Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi di kantor pernikahan kota sebelum resepsi dimulai. - Two of my close friends become witnesses at the city marriage office before the reception begins.

teman = general word for friend, acquaintance, classmate, colleague, etc.
sahabat = a close friend / best friend, with a stronger emotional bond.

So:

dua sahabat saya ≈ two (of) my close friends / best friends
dua teman saya ≈ two (of) my friends (neutral, could be close or not)

Yes, you can say dua teman saya, but it weakens the sense of closeness implied by sahabat.

How should I understand the phrase dua sahabat saya? Does it mean my two friends or two of my friends?

Indonesian does not mark this difference as clearly as English. Dua sahabat saya can mean either:

My two close friends (implying I only have two), or
Two of my close friends (I may have more).

The default reading is usually “two of my close friends”, unless context clearly shows that you only have two.

If you specifically mean my two close friends (and I only have two), you can say:

kedua sahabat saya = both of my close friends
sahabat saya ada dua = I have two close friends

Why is the word order dua sahabat saya, and not saya dua sahabat or dua saya sahabat?

The normal order in Indonesian is:

[number] + [noun] + [possessor]

So:

dua sahabat saya = two friends of mine

Other patterns:

sahabat saya dua orang (also acceptable)
- Literally: my friends two people
- Very common in speech, especially when emphasizing the number.

But:

saya dua sahabat ❌ (ungrammatical)
dua saya sahabat ❌ (ungrammatical)

Pronouns like saya go after the noun they possess:
sahabat saya, teman saya, guru saya, etc.

Why is menjadi used here (menjadi saksi) instead of adalah or nothing at all?

Menjadi literally means “to become”, but in contexts like roles or functions it often means “to serve as / to act as”.

menjadi saksi ≈ to serve as witnesses / to act as witnesses

Nuances:

Dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi...
→ They took on the role of witnesses for that event (wedding).
Dua sahabat saya adalah saksi...
→ More like a statement of fact/identity, less about taking on a role at that occasion.
It is grammatically OK but sounds more static and less “event-like”.

Leaving the verb out entirely:

Dua sahabat saya saksi di kantor... ❌
This is not natural in standard Indonesian; you need a verb like adalah (often omitted in informal Indonesian) or menjadi.

Here, menjadi is natural because being a wedding witness is a temporary role in a specific event.

Why is there no word for “a” or “the” in saksi? How do I know if it’s witnesses or the witnesses?

Indonesian has no articles like a, an, the.

saksi can mean a witness, the witness, or witnesses depending on context.
Here we know it’s plural from dua (two):
- dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi → clearly witnesses.

Definiteness (a vs the) is also inferred from context. In a typical wedding context, if you say:

Dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi di kantor pernikahan kota
it is normally understood as they served as the witnesses (those specific, official witnesses for that ceremony).

How is kantor pernikahan kota structured? Is it like “city marriage office”, and can I reorder it?

Yes, kantor pernikahan kota is a stack of nouns:

kantor = office
pernikahan = wedding/marriage (event)
kota = city

The structure is:

[main noun] [modifier 1] [modifier 2]
kantor (office) + pernikahan (wedding) + kota (city)

So it can be read as:

the city’s marriage office
the city marriage office / city wedding office

Reordering changes the meaning:

kantor kota = city hall / city office
kantor pernikahan = wedding office / marriage office (not specifying city)
kantor pernikahan di kota = a marriage office in the city (could contrast with village, for example)

You cannot freely reorder it as in English; the main object comes first (kantor), followed by modifiers.

Why is the preposition di used in di kantor pernikahan kota? Could I use pada instead?

Di is the normal preposition for physical locations:

di kantor = at the office
di rumah = at home
di sekolah = at school

So di kantor pernikahan kota = at the city marriage office.

Pada is more formal and is often used for:

abstract locations (in documents, in data, in a situation)
time expressions (pada hari Senin, pada tahun 2020)
formal written style

You could see pada kantor pernikahan kota in very formal texts, but in everyday, natural Indonesian di is the best and most idiomatic choice here.

What does sebelum resepsi dimulai literally mean, and why use dimulai instead of just mulai?

