Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu. - I like the calm atmosphere in that small city.

suka = to like / to be fond of
- Saya suka kopi. = I like coffee.
For strong romantic love or deep emotional love, Indonesian usually uses cinta or sayang:
- Saya cinta kamu. = I love you.
- Saya sayang keluarga saya. = I love / care for my family.

So Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu is like saying:
> “I like the calm atmosphere in that small town.”

It doesn’t sound as strong as “I love the atmosphere…”, though in casual speech people sometimes stretch suka a bit (similar to English “I love this song!”).

Can I drop Saya and just say Suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu?

Yes, you can drop Saya in many contexts, especially in casual conversation, if it’s already clear who the subject is.

Full sentence: Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.
Dropped subject (informal / context-dependent): Suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.

However:

In formal writing or when the subject is not obvious, it’s safer to keep Saya.
If you’re answering a question like “Kamu suka apa?” (What do you like?), then answering “Suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.” is totally natural and understood as “I like the calm atmosphere in that small town.”

What’s the difference between Saya and Aku? Could I say Aku suka suasana…?

Both Saya and Aku mean “I / me”, but they differ in formality and tone:

Saya
- Neutral–polite, used in most situations.
- Safe with strangers, at work, in writing.
Aku
- More intimate / casual.
- Used with friends, family, loved ones, or in songs and poetry.

You can say:

Aku suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.

That sounds friendly and personal. With a teacher, boss, or stranger, Saya is usually better until you know what’s appropriate.

Why is it suasana tenang, not tenang suasana? How does adjective order work?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe.

Noun + Adjective
- suasana tenang = calm atmosphere
- kota kecil = small city/town
- rumah besar = big house

So:

suasana = atmosphere
tenang = calm

Therefore:

suasana tenang = calm atmosphere

tenang suasana is not correct as a noun phrase. tenang can come first only if it’s being used as a verb or predicate, e.g.:

Suasana itu tenang. = That atmosphere is calm.

Is tenang an adjective here or a verb like “to calm down”?

Here, tenang functions as an adjective, meaning “calm / peaceful / quiet”.

suasana tenang = calm / peaceful atmosphere

But Indonesian words are flexible, and tenang can also appear in verb-like roles, for example:

Tenang dulu. = Calm down first. / Relax.
Suasana mulai tenang. = The situation is starting to become calm.

In Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu, tenang is clearly describing suasana, so it’s adjectival.

What does di mean here? Could I use pada instead?

In this sentence, di is a location preposition meaning “in / at”:

di kota kecil itu = in that small town

di is the normal choice for places:

di rumah = at home
di kantor = at the office
di Jakarta = in Jakarta

pada is more formal and used in some specific patterns (time expressions, more abstract “on / upon” ideas, certain fixed phrases). You would not usually say:

✗ … suasana tenang pada kota kecil itu

For physical location with a place noun, di is the natural and correct preposition.

What does kota kecil really mean? “Small city” or “small town”?

Literally:

kota = city / town
kecil = small

So kota kecil could be translated as either:

small city
small town

In practice, kota kecil usually gives the feel of a small town—a place that’s not big, busy, or urban like a major city. English forces you to choose “city” or “town”, but Indonesian kota covers both, and kota kecil just emphasizes its small size.

What is itu doing at the end of kota kecil itu? Why is there no “the” or “a”?

Indonesian does not use articles like “a / an / the”. Instead, it uses demonstratives like:

ini = this
itu = that

In kota kecil itu:

kota kecil = small city/town
itu = that

Together:

kota kecil itu = that small town (or the small town we’ve been talking about)

So itu helps specify which small town. Without itu, kota kecil would just be “a / some small town” in a more general sense.

Why don’t we say suasana yang tenang instead of suasana tenang?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different feel:

suasana tenang
- Simple noun + adjective.
- Neutral, straightforward: “calm atmosphere”.
suasana yang tenang
- Adds yang, which often turns what follows into a descriptive clause or emphasizes the quality.
- Can feel a bit more emphatic, specific, or formal, like “the atmosphere that is calm”.

In everyday speech, suasana tenang is perfectly natural and more common.
You might see suasana yang tenang in more descriptive writing, ads, or when contrasting:

Saya suka suasana yang tenang, bukan yang ramai.
= I like the atmosphere that is calm, not the one that is crowded.

Can I change the word order, like Saya suka di kota kecil itu suasana tenang?

That word order sounds awkward and unnatural in Indonesian.

The normal structure is:

Saya suka [suasana tenang] [di kota kecil itu].
= Subject + verb + object + location phrase

You can sometimes move the location phrase earlier for focus, but you still keep the inner phrases intact:

Di kota kecil itu, saya suka suasana tenang.
= In that small town, I like the calm atmosphere. (fronting for emphasis)

But splitting di kota kecil itu and suasana tenang as in
✗ Saya suka di kota kecil itu suasana tenang breaks the usual and natural pattern, so avoid it.

How would I say this in the past or future? Indonesian has no tense endings, right?

Correct: Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. You add time words or aspect markers instead.

Base sentence (time-neutral):

Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.

To make it clearly past:

Dulu saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.
= I used to like the calm atmosphere in that small town.
Dulu = in the past / before
Or: Saya dulu suka …, Saya pernah suka …, depending on nuance.

To make it clearly future:

Saya akan suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu. (grammatical, but sounds a bit odd, because “liking” is usually present/ongoing)
More natural is to talk about going there:
Nanti kalau saya ke sana, saya pasti suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.
= Later when I go there, I’ll surely like the calm atmosphere in that small town.

Could I say something like “the calmness of that small town” instead of “the calm atmosphere in that small town”?

Yes, but you’d change the structure slightly.

Original: Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.
= I like the calm atmosphere in that small town.

A more “of the town” style:

Saya suka ketenangan kota kecil itu.
- ketenangan = calmness (from tenang)
- Literally: I like the calmness of that small town.

Both are natural, but:

suasana tenang di kota kecil itu focuses on the atmosphere in the town.
ketenangan kota kecil itu treats calmness as a quality possessed by the town.

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Would it sound different in casual speech?

The sentence is neutral, slightly leaning polite because of Saya.

Neutral / polite:
- Saya suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.

In casual speech, people might say:

Aku suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu.
Or even shorten / reduce a bit in fast conversation, depending on context.

To make it very colloquial (depending on region):

Gue suka suasana tenang di kota kecil itu. (Jakarta-style casual)

Grammatically, the structure stays the same; the pronoun choice mainly changes the tone.