Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.

We see an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

Breakdown of Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.

• sebuah: a
• di: at
• kami: we
• melihat: to see
• kaki gunung: the foot of the mountain
• tua: old
• gua: the cave

Questions & Answers about Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.

What exactly does kami mean, and how is it different from kita or kami semua?

Kami means we / us (but not you). It excludes the person you are talking to.

• Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
  = We (not including you) saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

Compare with:

• Kita = we / us including the listener.
  
  • Kita melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
    = You and I (and maybe others) saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

Kami semua literally means all of us (not including you) and just emphasizes that the whole group did it.

• Kami semua melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
  = All of us (but not you) saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

How do we know that melihat means saw (past) here and not see (present)? Indonesian doesn’t show tense?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Melihat simply means to see / see / saw / seeing depending on context.

• Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
  Can be translated as:
  
  • We see an old cave at the foot of the mountain.
  • We are seeing an old cave at the foot of the mountain.
  • We saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

To make the time clear, Indonesians often add time words:

• Tadi kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung. = Earlier we saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.
• Besok kami akan melihat gua tua di kaki gunung. = Tomorrow we will see an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

So the sentence itself is “tenseless”; the English past saw is just one natural translation.

What is the difference between melihat and lihat?

Both are related to the same root lihat (see), but they behave differently:

• lihat is the bare root.

  • Often used as a command:
    
    • Lihat! = Look!
  • Can also appear in some fixed expressions or informal speech.

• melihat is the normal active verb form (meN- + root).

  • Used like an English finite verb:
    
    • Saya melihat dia. = I see/saw him/her.

In your sentence, Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung, using melihat is standard and grammatical.
Using kami lihat gua tua... is possible in some informal or literary styles, but melihat is the default.

Why is it gua tua and not tua gua? Where do adjectives usually go?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun they describe.

• gua tua
  
  • gua = cave
  • tua = old
    = old cave

Other examples:

• rumah besar = big house
• buku baru = new book

Putting the adjective before the noun (tua gua) is not how Indonesian normally works and would sound wrong here.

Could we also say gua yang tua instead of gua tua? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say gua yang tua, but the nuance changes a little.

• gua tua = an old cave (just describing its quality: old)
• gua yang tua = the cave that is old / the one which is old

Gua yang tua suggests you are selecting or contrasting that cave with other caves:

• Ada dua gua: satu baru dan satu tua. Kami melihat gua yang tua.
  = There are two caves: one new and one old. We saw the one that is old.

In your original sentence, there is no explicit contrast, so gua tua is more natural.

What does di kaki gunung literally mean? Why kaki (foot)?

Literally:

• di = at / in / on
• kaki = foot
• gunung = mountain

So di kaki gunung literally means at the foot of the mountain.
This is very similar to English, which also uses foot to mean the bottom part of a mountain or hill.

The phrase kaki gunung is a common expression to describe the area at the lower part of a mountain.

Why is it di kaki gunung, not di kaki dari gunung?

In Indonesian, possession or “of” relationships are usually expressed by putting nouns next to each other, not with dari.

• kaki gunung = the foot of the mountain
• puncak gunung = the peak of the mountain
• pintu rumah = the door of the house

Dari means from, and using kaki dari gunung is not natural here. It would sound like the foot from the mountain, which is odd. So di kaki gunung is the normal, idiomatic phrase.

What is the function of di here? How is it different from ke?

Di and ke are both very common prepositions, but they are used differently:

• di = at / in / on

  • Indicates location / position (where something is).
  • di kaki gunung = at the foot of the mountain.

• ke = to / toward

  • Indicates movement / direction (where something is going).
  • Kami pergi ke kaki gunung. = We went to the foot of the mountain.

Your sentence uses di because it describes where the old cave is located, not movement.

Does gua only mean cave? I’ve also seen goa and heard gua used as “I” in slang.

There are a few different things here:

1. gua (or goa) as a noun

   • Means cave.
   • Spelling goa is also common; both appear in Indonesian.
   • Example: gua / goa besar = a big cave.

2. gua as a pronoun in Jakarta slang

   • In informal Jakarta-style slang, gua (or gue) means I / me, and lu / lo means you.
   • This gua is completely different from gua = cave.
   • It belongs to a different speech style (Jakarta slang), not standard Indonesian.

In your sentence, gua is clearly the noun meaning cave, because it is followed by an adjective (tua) and a location phrase (di kaki gunung). Context makes the meaning clear.

How do we know if gua is singular or plural (cave vs caves)? There is no -s ending.

Indonesian nouns don’t change form for plural. Gua can mean cave or caves, depending on context.

In your sentence, Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung, natural English is:

• We saw an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

If you want to make it clearly plural, you can use:

• gua-gua tua = old caves (reduplication)
• beberapa gua tua = several old caves
• banyak gua tua = many old caves

Examples:

• Kami melihat beberapa gua tua di kaki gunung.
  = We saw several old caves at the foot of the mountain.

How do you say the old cave instead of an old cave? There is no the or a in the sentence.

Indonesian does not use articles like a / an / the. The same phrase gua tua can be translated as:

• an old cave
• the old cave

The difference is decided by context, not by the Indonesian grammar itself.

To be more specific, Indonesians may add other words:

• gua tua itu = that old cave / the old cave (that one)
• gua tua ini = this old cave

Example:

• Kami melihat gua tua itu di kaki gunung.
  = We saw that old cave at the foot of the mountain.

If I want to say We didn’t see an old cave at the foot of the mountain, where do I put not?

The usual negator for verbs is tidak. It goes before the verb:

• Kami tidak melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
  = We did not / did not see an old cave at the foot of the mountain.

Pattern:
[Subject] + tidak + [verb] + [objects / complements]

• Kami tidak melihat gua tua di kaki gunung.
• Mereka tidak makan nasi. = They do not eat rice.

Is the sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it be okay in everyday conversation?

The sentence Kami melihat gua tua di kaki gunung is neutral Indonesian:

• Kami is slightly more formal/neutral than kita, but very common in both speech and writing when you want to exclude the listener.
• The vocabulary (melihat, gua, tua, di kaki gunung) is standard.

It is perfectly fine in:

• A story or written description
• Neutral spoken Indonesian
• Slightly formal contexts

In relaxed casual speech, someone might shorten or change it a bit, but your sentence is natural and correct as-is.