Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota.

Tadi mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota. – They walked slowly in the city park earlier.
Sekarang mereka sedang berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota. – They are walking slowly in the city park now.

What exactly does mereka mean? Is it like “they” in English?

Yes, mereka is the normal word for “they / them” in Indonesian.

Key points:

It is 3rd person plural (more than one person).
It does not show gender. It can mean they (men), they (women), they (mixed).
It does not mean “you (plural)”. For “you (plural)”, Indonesian uses kalian (informal) or Anda sekalian (formal).

So mereka is always talking about other people, not the listener.

What is the difference between jalan and berjalan?

The root jalan means “road / street” as a noun, and can also mean “to walk / to go” as a verb in some contexts.

The verb berjalan comes from ber- + jalan:

The prefix ber- often makes intransitive verbs (no direct object).
Berjalan is the standard verb for “to walk” (to move on foot).

Some related forms:

berjalan – to walk (neutral)
berjalan kaki – to go on foot, to walk (emphasizes walking instead of using transport)
jalan-jalan – to stroll around, go for a walk, go out (for fun, sightseeing)

In your sentence, berjalan simply means to walk.

Why is pelan-pelan repeated? What does reduplication do here?

In pelan-pelan, the word pelan (slow) is reduplicated. Reduplication in Indonesian can have several functions; here it gives a nuance of:

“slowly and gently / carefully / unhurriedly”

With adverbs like this, reduplication often:

emphasizes the manner
can make it sound more natural or conversational
sometimes suggests something is done gradually or repeatedly

Compare:

pelan – slow
pelan-pelan – slowly (often with nuance: carefully, bit by bit)

So berjalan pelan-pelan is natural for “walk slowly”.

Can I say just pelan instead of pelan-pelan?

Yes. Mereka berjalan pelan di taman kota is grammatically correct.

Nuance:

pelan-pelan sounds more natural and common in everyday speech for “slowly”.
pelan by itself can sound a bit more neutral or bare, like just stating the quality “slow”, not the whole manner.

Often, when giving a gentle instruction, people say:

Jalan pelan-pelan, ya. – Walk slowly, okay?

You can use pelan alone, but pelan-pelan is very typical in this context.

What role does di play in di taman kota?

Here di is a preposition meaning “in / at / on” (location).

di taman kota = in the city park

Important to distinguish:

di (separate word) = preposition of place
di- (prefix stuck to a verb) = marker for passive voice (e.g. dibaca = “is read”).

So you should write di taman, di rumah, di sekolah, never *ditaman when you mean a location.

What does taman kota literally mean? Why is the order “taman kota” and not “kota taman”?

Taman kota is a noun–noun phrase:

taman = park / garden
kota = city

Literally it’s “park [of] city”, which we naturally translate as “city park”.

In Indonesian, when one noun modifies another, the main noun comes first, and the modifier follows:

taman kota – city park
rumah sakit – hospital (literally: “sickness house”)
kantor pos – post office

So kota taman would be wrong or would mean something like “city [that is a] park”, which is not the intended meaning.

Why isn’t there a word like “the” in taman kota?

Indonesian has no articles like “a / an / the”.

Definiteness is understood from context, or sometimes from words like:

ini – this
itu – that

Examples:

Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota.
→ could be in a city park or in the city park, depending on context.
Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota itu.
→ clearly in that city park / in the (specific) city park.

So the bare noun taman kota covers what English would express as both “a city park” and “the city park”.

Why don’t we need a verb like “are/were” between mereka and berjalan?

In Indonesian, when the predicate is a verb, you do not use a separate “to be” verb like am / is / are / was / were.

Structure:

Subject + Verb is enough.

So:

Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan.
= They walk / are walking / walked slowly.

The verb berjalan already functions as the main predicate, so you do not say mereka adalah berjalan or mereka sedang berjalan (unless sedang is used as an aspect marker, e.g. Mereka sedang berjalan… = They are walking…).

Can pelan-pelan be placed somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes, adverbs like pelan-pelan are fairly flexible. These are all possible:

Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota.
Mereka pelan-pelan berjalan di taman kota.
Pelan-pelan mereka berjalan di taman kota.

Nuance:

The first is the most neutral and common.
Putting pelan-pelan earlier can emphasize the slowness a bit more (especially Pelan-pelan mereka…).

But all are grammatically acceptable.

Can the subject mereka be omitted?

Yes, Indonesian often drops pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

In isolation, Berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota. sounds like a fragment, but in context it’s common:

A: Apa yang mereka lakukan? – What are they doing?
B: Berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota. – (They’re) walking slowly in the city park.

It’s also natural in instructions:

Berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota. – Walk slowly in the city park.

So you can omit mereka when it’s obvious who you’re talking about.

Is pelan-pelan informal? Are there more formal or other ways to say “slowly”?

Pelan-pelan is neutral and very common in everyday speech. It’s not slang.

Other options:

perlahan-lahan – slowly; sounds a bit more formal / literary, but still common
perlahan – slow(ly), simpler form
pelan saja – just slow, take it slow
lambat-lambat – slowly (less common in this exact sentence, but possible)

For your sentence, these are all acceptable:

Mereka berjalan pelan-pelan di taman kota.
Mereka berjalan perlahan-lahan di taman kota.

The meaning is basically the same: “They walk(ed) slowly in the city park.”