Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pejalan kaki sering mengirim keluhan ke pemerintah kota ketika trotoar rusak dan lampu jalan mati. - Pedestrians often send complaints to the city government when sidewalks are damaged and streetlights are off.

Indonesian commonly forms nouns for people with the prefix pe- plus a verb, often followed by another noun for clarification, so pejalan kaki is normally written as two separate words.

How can pejalan kaki mean pedestrians (plural) if there is no plural ending like -s?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with endings. A noun like pejalan kaki can mean:

a pedestrian (singular), or
pedestrians (plural)

The number is understood from:

context, and
other words (e.g., banyak pejalan kaki = many pedestrians).

You can optionally emphasize plurality with:

para pejalan kaki = (all/the) pedestrians

But in this sentence, pejalan kaki is naturally understood as plural because often send complaints suggests many people doing it.

What does sering mean exactly, and where can it go in the sentence?

Sering means often / frequently.

In this sentence:

Pejalan kaki sering mengirim keluhan…
Pedestrians often send complaints…

Placing sering before the verb phrase mengirim keluhan is the most standard position.

You might also see:

Sering, pejalan kaki mengirim keluhan… (more written / stylistic)
Pejalan kaki mengirim keluhan sering – this sounds unnatural; generally avoid putting sering after the main verb phrase in this type of sentence.

So, [subject] + sering + [verb] is the normal pattern.

What’s the difference between mengirim, kirim, and mengirimkan?

All are related to sending:

kirim – base verb “to send”; often used in casual speech, especially in imperative:
- Kirim email ke dia. = Send an email to him/her.
mengirim – meN- prefix; standard active verb, neutral and common in writing and formal speech:
- Pejalan kaki mengirim keluhan. = Pedestrians send complaints.
mengirimkan – also active; often emphasizes the recipient or feels a bit more formal/polished:
- Pejalan kaki mengirimkan keluhan ke pemerintah kota.

In this sentence, mengirim is perfectly natural. Mengirimkan would also be correct, just a little more formal. Kirim would sound more casual or colloquial.

Why is it mengirim keluhan and not just a verb like mengeluh?

Mengeluh = to complain (intransitive verb: someone complains)
- Pejalan kaki mengeluh. = The pedestrians complain.
Keluhan = complaint (noun, from keluh
- -an)
Mengirim keluhan = to send a complaint (literally “send complaint”)

In this sentence, the idea is that people formally send complaints (letters, emails, reports) to the city government, not just that they verbally complain in general. So mengirim keluhan focuses on submitting a complaint as an object.

What does the -an in keluhan mean?

Keluhan comes from the root keluh (complaint).

The suffix -an often turns a root into a noun:

keluh (to complain) → keluhan = a complaint
tanya (to ask) → pertanyaan = a question
marah (angry) → kemarahan = anger

So keluhan is the thing complained about, i.e., a complaint. That’s why mengirim keluhan = to send a complaint.

Why does the sentence use ke pemerintah kota and not kepada pemerintah kota?

Both ke and kepada can be translated as to, but usage differs:

ke – general direction/place:
- ke sekolah = to school
- ke rumah = to home
kepada – more for recipients (people, organizations), especially in formal contexts:
- mengirim surat kepada guru = send a letter to the teacher

In practice:

mengirim keluhan ke pemerintah kota is very common and acceptable, even in semi-formal contexts.
mengirim keluhan kepada pemerintah kota sounds more formal and “by the book.”

So ke here is a slightly less formal but very natural choice.

What exactly does pemerintah kota mean, and why is the order “government city” instead of “city government”?

Indonesian noun phrases typically follow this pattern:

[Head noun] + [modifier]

Here:

pemerintah = government (head noun)
kota = city (modifier)

So pemerintah kota = “city government” / “the government of the city”.

The English order is city government, but Indonesian keeps the core noun first: pemerintah kota.

What’s the difference between ketika, saat, and waktu for “when”?

All three can mean when (in the sense of at the time that):

ketika – neutral, common in both spoken and written Indonesian.
saat – very similar to ketika, often feels a bit more formal or literary:
- saat trotoar rusak ≈ ketika trotoar rusak
waktu – literally time, but often used as when in speech:
- waktu trotoar rusak ≈ when the sidewalk is damaged.

In this sentence:

…ketika trotoar rusak dan lampu jalan mati.

You could replace ketika with saat or waktu without changing much meaning, though ketika (or saat) usually feels slightly more formal than waktu in writing.

Why is there no word for “is/are” in trotoar rusak and lampu jalan mati?

Indonesian normally does not use a separate verb “to be” in sentences like:

[noun] + [adjective/state]

So:

trotoar rusak = the sidewalk is damaged
lampu jalan mati = the streetlights are off / dead

The adjectives rusak (damaged, broken) and mati (dead / off) function like stative verbs; they already express “to be in that state,” so no extra word like is/are is needed.

Why does mati mean “off/not working” for lampu jalan instead of “dead”?

Literally, mati means dead, but in Indonesian it’s widely used for things that stop functioning:

lampu mati = the light is off / burned out
komputer mati = the computer is off / not working
mesin mati = the engine is dead / has stopped

So:

lampu jalan mati = the streetlights are off / not functioning

It doesn’t imply a living thing died; it just means the lights don’t work or aren’t on.

What does lampu jalan mean exactly, and how is it different from something like lampu di jalan or lampu jalanan?

lampu jalan
- lampu = lamp/light
- jalan = road/street
- Together: streetlight / road lamp (a fixed light for the road).
lampu di jalan = lights on the street
- More general: could be car lights, shop lights that happen to be on the street, etc.
lampu jalanan
- Grammatically possible, but less standard; can sound a bit colloquial or vague.

So lampu jalan is the normal, specific term for streetlights in this kind of civic/infrastructure context.

How do we know the tense in sering mengirim keluhan? Could it be past, present, or future?

Indonesian verbs generally don’t show tense. Mengirim can cover:

often send (present)
often sent / have often sent (past)
will often send (future, if context suggests)

Time is inferred from:

time expressions (e.g., kemarin, besok)
context
sometimes particles like sudah (already), akan (will)

Here, sering mengirim keluhan is best understood as a general habit (present/simple aspect):

Pedestrians often send complaints to the city government…

But grammatically, it’s not restricted to one tense without more context.