Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Sesudah doa selesai, semua orang berdoa dalam hati sesuai keyakinan masing-masing. - After the prayer is finished, everyone prays in their hearts according to their own beliefs.

sesudah = a preposition meaning after.
doa = prayer (a noun).
selesai = finished / over (an adjective, sometimes called a stative verb in Indonesian).

So doa selesai literally means “the prayer (is) finished”. Indonesian usually omits the “to be” verb (is/was), so there is no adalah here.

The whole part sesudah doa selesai functions like “after the prayer was finished”.

Why does the sentence use both doa and berdoa? Aren’t they the same word?

They are related but not the same:

doa = a noun: a prayer.
berdoa = a verb: to pray.

In the sentence:

sesudah doa selesai → after the prayer was finished (noun)
semua orang berdoa → everyone prayed (verb)

Indonesian often switches between noun and verb forms from the same root like this. Another common alternative would be:

Sesudah selesai berdoa, semua orang… (After finishing praying, everyone…)

What does dalam hati literally mean, and what is its real use here?

Literally, dalam hati is “in (the) heart”:

dalam = in / inside
hati = heart

Idiomatic meaning: silently / in one’s mind / without speaking out loud.

So berdoa dalam hati = to pray silently, in one’s heart, not out loud.

Compare:

berdoa keras-keras – to pray out loud, loudly
berdoa dalam hati – to pray inwardly, without speaking

What is the function of sesuai in sesuai keyakinan masing-masing? Is it a verb, adjective, or preposition?

Sesuai here acts like a preposition / prepositional adjective, roughly meaning “in accordance with / according to / in line with”.

Pattern:

sesuai (dengan) + noun

“Dengan” can be included or omitted:

sesuai keyakinan = in accordance with (their) beliefs
sesuai dengan keyakinan = same meaning, just a bit fuller/more formal

So berdoa … sesuai keyakinan masing-masing means “pray … according to each person’s own beliefs”.

What exactly does keyakinan mean here? Is it the same as agama (religion)?

Keyakinan comes from yakin (to be sure, convinced) and means belief / conviction / faith.

In a religious context, keyakinan often overlaps with agama (religion), but it’s a bit broader and more neutral:

agama – a formal religion (Islam, Christianity, etc.)
keyakinan – what someone believes or is convinced of (could be religious, spiritual, or philosophical)

In this sentence, sesuai keyakinan masing-masing is a polite, inclusive way to say “according to each person’s (religious) beliefs” without naming any particular religion.

How does masing-masing work, and why is there no mereka or -nya after it?

Masing-masing means each / respectively and distributes something to individuals in a group.

masing-masing on its own already implies “each (person)”:
- keyakinan masing-masing = the belief of each (person)

You can add pronouns, but you don’t have to:

keyakinan masing-masing – each one’s belief (natural and sufficient)
keyakinan mereka masing-masing – literally “their respective beliefs”, more explicit
keyakinannya masing-masing – “each one’s own belief”, also possible

In this sentence, keyakinan masing-masing is already clear and sounds natural; there’s no need to add mereka.

What is the difference between semua orang and setiap orang? Could I use setiap orang here?

Both refer to people in a group, but the nuance is different:

semua orang = all people / everyone as a whole group
setiap orang = each person individually / every person

In this sentence:

semua orang berdoa dalam hati… focuses on everyone doing it, as a collective fact.
setiap orang berdoa dalam hati… would emphasize each individual doing it separately.

You could say setiap orang here; it’s grammatically correct. The original semua orang feels more like a reporter-style description: “Everyone prayed silently, each according to their beliefs.”

How do we know this sentence refers to the past, since there is no tense marking in Indonesian?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense with verb endings like English. Instead, context and time expressions show when something happened.

Here, sesudah doa selesai indicates that one event (the main prayer) is already completed, and then another action happens. That “after X finished” relationship usually implies a past sequence, especially in narrative or report contexts.

If you really needed to make the past explicit, you could add a time word:

Tadi, sesudah doa selesai, semua orang… – Earlier, after the prayer was finished, everyone…
Kemarin, sesudah doa selesai, semua orang… – Yesterday, after the prayer was finished, everyone…

But in normal Indonesian, the original sentence is enough; readers or listeners infer the time from context.

Could I reverse the clause order and say Semua orang berdoa dalam hati sesuai keyakinan masing-masing sesudah doa selesai?

Yes, that’s grammatically possible, but it changes the flow.

Two options:

Sesudah doa selesai, semua orang berdoa…
- Focus: the time setting first (after the prayer was finished), then what people did.
- Feels natural in storytelling and formal explanation.
Semua orang berdoa… sesudah doa selesai.
- Focus: what people did first, then when they did it.
- Also acceptable, just a different emphasis.

Both are correct. Indonesian word order is fairly flexible with time clauses like this.

Why is it sesudah doa selesai and not sesudah selesai doa or sesudah doa sudah selesai?

All three can exist, but they differ in naturalness and style:

sesudah doa selesai – most natural and concise; common in spoken and written Indonesian.
sesudah selesai doa – possible, but sounds a bit awkward; you’re separating selesai from the noun it describes.
sesudah doa sudah selesai – grammatical, but more wordy. sudah (“already”) is often unnecessary because sesudah already implies that the finishing is in the past.

So sesudah doa selesai is the cleanest and most idiomatic choice.

Is the whole sentence formal, informal, or neutral? In what kind of context would it usually be used?

The sentence is neutral–formal:

Vocabulary like sesudah, berdoa, dalam hati, sesuai, keyakinan, masing-masing is standard and polite.
It’s not slangy, and there’s no colloquial shortening (sesudah could be sehabis / abis in casual speech, but here it’s the standard form).

You might see or hear a sentence like this in:

news reports about a ceremony or official event
school or religious texts explaining a ritual
formal speeches describing what participants did

In very casual conversation, someone might simplify or shorten parts (e.g., abis doa, semua orang doa dalam hati…), but the given version is nicely neutral and widely appropriate.