Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains yang punya roket besar. - After the zoo, we visit a science museum that has a big rocket.

Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains yang punya roket besar.

After the zoo, we visit a science museum that has a big rocket.

Breakdown of Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains yang punya roket besar.

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Questions & Answers about Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains yang punya roket besar.

In Setelah dari kebun binatang, why do we have dari after setelah? It feels like “after from the zoo,” which sounds wrong in English.

In Indonesian this pattern is very natural, especially in spoken language.

Setelah = after (a conjunction)
dari kebun binatang = from the zoo / from the zoo trip / from being at the zoo

The idea is:

Setelah (kami pulang) dari kebun binatang, ...
After (we came back) from the zoo, ...

The verb (for example pulang, to go home/come back) is simply omitted because it’s understood from context. So setelah dari X is shorthand for “after (coming) from X” or “after we were at X.”

More formal / explicit alternatives:

Setelah kami pergi ke kebun binatang, ...
Sepulang dari kebun binatang, ... (Upon returning from the zoo, ...)

Can I drop dari and just say Setelah kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi …?

You normally should not drop dari here.

Setelah dari kebun binatang, ... = After (we were/returned) from the zoo, ... ✅
Setelah kebun binatang, ... sounds incomplete or odd ❌

Without dari, kebun binatang is just a noun phrase (“the zoo”), not a phrase describing a situation (being at / coming from the zoo). Native speakers expect either:

a full clause: Setelah kami pergi ke kebun binatang, ...
or a prepositional phrase with dari: Setelah dari kebun binatang, ...
or a set phrase: Sepulang dari kebun binatang, ...

Why is there no subject like kami right after Setelah? In English I’d say “After we left the zoo…”

Indonesian often drops (omits) elements that are clear from context, especially in adverbial clauses.

Full, very explicit version:

Setelah kami pulang dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains...

In normal conversation, that first kami pulang can be dropped because:

We already know kami is the subject of the main clause.
dari kebun binatang already hints at an earlier activity involving the same people.

So:

Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi ...

is understood as:

After we were done at / had come back from the zoo, we visited ...

What is the difference between kami and kita here? Could I say kita instead?

Both mean “we”, but:

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

In your sentence:

Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains...

The speaker is talking about their group that went to the zoo and museum.
The listener was not part of that trip.
→ kami is the natural choice.

If the speaker and listener went there together, you would say:

Setelah dari kebun binatang, kita mengunjungi museum sains...

How do we know this sentence is in the past? There’s no past tense marker like in English.

Indonesian usually does not change the verb form for tense. Instead, it relies on:

Time expressions: kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), besok (tomorrow)
Contextual cues like setelah (after), sebelum (before), sudah (already)

In your sentence:

Setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains...

Setelah sets up a sequence of events.
The listener normally interprets this as a description of something that already happened, unless the larger context clearly makes it future.

If you want to make it explicitly past, you can add tadi or kemarin:

Tadi setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains...
Kemarin setelah dari kebun binatang, kami mengunjungi museum sains...

What’s the difference between mengunjungi and just saying pergi ke museum sains?

Both are possible, but their nuance and grammar differ:

mengunjungi + object (no preposition)
- Means to visit (a place/person)
- Transitive verb:
  - mengunjungi museum sains = visit the science museum
- Slightly more formal / “bookish” than pergi ke
pergi ke + place
- Literally go to (a place)
- Focuses on the act of going, not “visiting” as a social/cultural event.
berkunjung ke + place
- Also “to visit,” often feels a bit more formal or polite.

In your sentence:

kami mengunjungi museum sains...

sounds like: we visited the science museum (with the museum as the object of a planned visit).
You could also say:

kami pergi ke museum sains (more neutral, “we went to the science museum”)
kami berkunjung ke museum sains (also “we visited the science museum”)

In museum sains, why is sains after museum? In English we say “science museum,” not “museum science.”

Indonesian noun phrases usually go:

Head noun + modifier

So:

museum = museum (head noun)
sains = science (modifier)

→ museum sains literally “museum [of] science” = science museum

More examples:

buku sejarah = history book
guru matematika = math teacher
tiket pesawat = plane ticket

So the order museum sains is exactly how Indonesian forms this kind of phrase.

What is the role of yang in museum sains yang punya roket besar?

yang introduces a relative clause, similar to English “that / which / who”.

Break it down:

museum sains = the science museum
yang punya roket besar = that has a big rocket

Together:

museum sains yang punya roket besar
= the science museum that has a big rocket

So the pattern is:

[noun phrase] + yang + [description / clause]

Examples:

anak yang memakai kacamata = the child who wears glasses
rumah yang besar itu = that house which is big
film yang saya tonton kemarin = the movie that I watched yesterday

Is punya in yang punya roket besar informal? Could I use memiliki instead?

Yes, punya is relatively informal / neutral spoken Indonesian for “to have.”

yang punya roket besar = that has a big rocket (natural in conversation)

More formal options:

yang memiliki roket besar
yang mempunyai roket besar

All three are grammatically correct:

museum sains yang punya roket besar (most natural in everyday speech)
museum sains yang mempunyai roket besar (neutral, a bit more formal)
museum sains yang memiliki roket besar (often used in writing / formal style)

Why is it roket besar, not besar roket?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally follow the noun they describe:

noun + adjective

So:

roket besar = big rocket
roket kecil = small rocket
rumah baru = new house
mobil merah = red car

Putting the adjective first (besar roket) is not grammatical in standard Indonesian (except in a few fixed expressions or poetic language). So roket besar is the only normal option here.

Where is “the” or “a” in this sentence? How do we know if it’s “the zoo,” “a zoo,” “the science museum,” etc.?

Indonesian has no articles like English “a/an/the”. The bare noun can correspond to any of these:

kebun binatang = a zoo / the zoo / zoos (general)
museum sains = a science museum / the science museum

Which one is meant depends on context:

If you’re talking about a specific place both people know (“that science museum in town”), the listener will understand it as the.
If you’re just introducing it with no prior mention, English often uses a.

You can add extra words if you really need to specify:

sebuah museum sains = a (single) science museum (emphasizing “one”)
kebun binatang itu = that zoo / the zoo (already mentioned / known)

But in most everyday sentences, Indonesians just use the bare noun.