Breakdown:

sebelum = before
resepsi = reception (here: wedding reception)
dimulai = is/was started, gets started (passive form of memulai / mulai)

Literal sense:
sebelum resepsi dimulai ≈ before the reception was started / before the reception began.

Why dimulai?

mulai = to begin/start (intransitive or base form)
memulai = to start something (active, transitive: to start X)
dimulai = to be started / to get started (passive: X is started)

In Indonesian, it's very common to say:

acara dimulai = the event is started / begins
film dimulai = the movie begins

So sebelum resepsi dimulai is a very natural way to say before the reception began.

You might also hear sebelum resepsi mulai in casual speech; it’s understandable, but sebelum resepsi dimulai sounds smoother and more standard.

Is there a missing yang in sebelum resepsi dimulai? Why not sebelum resepsi yang dimulai?

You don’t need yang here.

Pattern:

sebelum + [noun] + [passive verb] is perfectly natural:
- sebelum resepsi dimulai
- sebelum pertandingan dimulai (before the match begins)
- sebelum rapat diadakan (before the meeting is held)

Using yang:

sebelum resepsi yang dimulai...
This sounds like the beginning of a longer relative clause, for example:
- sebelum resepsi yang dimulai pukul tujuh malam itu berakhir
  before the reception, which started at 7 p.m., ended

So yang adds extra descriptive information and makes the structure more complex. For the simple “before the reception began,” sebelum resepsi dimulai is the natural form.

Why does the Indonesian sentence not show past tense? How do we know it happened in the past?

Indonesian doesn’t inflect verbs for tense (past/present/future) the way English does.

menjadi, dimulai, pergi, makan, etc. are tense-neutral.
You get the time from context or time expressions:
- kemarin (yesterday), tadi malam (last night), akan (will), etc.

In this sentence, there is no explicit time word, but the situation itself (wedding ceremony, reception) usually refers to a specific, completed event, so in English we naturally translate it as past:

Two of my close friends served as witnesses at the city marriage office before the reception began.

In Indonesian, the same sentence could theoretically be used for present or future in the right context, but in practice, for weddings, listeners default to a past-event interpretation unless told otherwise.

Could I say Dua sahabat saya adalah saksi di kantor pernikahan kota... instead of menjadi saksi? What is the difference?

Yes, Dua sahabat saya adalah saksi di kantor pernikahan kota... is grammatically correct, but the nuance shifts slightly:

menjadi saksi
- Focus: they took on the role of witnesses in that event.
- Feels more appropriate for one-time or specific occasions (like a wedding ceremony).
adalah saksi
- Focus: they are (were) witnesses as a fact.
- Sounds more like a description than an action, and a bit more static/formal.

For describing what people did at a wedding, menjadi saksi is more idiomatic and “event-like.”

Is there any difference in tone or politeness if I say dua sahabat saya vs dua sahabatku?

Both mean “two of my close friends”.

saya:
- Neutral, standard, polite.
- Used in most formal and semi-formal situations.
-ku (attached to the noun: sahabatku):
- More informal / intimate.
- Common in writing (stories, poems, songs) and casual speech.
- Feels more personal or emotional.

So:

dua sahabat saya → neutral and safe in almost any context.
dua sahabatku → warmer, more personal; fine among friends or in expressive writing.

Is resepsi always a wedding reception, or can it be something else?

Resepsi is a general loanword from Dutch/French/English meaning reception. It is not limited to weddings.

Examples:

resepsi pernikahan = wedding reception
resepsi kenegaraan = state reception
resepsi diplomatik = diplomatic reception

However, in everyday conversation, if you are already talking about a wedding, people will understand resepsi on its own as the wedding reception. That’s what’s happening in this sentence: the wedding context is implied, so resepsi is enough.

Could I change the word order and say Sebelum resepsi dimulai, dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi di kantor pernikahan kota? Is that natural?

Yes, that is perfectly natural and very common in Indonesian.

Two acceptable orders:

Dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi di kantor pernikahan kota sebelum resepsi dimulai.
Sebelum resepsi dimulai, dua sahabat saya menjadi saksi di kantor pernikahan kota.

Both mean the same thing.
Putting Sebelum resepsi dimulai at the beginning simply emphasizes the time frame first, similar to English:

Before the reception began, two of my close friends served as witnesses at the city marriage office.