Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Toko kecil paman hampir bangkrut waktu pandemi, tetapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih. - My uncle’s small shop was almost bankrupt during the pandemic, but now it is slowly recovering.

uncle’s small shop (often understood as “my uncle’s” from context), or
an uncle’s small shop in a context where you’re just talking about “the uncle”.

If you explicitly want my uncle’s, you can say:

toko kecil paman saya = my uncle’s small shop
toko kecil milik paman saya = the small shop owned by my uncle

Why is kecil placed after toko, when in English we say “small shop”, not “shop small”?

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

toko kecil = small shop
rumah besar = big house
anak pintar = smart child

So the normal pattern is:

Noun + adjective (not adjective + noun)

In toko kecil paman, the head of the phrase is still toko, and kecil is an adjective modifying it:

toko kecil = small shop
toko kecil paman = uncle’s small shop

So the position of kecil (after toko) is the ordinary, default position for adjectives in Indonesian.

What exactly does hampir do in hampir bangkrut? Can it come after bangkrut?

hampir means almost / nearly. It modifies what comes after it:

hampir bangkrut = almost bankrupt / almost went bankrupt
hampir jatuh = almost fell
hampir habis = almost finished / nearly used up

So the pattern is:

hampir + verb/adjective

You cannot move hampir after the word it modifies:

hampir bangkrut ✓ natural
bangkrut hampir ✗ wrong

Two common, slightly stronger variations you might also see:

hampir saja bangkrut
nyaris bangkrut (synonym of hampir, often just a style choice)

Is bangkrut an adjective or a verb here? Why is there no word for “to be”?

bangkrut literally means bankrupt. In Indonesian, many words that look like adjectives also function like intransitive verbs, without any “to be”:

toko itu bangkrut = that shop is bankrupt / that shop went bankrupt
harga naik = prices rise / are rising
dia marah = he/she is angry / got angry

So bangkrut here is a stative verb or adjective-like verb. Indonesian does not use a separate copula like “is / was / are” in these cases.

In context:

hampir bangkrut = almost (became) bankrupt

Time is understood from context or time expressions like waktu pandemi (“during the pandemic”), not from verb changes.

What does waktu mean in waktu pandemi, and can I use saat, ketika, or selama instead?

Literally, waktu means time, but in expressions like waktu pandemi it works more like “when / at the time of / during”:

waktu pandemi ≈ during the pandemic / when the pandemic happened

Similar options:

saat pandemi – very close in meaning; common and natural
ketika pandemi – also “when the pandemic (happened)”; a bit more sentence-like, often followed by a clause:
- ketika pandemi melanda… = when the pandemic hit…
selama pandemi – during the whole period of the pandemic, stressing the duration

In your sentence, you could say:

…hampir bangkrut waktu pandemi…
…hampir bangkrut saat pandemi…
…hampir bangkrut selama pandemi…

All are acceptable. selama leans slightly more toward “for the duration of”, but in casual speech they are often used interchangeably.

Why is there no word for “the” in pandemi? How do you say “the pandemic” vs “a pandemic” in Indonesian?

Indonesian does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”. A bare noun can be:

specific: pandemi = the pandemic (the one we all know about)
or general: pandemi = a pandemic (in general)

Context usually tells you which one is meant.

If you really want to be explicit:

pandemi ini = this pandemic
pandemi itu = that pandemic / the pandemic (already known in the conversation)
sebuah pandemi = a pandemic (one pandemic; used but not very common in everyday speech)

In your sentence, waktu pandemi is naturally understood as “during the pandemic” (the recent, well-known one) because that’s the obvious shared context.

What is the nuance of tetapi here? How is it different from tapi and namun?

All three can translate as “but / however”, but they differ in formality and style:

tetapi
- meaning: but / however
- register: neutral, fine in both spoken and written Indonesian
tapi
- meaning: but
- register: more informal / conversational
- very common in speech: …tapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih.
namun
- meaning: however / nevertheless
- register: slightly more formal, common in writing
- usually at the beginning of the clause: Namun, sekarang pelan-pelan pulih.

