Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pada musim panen berikutnya, saya berencana mengajak teman kota saya ke desa. - At the next harvest season, I plan to take my city friend to the village.

Pada musim panen berikutnya, saya berencana …
→ Emphasis on when (during the next harvest season).
Saya berencana … pada musim panen berikutnya.
→ Neutral, more like normal English word order.

Both are correct. Starting with the time phrase is very common in Indonesian and sounds natural.

What is the function of pada in pada musim panen berikutnya? Can I omit it?

Pada is a preposition roughly like at / on / in for time expressions.

Pada musim panen berikutnya = in/at the next harvest season

You can omit pada in many casual spoken contexts:

Musim panen berikutnya, saya berencana…

This is still natural. Using pada makes it a bit more careful or formal, and is safer in writing.

What exactly does musim panen mean?

Musim = season
Panen = harvest

So musim panen = harvest season, the period when crops are harvested. It’s a fixed, common collocation in Indonesian.

Why is it berikutnya and not just berikut?

Berikut by itself usually means following / as follows, often used to introduce something:
- Daftarnya sebagai berikut: (The list is as follows:)
Berikutnya means next / the following one when attached to a noun:
- musim berikutnya = the next season
- tahun berikutnya = the following year

So musim panen berikutnya = the next harvest season.
Using berikut without -nya here would sound incomplete or unnatural.

What does saya berencana literally mean? Is it a fixed phrase?

Saya = I
Berencana = to plan / have a plan

So saya berencana = I plan / I’m planning / I intend.

It’s not an idiom; it’s just ber- + rencana (plan) → berencana (to have a plan). You can use it like:

Kami berencana pergi ke Bali. (We plan to go to Bali.)
Mereka berencana pindah rumah. (They plan to move house.)

In English we usually say “I’m going to” or “I will”. Why is there no future tense marker here?

Indonesian doesn’t have verb conjugation for tense. Time is usually shown by:

Time words: kemarin (yesterday), besok (tomorrow), nanti (later), musim panen berikutnya (next harvest season)
Optional markers like akan (will)

Your sentence:

Pada musim panen berikutnya, saya berencana…

already clearly refers to the future because of the time phrase. You could add akan:

… saya akan berencana …

but that sounds awkward (like “I will be planning”). Better:

Pada musim panen berikutnya, saya akan mengajak teman kota saya ke desa.
(Next harvest season, I will take my city friend to the village.)

So here berencana itself already carries the idea of intention.

What is the nuance of mengajak compared to mengundang or membawa?

Mengajak = to ask/invite someone to come along and do something with you
- Includes the idea of going together / doing something together.
Mengundang = to invite (more formal, often events: parties, meetings, ceremonies)
Membawa = to bring / to take (more physical, about carrying or accompanying)

In this sentence:

… berencana mengajak teman kota saya ke desa.

This suggests: “I plan to take/bring along my city friend to the village (with me, as an activity together).”

If you said:

mengundang teman kota saya ke desa → more like formally inviting them to come to the village (not necessarily going together).
membawa teman kota saya ke desa → grammatically fine, more neutral “bring my friend to the village” without the nuance of inviting as an activity together.

How should I understand teman kota saya? Is it “my city friend” or “my friend’s city”?

Teman kota saya is most naturally understood as my friend from the city or my city friend.

Structure:

teman = friend
kota = city
saya = my

In Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun. Here, kota saya can form a unit:

kota saya = my city
teman kota saya = my friend (from/of my city)

But in context, native speakers almost always understand this as “my friend who lives in the city / a friend from the city”, not “a friend of my city” in an abstract sense.

To be very clear you could also say:

teman saya yang dari kota (my friend who is from the city)

Is teman here singular or plural? Does it mean “friend” or “friends”?

Indonesian nouns usually do not mark plural by changing form.

teman can mean friend or friends, depending on context.

Your sentence is ambiguous by itself:

teman kota saya = my city friend / my city friends

If you want to make it clearly plural, you can add a word like:

beberapa teman kota saya = some of my city friends
teman-teman kota saya = my (many) city friends

Why is it ke desa and not di desa?

Ke = to / toward (movement to a place)
Di = in / at (location in a place)

In this sentence:

mengajak … ke desa → taking/inviting them to the village (movement)
If you used di desa, it would mean doing something in the village, not going there.

So ke desa is correct because the action is going/bringing someone to that place.

Can I replace desa with kampung? Is there a difference?

You can say:

ke desa or ke kampung

Both can mean to the village, but nuance is slightly different:

Desa: more formal/administrative term, also used officially (village-level government unit).
Kampung: more informal, can mean village, hometown, home area, or a neighborhood with a “village” feel even in a city.

In this sentence, both are natural. Ke kampung may sound a bit more personal or colloquial in some contexts.

Could I drop saya and just say Berencana mengajak teman kota saya ke desa?

Grammatically, you can drop saya, especially in informal conversation, if the subject is obvious from context:

Berencana mengajak teman kota saya ke desa.

But in isolation (like on its own as a sentence in a textbook), it sounds incomplete because we don’t clearly know who is planning. In careful or written Indonesian, keeping saya is better:

Saya berencana mengajak…

Is there any politeness or formality issue with using saya instead of aku here?

Yes, saya and aku differ in politeness/formality:

Saya: neutral–polite, safe in almost all situations (formal writing, speaking to strangers, superiors, etc.).
Aku: more intimate/informal (used with close friends, family, or in some regional styles/songs).

In this sentence:

Saya berencana… → appropriate for writing, neutral politeness.
Aku berencana… → more casual, diary-like, or used with close friends.

Both are correct grammatically; choice depends on relationship and context.