Breakdown of Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
Questions & Answers about Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
Indonesian has two different “we” pronouns:
- kami = we (not including the listener)
- kita = we (including the listener)
In the sentence:
Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
We discussed the differences in weather in the village and in the city.
kami is used because the speaker is talking about a group that does not include the person they are talking to.
If the listener had also joined the discussion, the sentence would more naturally be:
Kita berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
We (you and I / all of us here) discussed…
diskusi (noun) = discussion
- Example: Diskusi itu sangat menarik. – That discussion was very interesting.
berdiskusi (verb) = to discuss, to have a discussion
The prefix ber- often makes an intransitive verb meaning “to do/have X”.- Example: Kami berdiskusi. – We are discussing / We had a discussion.
mendiskusikan (verb) = to discuss (something)
The prefix me-- -kan usually makes a transitive verb that takes a direct object.
- Example: Kami mendiskusikan perbedaan cuaca. – We discussed the differences in weather.
In your sentence, berdiskusi focuses on the activity of having a discussion in general.
Using mendiskusikan would shift the focus a bit more strongly onto the topic as the object:
- Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca…
- Kami mendiskusikan perbedaan cuaca…
Both are grammatically correct and natural; berdiskusi tentang is very common and slightly more neutral-sounding.
tentang means about / regarding / on the topic of.
In your sentence:
berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca…
= discuss about the differences in weather…
Possible alternatives:
mengenai – quite similar to tentang, slightly more formal in many contexts
> Kami berdiskusi mengenai perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.soal – more informal/colloquial, can sound more conversational
> Kami berdiskusi soal perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
All three are acceptable. tentang is a safe, neutral choice for both spoken and written Indonesian.
beda = different (adjective) or difference (noun, in casual speech)
- Adjective: Cuaca di desa dan di kota itu beda. – The weather in the village and the city is different.
- Noun (informal): Ada beberapa beda. – There are some differences.
perbedaan = difference (more clearly a noun; more standard/formal)
Morphologically:
- beda (root)
- per- + beda + -an → perbedaan = difference / distinction
So:
- perbedaan cuaca = differences in weather
- beda cuaca can be understood similarly, but perbedaan cuaca sounds more standard and is very natural in formal or neutral contexts.
In Indonesian, a common way to say “X of Y” or “Y’s X” is simply:
[Noun 1] [Noun 2]
Where Noun 1 modifies Noun 2, or vice versa depending on context. Here:
- perbedaan (differences) + cuaca (weather)
→ perbedaan cuaca = differences in weather / weather differences
You don’t need dari here.
dari (from) can sometimes be used in other “of”-type expressions (often with numbers, sources, origins), but for this kind of construction, NOUN + NOUN is standard:
- perbedaan pendapat – differences of opinion
- kualitas udara – air quality
- warna langit – color of the sky
So perbedaan cuaca is the normal, idiomatic way to say it.
Indonesian generally does not use articles like “a, an, the”. Context supplies that information.
di desa dan di kota
can mean:
- in the village and in the city
- in a village and in a city
- sometimes even in villages and in cities (in general)
In most real situations, the context of the conversation would make the meaning clear:
- If you’ve been talking about your hometown vs Jakarta, di desa dan di kota will likely be understood as in the village and in the city (specific).
- If it’s more general, it might be understood as in villages and cities in general.
Indonesian simply leaves this unspecified in the grammar.
Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. berdiskusi itself is “tenseless” and can be:
- past: discussed / were discussing
- present: are discussing
- future: will discuss (less common without extra markers)
The tense is understood from context or from additional time words:
- Kemarin kami berdiskusi… – Yesterday we discussed…
- Sekarang kami berdiskusi… – Now we are discussing…
- Besok kami akan berdiskusi… – Tomorrow we will discuss…
Your isolated sentence can most naturally be read as either we discussed (past) or we are discussing (present), depending on the surrounding context.
Both forms are possible:
di desa dan di kota – repeats di
- very clear and natural; often used in careful speech or writing
- emphasizes in the village and (in) the city
di desa dan kota – drops the second di
- also understood as in the village and (in the) city
- slightly more compact, common in faster or more casual speech
Repeating di is never wrong and is often preferred in formal or written contexts because it removes any ambiguity. In your sentence, di desa dan di kota is a good, clear choice.
The general pattern is:
[Subject] [Verb] [tentang] [Noun Phrase]
So:
- Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca…
Other possibilities:
Kami mendiskusikan perbedaan cuaca…
(different verb; tentang disappears because mendiskusikan already “contains” the idea of “discuss something”.)Perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota kami diskusikan.
(fronts the object for emphasis; this is more formal/literary and less common in everyday speech.)
For everyday use, the original word order is the most natural:
Kami berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
The sentence is neutral to slightly formal, suitable for:
- written text (essays, reports, news)
- formal or semi-formal speech (meetings, presentations)
- careful everyday conversation
In more casual, spoken Indonesian, people might say something like:
- Kami ngobrol soal bedanya cuaca di desa sama di kota.
- ngobrol = to chat (informal)
- soal = about (informal)
- bedanya cuaca = the difference in the weather (using beda instead of perbedaan)
- sama = and (colloquial replacement for dan in some dialects)
So your original sentence is perfectly natural, just a bit more standard/neutral than casual-chat style.
Indonesian is fairly flexible with dropping pronouns when the context is clear.
In context, you might hear or see:
- Berdiskusi tentang perbedaan cuaca di desa dan di kota.
If it’s already clear from earlier sentences that you are talking about “we/us”, this can be understood as [We] discussed the differences… or [We are] discussing the differences…
However:
- In stand‑alone sentences, or when introducing a new topic, it’s safer and clearer to keep kami.
- In writing (especially formal writing), pronoun dropping is less common than in very casual speech.
So the full sentence with kami is a good, clear standard form.