Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

Next week we are going to a big zoo in another city.

Breakdown of Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

• di: in
• kami: we
• pergi: to go
• ke: to
• besar: big
• kota: the city
• lain: another
• pekan depan: next week
• kebun binatang: the zoo

Questions & Answers about Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

Why isn’t there a word like “will” in the Indonesian sentence to show the future?

Indonesian usually does not change the verb for tense. The verb pergi (go) looks the same for past, present, and future.

Instead, time expressions (like next week, yesterday, later) tell you when the action happens. In this sentence:

• Pekan depan = next week
• kami pergi = we go / we are going / we will go

Because pekan depan clearly shows the future, Indonesians are happy with pergi alone.

You can add akan before the verb to make the future extra clear:

• Pekan depan kami akan pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.
  = Next week we will go to a big zoo in another city.

But akan is optional here, not required.

What’s the difference between pekan and minggu? Can I say minggu depan instead?

Both pekan and minggu can mean week, and both pekan depan and minggu depan mean next week.

• pekan – sounds a bit more formal or “standard”; often seen in news, writing, or more careful speech.
• minggu – very common in everyday conversation.

So you can absolutely say:

• Minggu depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

It has the same meaning; it just sounds a bit more casual/natural in many everyday situations.

What’s the difference between kami and kita? Why is kami used here?

Both kami and kita mean “we”, but the key difference is whether the listener is included.

• kami = we (not including you, the listener)
• kita = we (including you, the listener)

In the sentence:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

kami suggests that the speaker and their group are going, but the person they’re talking to is not coming.

If the speaker wants to include the listener (like “We are going, and you’re part of ‘we’”), they would say:

• Pekan depan kita pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.
  = Next week we (you and I) are going to a big zoo in another city.

Could I say “Pekan depan kami akan pergi…”? Does that sound more correct?

Yes, you can say:

• Pekan depan kami akan pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.

This is completely correct and sounds natural. akan works like a future marker, a bit like will.

However, in everyday Indonesian, when there is a clear time expression like pekan depan, people very often omit akan. So:

• Pekan depan kami pergi… (more neutral, common)
• Pekan depan kami akan pergi… (slightly more explicit about the future)

Both are fine; it’s more a matter of style and emphasis than correctness.

Why do we need pergi? Could you just say “Pekan depan kami ke kebun binatang…”?

In standard Indonesian, you normally need a verb in the clause, so:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang…
  = Next week we go to the zoo… ✅

If you say only:

• Pekan depan kami ke kebun binatang…

it sounds like something is missing in standard grammar (though you might hear similar patterns in some informal speech or regional varieties). For clear, correct Indonesian, keep pergi:

• pergi ke = go to
• kami pergi ke kebun binatang = we go to the zoo

What’s the difference between ke and di? Why is it ke kebun binatang, but di kota lain?

ke and di are different prepositions:

• ke = to (direction, movement toward a place)
• di = in/at/on (location, where something is)

In the sentence:

• pergi ke kebun binatang
  = go to the zoo → movement, so use ke
• di kota lain
  = in another city → location, so use di

More examples:

• Saya pergi ke sekolah. = I go to school.
• Saya di sekolah. = I am at school.

Why is it kebun binatang besar and not besar kebun binatang like in English big zoo?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it.

• kebun binatang = zoo (literally animal garden)
• besar = big

So:

• kebun binatang besar = big zoo

Word order pattern:

• noun + adjective

Examples:

• rumah besar = big house
• mobil baru = new car
• kota lain = another/different city

If you said besar kebun binatang, it would be strange and not the normal way to say big zoo.

What does kebun binatang literally mean?

Literally:

• kebun = garden
• binatang = animal

So kebun binatang = animal garden, which is the standard Indonesian term for zoo.

Even though the literal meaning is “animal garden,” people just understand it as “zoo,” just like English zoo comes from zoological garden.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in the Indonesian sentence?

Indonesian normally does not use articles like a, an, the. The sentence:

• kebun binatang besar

can mean:

• a big zoo
• the big zoo

Context decides whether it feels more like a or the to an English speaker.

If you really need to specify, you use other words:

• sebuah kebun binatang besar = a big zoo (one big zoo; sebuah is a classifier)
• kebun binatang besar itu = that big zoo / the big zoo (with itu)

But in everyday speech, people usually just say kebun binatang besar and let context do the work.

Does di kota lain mean the zoo is in another city, or that we are in another city?

In this sentence, di kota lain most naturally describes the location of the zoo:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.
  = Next week we are going to a big zoo that is in another city.

Structure:

• kebun binatang besar di kota lain = one long noun phrase:
  a big zoo (that is) in another city

If you wanted to emphasise that we are in another city when we go, you’d usually phrase it differently, for example:

• Pekan depan kami akan berada di kota lain dan pergi ke kebun binatang besar.
  (Next week we will be in another city and go to a big zoo.)

How do you make plural in this sentence? How would you say “big zoos in other cities”?

Indonesian doesn’t always mark plural. Often, context shows whether it’s singular or plural. But you can show plural in a few ways.

Original phrase (singular or general):

• kebun binatang besar di kota lain = a big zoo in another city / big zoos in other cities (context decides)

To clearly make both nouns plural:

1. Reduplication (repeating the noun):

   • kebun-kebun binatang besar di kota-kota lain
     = big zoos in other cities

2. Or add a number or word like banyak (many):

   • banyak kebun binatang besar di kota-kota lain
     = many big zoos in other cities

Note that lain itself doesn’t change form; kota lain can mean another city or other cities, depending on context.

Can pekan depan go at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?

Yes. Time expressions in Indonesian are flexible in position. All of these are possible:

• Pekan depan kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.
• Kami pekan depan pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain.
• Kami pergi ke kebun binatang besar di kota lain pekan depan.

The first and last options are the most natural.
Putting pekan depan at the very start often sounds nicely focused and clear.

When do I need to use yang, like kebun binatang yang besar, instead of kebun binatang besar?

Both can be correct, but they’re used slightly differently.

• kebun binatang besar
  = a big zoo (simple description)

• kebun binatang yang besar
  = the zoo that is big / the one that is big
  (more like a relative clause or to contrast with others)

Use kebun binatang besar for a normal descriptive phrase.

Use kebun binatang yang besar when:

• you are contrasting it with other zoos:
  • Saya mau pergi ke kebun binatang yang besar, bukan yang kecil.
    = I want to go to the zoo that is big, not the small one.
• or when you want to strongly emphasize that size is the key characteristic.

In your sentence, kebun binatang besar (without yang) is the most natural choice.