Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.

Grandfather will retire next year after working at the tax office for thirty years.

Breakdown of Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.

• di: at
• bekerja: to work
• akan: will
• setelah: after
• selama: for
• tiga puluh: thirty
• tahun: the year
• tahun depan: next year
• kakek: the grandfather
• pensiun: to retire
• kantor pajak: the tax office

Questions & Answers about Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.

What does akan do here? Is it like English will, and is it always required to talk about the future?

Akan is a marker that usually indicates future or planned actions, similar to English will or going to.

• Kakek akan pensiun ≈ “Grandpa will retire.”
• Indonesian does not have verb tenses like English, so time is often shown with:
  • time words (kemarin, sekarang, besok, tahun depan, etc.)
  • and/or markers like akan (future), sudah/telah (already).

Is it required?
No. You can drop akan if the future time is already clear:

• Kakek pensiun tahun depan.
  Context and tahun depan already show this is in the future.

Using akan just makes the future aspect more explicit, but both are natural.

Is pensiun a verb or a noun here? Why is there no to be like “will be retired”?

In this sentence pensiun functions like a verb meaning to retire.

• Kakek akan pensiun = “Grandpa will retire.”

Indonesian often uses words that can be both:

• a noun (pensiun = retirement)
• and a verb (pensiun = to retire)

There is no separate to be verb for this structure:

• You do not say: akan menjadi pensiun
• You just say: akan pensiun

Examples:

• Dia pensiun tahun lalu. – He/She retired last year.
• Mereka akan pensiun lebih cepat. – They will retire earlier.

There also exists memensiunkan (to retire someone, transitive), but that’s different and not used here.

Could the sentence be “Tahun depan kakek akan pensiun” instead? Where can I put the time phrase?

Yes, that is completely natural.

Common options:

• Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan.
• Tahun depan, kakek akan pensiun.

Both are correct. In Indonesian, time expressions are flexible and can appear:

• at the beginning (for emphasis or flow)
• at the end
• sometimes in the middle, as long as it’s clear

They all keep the same basic meaning: the retirement happens next year. The choice is mostly about style, rhythm, or what you want to emphasize.

Why is it tahun depan, not depan tahun? What exactly does depan mean here?

Depan literally means front or ahead, but with time words it is used to mean next.

In Indonesian, adjectives or modifiers usually come after the noun:

• tahun depan – next year (literally: year next/ahead)
• minggu depan – next week
• bulan depan – next month

So:

• tahun (year) + depan (next) → tahun depan (next year)

Depan tahun is wrong for this meaning and is not used as “next year.”
Think of depan here as a time-related adjective that must follow the noun.

How does setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun work grammatically? Why can setelah be followed directly by bekerja?

Setelah means after and can introduce a clause. Indonesian allows:

• setelah + subject + verb, or
• setelah + verb (with the subject understood from context)

In this sentence:

• The subject of bekerja is the same as in the main clause (kakek),
• so it is dropped because it would be repetitive.

Fully “expanded” version (more explicit, but usually not needed):

• Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan setelah kakek bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.

Natural, shortened version:

• Kakek akan pensiun tahun depan setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.

Indonesian often omits repeated subjects when they are clearly understood.

Why is there no he or he has before bekerja? In English we say “after he worked / after he has worked”.

Indonesian does not require repeating the subject if it is the same person as in the main clause.

• Main clause subject: kakek
• Subordinate clause: (kakek) bekerja di kantor pajak…

Because it’s obvious that kakek is the one who worked, Indonesian speakers naturally drop the second subject:

• English: “Grandpa will retire … after he has worked …”
• Indonesian: Kakek akan pensiun … setelah Ø bekerja …

This is very common and sounds natural. Adding dia or repeating kakek is usually unnecessary and can sound heavy unless you want to emphasize or contrast subjects.

What does selama mean, and could we just say tiga puluh tahun without it?

Selama means for (a duration of) or during.

• selama tiga puluh tahun = for thirty years

In many cases, selama can be omitted without changing the basic meaning, especially in clear contexts:

• Dia bekerja di sana tiga tahun.
• Dia bekerja di sana selama tiga tahun.

Both mean: “He/She worked there for three years.”

In your sentence:

• … setelah bekerja di kantor pajak selama tiga puluh tahun.
• Dropping selama to get … setelah bekerja di kantor pajak tiga puluh tahun is possible, but with long phrases, selama helps clarity and sounds smoother and more natural.

How do Indonesian number words like tiga puluh tahun work? Why is it written as two words?

Indonesian writes most multi-part numbers as separate words:

• tiga puluh = thirty (3 × 10)
• empat puluh lima = forty-five
• seratus = one hundred (written as a single word)
• seratus dua puluh = one hundred twenty

In your phrase:

• tiga = three
• puluh = tens
• tahun = years

So:

• tiga puluh tahun = thirty years

Writing tigapuluh as one word is incorrect in standard Indonesian spelling.

What does di kantor pajak mean exactly? Why do we use di, and where is “the” or “a”?

Di is a preposition meaning at / in / on (location).

• di kantor pajak = at the tax office / in the tax office

Breakdown:

• kantor = office
• pajak = tax
• kantor pajak = tax office

Indonesian does not use articles like a or the. Whether you translate it as a tax office or the tax office depends on the context in English, but Indonesian just says kantor pajak.

So:

• bekerja di kantor pajak = (to) work at a/the tax office.

Does kantor pajak refer to a specific government office, or any office that deals with tax?

In everyday Indonesian, kantor pajak normally refers to an official tax office, i.e. a government office responsible for handling taxes.

Context can make it more specific:

• kantor pajak – a general tax office
• kantor pajak pusat – central tax office
• kantor pajak daerah – regional/local tax office

But in normal conversation, kantor pajak is usually understood as “the (government) tax office” rather than just any private office that happens to work with taxes.

What does kakek mean here? Is it only “my grandfather”, or can it be used more generally?

Kakek literally means grandfather.

It can be used in two main ways:

1. As a kinship noun (my actual grandfather)

   • kakek saya = my grandfather
     In many families, people also simply say Kakek to refer to their own grandfather when the relationship is clear from context, like English speakers sometimes say “Grandpa” without my.

2. As a polite or familiar way to refer to an old man
   Depending on region and context, kakek can also be used like “grandpa / old man” when talking about or to an elderly man, but this is more sensitive and depends on culture and tone.

In your sentence, without extra context, the most natural understanding is: “(My/our) grandpa will retire…”.