Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dari balkon museum, kami memakai teropong untuk melihat sungai di belakang gedung. - From the museum balcony, we use binoculars to see the river behind the building.

Dari balkon museum = from the balcony of the museum (indicates the starting point / origin of the action)
Di balkon museum = on/at the museum balcony (indicates location where something is)

In this sentence, the important idea is that we are looking from that balcony toward the river, so dari is more natural.
You could say:

Di balkon museum, kami memakai teropong.
At the museum balcony, we used binoculars.

This sounds a bit more like just stating where you were, rather than emphasizing looking out from that spot.

How does balkon museum work? Why isn’t it balkon di museum?

Indonesian often uses a noun + noun pattern where English would use noun + of + noun or a possessive like museum’s balcony.

balkon museum = the museum balcony / the balcony of the museum

Here:

balkon is the main noun (head)
museum is the modifier, specifying which balcony

If you say balkon di museum, it is also understandable and means a balcony at the museum, but it slightly emphasizes the balcony’s location rather than its relationship to the museum as part of it.

So:

balkon museum ≈ the museum’s own balcony
balkon di museum ≈ a balcony that happens to be at the museum (a bit more descriptive, less tight as a unit)

Why is there a comma after Dari balkon museum?

The phrase Dari balkon museum is a fronted prepositional phrase that sets the setting or background:

Dari balkon museum, kami memakai teropong …
From the museum balcony, we used binoculars …

In Indonesian, it is common and stylistically nice (especially in written form) to put a comma after such an introductory phrase. It helps separate:

the location context: Dari balkon museum
from the main clause: kami memakai teropong …

In everyday informal writing, some people might omit the comma, but with it, the sentence is clearer and more standard.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and why does this sentence use kami?

Both kami and kita mean we / us, but they differ in inclusiveness:

kami = we (excluding the person being spoken to)
kita = we (including the person being spoken to)

This sentence:

Dari balkon museum, kami memakai teropong …

suggests that the speaker and some other people used binoculars, but the listener was not part of that group.

If you wanted to say that the listener was included, you would use kita:

Dari balkon museum, kita memakai teropong untuk melihat sungai …
From the museum balcony, we (you and I) used binoculars to look at the river …

Is memakai different from menggunakan? Which one is more natural here?

Both memakai and menggunakan can mean to use, but there are some tendencies:

memakai
- literal meaning: to wear / to use
- often used for clothes, accessories, tools, or things you put on or handle
- feels a bit more everyday / neutral
menggunakan
- more formal: to make use of / to utilize
- often used in more formal writing, instructions, tech, or abstract contexts

In this sentence, both are fine:

kami memakai teropong
kami menggunakan teropong

Memakai teropong feels slightly more natural and colloquial here, because binoculars are a physical tool that you “use/wear on the eyes.”

What exactly does teropong mean? Is it only binoculars?

Teropong is a general word for an optical instrument used to look at distant things. It can refer to:

binoculars (two eyepieces)
a small telescope (often handheld)
sometimes a spyglass style instrument

In many everyday contexts, teropong is understood as binoculars, unless the context clearly indicates something else (like an astronomy telescope). If you need to be precise, you can say:

teropong binokuler = binoculars
teropong bintang = telescope for stars

What does untuk do before melihat? Can we drop untuk?

Untuk means for / in order to / to (for the purpose of).
The structure is:

memakai teropong untuk melihat sungai
used binoculars to look at the river

Untuk + verb expresses purpose:

Kami belajar bahasa Indonesia untuk bekerja di Jakarta.
We study Indonesian to work in Jakarta.

In this sentence, untuk is natural and should not be dropped. Without untuk, memakai teropong melihat sungai sounds ungrammatical or at least very odd; the purpose relation becomes unclear.

So:

memakai teropong untuk melihat sungai ✔ (correct)
memakai teropong melihat sungai ✘ (wrong / unnatural)

What is the function of the prefix me- in memakai and melihat?

The me- prefix is a common Indonesian verb-forming prefix. It turns a base word into an active transitive verb, often with the meaning to do X or to use X.

pakai → memakai = to wear / to use
lihat → melihat = to see / to look at

Some patterns:

me-
- pakai → memakai (the p changes to m)
me-
- lihat → melihat

In this sentence:

memakai teropong = use binoculars
melihat sungai = see / look at the river

The me- form is the normal, neutral way to express an active action done by the subject.

Does melihat sungai mean see the river or look at the river? Is there a difference?

Literally, melihat is to see, but in many contexts it also covers to look at. Indonesian does not always strictly separate see vs look at in the same way English does.

melihat sungai can be translated as:
- see the river
- look at the river

Context decides the best English translation.
Since we are using binoculars on a balcony, to look at the river sounds more natural in English, but the Indonesian verb melihat itself does not force that nuance; it is broad.

In sungai di belakang gedung, what is di belakang modifying? The river or the building?

The phrase di belakang gedung describes the location of the river:

sungai di belakang gedung = the river behind the building

The structure is:

sungai (noun: river)
di belakang gedung (prepositional phrase: behind the building) modifying sungai

So the meaning is the river that is located behind the building, not “the building that is behind the river.”

What is the difference between gedung and bangunan?

Both words refer to buildings, but they are used a bit differently:

gedung
- more like a substantial building, often multi-story and for offices, institutions, etc.
- e.g. gedung sekolah (school building), gedung perkantoran (office building)
bangunan
- a more general term for structure / building / construction
- can be big or small, residential or not
- e.g. bangunan tua (old building), bangunan bersejarah (historical building)

In this sentence, gedung suggests some kind of notable building near the river, maybe another museum building, office, or large structure.

How do we know this sentence talks about the past if there is no past tense marker?

Indonesian normally does not change the verb form for past, present, or future. The verb memakai can mean used / use / will use depending on context.

To make time explicit, Indonesians often add time words like:

tadi (earlier)
kemarin (yesterday)
besok (tomorrow)
akan (will)

For example:

Tadi, dari balkon museum, kami memakai teropong untuk melihat sungai.
Earlier, from the museum balcony, we used binoculars to look at the river.

In your original sentence, the English translation uses past tense for naturalness, but the Indonesian itself is time-neutral; context outside the sentence usually tells you whether it was past, present, or future.