Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

We go to the library after lunch.

Breakdown of Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

• sebuah: a
• kami: we
• pergi: to go
• makan siang: the lunch
• setelah: after
• perpustakaan: the library
• ke: into

Questions & Answers about Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and can I use kita instead of kami here?

Both mean we, but:

• kami = we (not including the person you’re talking to) → exclusive
• kita = we (including the person you’re talking to) → inclusive

In the sentence Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang, the speaker is saying “we” without including the listener.

If the listener also went to the library, you would normally say:

• Kita pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
  We (you and I / all of us including you) went to the library after lunch.

So yes, you can use kita here, but only if the listener is part of that “we.”

There’s no past tense marking on pergi. How do Indonesians know it means “went” and not “go” or “will go”?

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Pergi can mean go / went / will go, depending on context.

Speakers use time words or situation context to show tense, for example:

• tadi = earlier
• kemarin = yesterday
• nanti = later
• akan = will
• sudah = already

You could make the sentence more explicitly past or future like this:

• Tadi kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
  Earlier we went to the library after lunch.

• Nanti kami akan pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
  We will go to the library after lunch.

Without extra words, Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang is neutral; context usually makes it clear (e.g., when telling a story about today, it’s understood as “went”).

Is ke always necessary before perpustakaan? Why not just say Kami pergi perpustakaan?

You need ke here. In Indonesian:

• ke roughly corresponds to to (direction)
• perpustakaan = library (a place)

The pattern is:

• pergi ke [place] = go to [place]

So the natural form is:

• Kami pergi ke perpustakaan.

Without ke, pergi perpustakaan sounds incomplete or ungrammatical to native speakers in standard Indonesian. There are a few fixed expressions where ke can drop, but this isn’t one of them.

What does perpustakaan literally mean? Is it related to any other word?

Yes. Perpustakaan is a derived noun:

• pustaka = book / writing / text (a rather formal/literary word)
• per- … -an = a common prefix–suffix pair to form place nouns

So:

• per + pustaka + an → perpustakaan = a place for books → library

You wouldn’t normally say pustaka in everyday speech for “book”; you use buku. But you see pustaka in formal terms like:

• toko buku = bookstore
• penerbit pustaka = publishing house (formal / brand name style)

Can I change the word order, like putting setelah makan siang at the beginning?

Yes. Indonesian word order is quite flexible for time expressions. All of these are natural:

1. Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
2. Setelah makan siang, kami pergi ke perpustakaan.
3. Kami, setelah makan siang, pergi ke perpustakaan. (sounds a bit more written/formal)

They all mean the same thing. The most common in everyday speech are (1) and (2).

Is makan siang here a verb (“to have lunch”) or a noun (“lunch”)?

It can function as both, depending on the sentence. Literally:

• makan = to eat
• siang = midday / afternoon

Together makan siang is an idiomatic set phrase:

• as a verb phrase: Kami makan siang jam satu.
  We have lunch at one o’clock.

• as a noun phrase: similar to “lunch,” especially after sebelum / setelah:

  • sebelum makan siang = before lunch
  • setelah makan siang = after lunch

In your sentence, setelah makan siang is best understood like “after lunch,” even though its literal parts are “after eat-midday.”

Could I say setelah kami makan siang instead of setelah makan siang? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can:

• Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
• Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah kami makan siang.

Both are acceptable and mean essentially the same: “We went to the library after (we) had lunch.”

Differences:

• setelah makan siang is more compact and very common in speech.
• setelah kami makan siang makes the subject explicit, slightly longer and a bit more “complete,” often found in more careful or written language.

In most everyday situations, speakers simply say setelah makan siang. The subject is already clear from the main clause.

What’s the difference between setelah and sesudah? Could I use sesudah here?

Setelah and sesudah are near-synonyms:

• both mean after (in time)
• both can be used before a noun or a verb phrase

Examples:

• setelah makan siang / sesudah makan siang = after lunch
• setelah kami makan siang / sesudah kami makan siang = after we ate lunch

In your sentence, you can say:

• Kami pergi ke perpustakaan sesudah makan siang.

Setelah is a bit more common in modern standard Indonesian, but the difference is small. Both are correct and natural.

Sometimes I hear habis makan siang instead of setelah makan siang. Is that the same?

They’re very close in meaning, but with a nuance:

• setelah makan siang = after lunch (neutral, standard)
• habis makan siang = after (having) lunch / once lunch is finished
  
  • habis literally = finished / used up

Habis makan siang sounds a bit more informal / conversational in many contexts. You could say:

• Kami pergi ke perpustakaan habis makan siang.
  We went to the library after lunch (once lunch was over).

For learners and in more formal/neutral contexts, setelah or sesudah is safer.

Can I drop kami and just say Pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang?

You can drop the subject pronoun in Indonesian if it’s clear from context, and people do this a lot in casual speech:

• Pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

However:

• Without kami, the sentence is less complete and more “note-like,” as if you’re writing a short reminder or speaking very informally.

• In normal, full sentences—especially in writing or when you’re a learner—it’s better to keep the subject:

  • Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

So yes, it’s possible, but keep kami in most learner contexts.

Why doesn’t Indonesian use something like “the” in ke perpustakaan? How do you say “to the library” vs “to a library”?

Indonesian doesn’t have articles like a / an / the. The phrase:

• ke perpustakaan can mean to the library or to a library, depending on context.

If you need to be more specific, you add extra information:

• ke perpustakaan sekolah = to the school library
• ke perpustakaan itu = to that library
• ke perpustakaan yang biasa = to the usual library

But there is no separate grammatical word for “the” or “a.”

Where would I put words like tadi, sudah, or akan in this sentence to show time more clearly?

These words go near the verb or at the beginning of the sentence. All of these are possible and natural:

Past (earlier today):

• Tadi kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
• Kami tadi pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

Completed action:

• Kami sudah pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
  We have already gone to the library after lunch.

Future:

• Nanti kami akan pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.
• Kami akan pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang.

Typical pattern:

• [Time word] + subject + (time/aspect word) + verb + ...

Indonesian is flexible, but keeping them close to the verb or at the very start is most natural.

Is Kami pergi ke perpustakaan setelah makan siang formal, informal, or neutral? Would people say this in everyday conversation?

The sentence is neutral, suitable for:

• everyday conversation
• talking to friends, family, or colleagues
• written Indonesian (e.g., in a diary, message, or simple narration)

To make it more casual, people might shorten or add particles, for example:

• Abis makan siang, kami ke perpustakaan. (informal; abis = colloquial habis)
• Habis makan siang, kita ke perpustakaan, ya. (inclusive kita, with ya as a softener)

But your original sentence is perfectly natural and widely usable.