Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pada Rabu sore dan Kamis sore, kami biasanya belajar bersama di perpustakaan kampus. - On Wednesday afternoons and Thursday afternoons, we usually study together in the campus library.

Pada is a preposition often used with time expressions, especially days, dates, and clock times, and is usually translated as on / at (in time contexts).
So pada Rabu sore = on Wednesday afternoon.

In everyday spoken Indonesian, pada can be omitted without changing the meaning:

(Pada) Rabu sore dan Kamis sore, kami biasanya belajar…

Both are grammatical; with pada sounds a bit more formal or careful, without it sounds more conversational.

Why is it Rabu and Kamis, not hari Rabu and hari Kamis?

Hari means day. You can say either:

Rabu sore = Wednesday afternoon
hari Rabu sore = (the day) Wednesday afternoon

Using hari is not wrong, but it’s often dropped in normal speech and writing unless you want to emphasize the fact it’s a day (e.g., contrasting with malam “night”) or you’re listing days for teaching/clarity. In this sentence, Rabu sore and Kamis sore are the most natural forms.

What exactly does sore mean? Is it just “afternoon”?

Sore refers to the late afternoon / early evening, roughly from mid‑afternoon until around sunset. It overlaps partly with what English speakers might call afternoon and sometimes early evening.

Common time words:

pagi – morning
siang – late morning to early afternoon
sore – late afternoon / early evening
malam – night

So Rabu sore is not 10 a.m.; it’s more like 3–6 p.m. (approximate).

Could you say Rabu dan Kamis sore instead of repeating sore?

Yes, Pada Rabu dan Kamis sore, kami… is also possible and would usually be understood as On Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, we….

However, repeating sore (Rabu sore dan Kamis sore) is very clear and slightly more formal/explicit. Native speakers use both patterns. Repeating the word often sounds neat and rhythmic, especially in careful speech or writing.

Why is the time expression placed at the beginning of the sentence? Can it go later?

In Indonesian, time expressions are very flexible. All of these are grammatical:

Pada Rabu sore dan Kamis sore, kami biasanya belajar bersama di perpustakaan kampus.
Kami biasanya belajar bersama di perpustakaan kampus pada Rabu sore dan Kamis sore.
Kami pada Rabu sore dan Kamis sore biasanya belajar bersama di perpustakaan kampus. (less common, but possible)

Putting the time at the beginning is a very natural way to set the scene: As for Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, this is what we usually do…

What’s the difference between kami and kita here?

Both mean we, but:

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

In the sentence, kami implies the speaker and their group usually study together, but the listener is not part of that group. If the speaker included the listener (e.g., talking to a classmate who also studies with them), kita would be more appropriate:

Pada Rabu sore dan Kamis sore, kita biasanya belajar bersama…

What does biasanya do in this sentence, and can it move around?

Biasanya means usually and shows that the action is a habit, not a one‑time event.

Normal positions include:

Kami biasanya belajar bersama… (most common)
Biasanya kami belajar bersama… (emphasizes “usually”)

Kami belajar biasanya bersama… is unnatural; adverbs like biasanya normally come right before the verb phrase or at the very beginning of the clause. In this sentence, kami biasanya belajar… is the most standard order.

Is belajar bersama one fixed expression? How is bersama used?

Belajar bersama literally means study together:

belajar = to study / to learn
bersama = together (with)

Bersama can be used as:

belajar bersama – study together
bersama teman‑teman – together with friends
bersama saya – with me / together with me

For emphasis, you can say bersama‑sama (very “together”), and in informal speech people often say bareng instead of bersama:

Kami biasanya belajar bareng di perpustakaan. (colloquial)

What exactly does di perpustakaan kampus mean? Why no word like “the”?

Di is a preposition meaning at / in / on (for location).
Perpustakaan kampus is a noun phrase meaning campus library:

perpustakaan = library
kampus = campus
perpustakaan kampus = the campus’s library / campus library

Indonesian has no articles like a or the. Definiteness (“the campus library”) is understood from context. You could also say:

di perpustakaan di kampus – at a/the library that is on campus (more descriptive)
di perpustakaan kampus kami – at our campus library

How is tense shown in kami biasanya belajar? Why is there no change like “studied / will study”?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Belajar stays belajar for past, present, and future. Time is indicated by:

time words: kemarin (yesterday), sekarang (now), besok (tomorrow)
adverbs like biasanya (usually), sering (often), etc.
context

So kami biasanya belajar can be translated as we usually study or we usually are studying (present habitual). If you want to make future clearer, you add a marker:

Besok sore kami akan belajar bersama. – Tomorrow afternoon we will study together.

Why are Rabu and Kamis capitalized? Are day names always capitalized?

Yes. In standard Indonesian spelling, names of days and months are written with an initial capital letter:

Senin, Selasa, Rabu, Kamis, Jumat, Sabtu, Minggu
Januari, Februari, Maret, …

So in this sentence Rabu and Kamis are capitalized just like Wednesday and Thursday in English.