class

If you said kelas Indonesia (without bahasa), it could be understood, but it sounds incomplete or ambiguous – “Indonesia class” about what? culture? history? language?
To clearly mean the language class, use kelas bahasa Indonesia.

Why is “Indonesia” capitalized but “bahasa” is not in “bahasa Indonesia”?

Indonesian capitalization rules:

• Names of languages are written as “bahasa + [country/people name]”.
• Only the proper name is capitalized.

So:

• bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language)
• bahasa Inggris (English)
• bahasa Jepang (Japanese)

bahasa (“language”) is a common noun, so it is not capitalized.
Indonesia, Inggris, Jepang are proper names, so they are capitalized.

Is it necessary to use “pergi”? Could I just say “kami ke kebun binatang”?

In everyday spoken Indonesian, people do sometimes drop pergi when the meaning is clear from context:

• Pekan depan kami ke kebun binatang.
  → Very common in casual speech, understood as “Next week we’re (going) to the zoo.”

However:

• In more formal Indonesian or in writing, kami pergi ke kebun binatang is safer and clearer.
• As a learner, it’s good to use pergi so you get used to the standard pattern “pergi ke [place]”.

So:

• With pergi: more complete, neutral, always safe.
• Without pergi: informal, common in conversation, but less textbook-like.