In your sentence, tetapi links the negative past situation with the positive current situation:

…hampir bangkrut waktu pandemi, tetapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih.
…almost went bankrupt during the pandemic, but now (it’s) slowly recovering.

Why doesn’t the second clause repeat toko kecil paman as the subject? Is it normal to drop the subject?

Yes, it’s very normal in Indonesian to drop the subject in the second clause if it is the same as in the first clause.

First clause:

Toko kecil paman hampir bangkrut waktu pandemi,
- subject = Toko kecil paman (uncle’s small shop)

Second clause:

tetapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih.
- no explicit subject, but clearly still talking about Toko kecil paman

You could say:

…, tetapi sekarang toko kecil paman pelan-pelan pulih.

This is grammatically correct but feels heavier and less natural in everyday speech. Indonesians will normally omit the repeated subject when it’s obvious from context, just like in English we often say:

“My uncle’s small shop almost went bankrupt during the pandemic, but now (it) is slowly recovering.”

The “it” is also omitted in your Indonesian sentence.

What does pelan-pelan mean exactly, and why is the word repeated? Is it different from just pelan?

pelan-pelan means slowly / gently / carefully.

The base word pelan means slow or soft (in volume). When it is duplicated (reduplicated) to pelan-pelan, a few things happen:

It very often functions as an adverb (“slowly”), not just an adjective:
- Mobil itu jalan pelan-pelan. = The car moves slowly.
It can add a sense of gradualness or gentleness:
- Bicaranya pelan-pelan saja. = Just speak slowly / gently.

Difference:

pelan (alone) = slow / not fast / not loud
pelan-pelan = slowly, little by little, take it easy

Both can be used, but pelan-pelan is extremely common in everyday speech to talk about doing something slowly or gradually, like pelan-pelan pulih (recover slowly).

Is pelan-pelan formal? How does it compare to perlahan-lahan or words like lambat?

Roughly:

pelan-pelan
- meaning: slowly, gently
- register: everyday, informal–neutral
- very common in speech
perlahan-lahan
- meaning: slowly, gradually
- register: a bit more formal than pelan-pelan, fits well in writing
- can often replace pelan-pelan:
  - …tetapi sekarang perlahan-lahan pulih.
lambat
- meaning: slow (more like “not fast”, often for speed or pace)
- pelan and lambat overlap, but lambat is less about “soft/gentle” and more simply “slow”.

In your sentence, all of these are possible:

…sekarang pelan-pelan pulih. (very natural, conversational)
…sekarang perlahan-lahan pulih. (slightly more formal/literary)

The core meaning remains “(is) slowly recovering”.

What does pulih mean here, and how is it different from sembuh or memulihkan?

pulih means to recover / to return to a normal or good condition. It is usually intransitive (no direct object):

Ekonomi mulai pulih. = The economy is starting to recover.
Dia sudah pulih. = He/She has recovered (from illness / a bad state).

Differences:

sembuh
- mainly for illness, injury, or health
- Dia sudah sembuh. = He/She is cured / recovered (from sickness).
- Not usually used for businesses or economies.
pulih
- can be used for health, economy, conditions, systems, feelings, etc.
- bisnis pulih, ekonomi pulih, kondisi pulih are all normal.
memulihkan
- transitive verb = to restore / to make something recover
- Pemerintah berusaha memulihkan ekonomi.
  = The government is trying to restore the economy.

So pelan-pelan pulih here means the shop is slowly recovering / returning to a better financial condition.

Can sekarang be placed in another position, like “tetapi pelan-pelan pulih sekarang”? Does the word order matter?

Yes, sekarang (now) is flexible. Common placements include:

tetapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih.
tetapi pelan-pelan pulih sekarang.
tetapi sekarang sudah pelan-pelan pulih. (adds sudah = already)

All of these are grammatically correct. The differences are mainly rhythm and emphasis, not meaning:

tetapi sekarang pelan-pelan pulih
- very natural; emphasizes the time change (now) early in the clause.
tetapi pelan-pelan pulih sekarang
- still fine; sounds a bit more like you’re emphasizing the process and then adding “now” at the end.

Indonesian word order is fairly flexible for adverbs like sekarang, as long as the sentence remains clear and natural. The original order is probably the most typical in everyday usage.