Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih. - After the rain subsides, the situation at our house slowly recovers.

hujan reda
- Focuses on the rain lessening or calming down.
- Very natural and common in Indonesian.
- Sounds a bit softer, like English “the rain subsided.”
hujan berhenti
- Means the rain stops completely.
- Also correct and common.

In many contexts you can use either, but reda often sounds a bit more descriptive or literary, while berhenti is more technical “stop.”

Why isn’t there any past tense marking in Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for past, present, or future. There is no equivalent of English -ed, did, or will built into the verb.

Time is usually shown by:

Time words / conjunctions like setelah (after), kemarin (yesterday), nanti (later), etc.
Optional markers like sudah / telah (already), akan (will).

Here, setelah (“after”) already makes it clear that the event is in the past from the speaker’s perspective, so pulih stays in its base form.

What is the grammatical subject of pulih in this sentence?

The subject of pulih is the whole noun phrase:

keadaan di rumah kami
= the situation/condition at our house

So structurally:

Setelah hujan reda = adverbial clause (time)
keadaan di rumah kami = subject
pelan-pelan = adverb (how)
pulih = verb (“recovered / returned to normal”)

Why do we say di rumah kami instead of just rumah kami? What does di do here?

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

keadaan di rumah kami
= the condition at our house / in our house

If you removed di, you would change the structure:

keadaan rumah kami
Tends to mean the condition of our house itself (e.g., physically damaged or not).

So:

keadaan di rumah kami → condition at the place (what things are like there)
keadaan rumah kami → condition of the house as an object (e.g., walls, roof)

Both can be correct, but di rumah kami emphasizes the situation taking place there.

Why is kami used instead of kita in rumah kami?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of we / our:

kami = we / our, excluding the person spoken to
kita = we / our, including the person spoken to

Rumah kami = our house (not including you)
This is natural when you talk about your own family’s house to someone who doesn’t live there.

If you said rumah kita, it would imply that the listener also lives there or shares that house with you.

What exactly does keadaan mean here? Could I use situasi instead?

Keadaan means state, condition, situation in a broad sense. In this sentence, it refers to the overall condition at home after the rain (maybe flooding, mess, anxiety, etc.).

You can say situasi di rumah kami instead; it’s understandable and acceptable:

keadaan di rumah kami
= general condition (physical, emotional, practical)
situasi di rumah kami
= situation, usually a bit more about events / circumstances

Both are fine, but keadaan often feels slightly more neutral and general.

What does pelan-pelan mean, and why is the word repeated?

Pelan means slow. When it’s repeated as pelan-pelan, it functions as an adverb meaning:

slowly
gradually
little by little / slowly but surely

Repetition (reduplication) in Indonesian often:

Turns an adjective into an adverb
Adds a nuance of gradualness, small steps, a softer or more casual tone

So pelan-pelan pulih ≈ slowly recovered / gradually returned to normal.

Can pelan-pelan go in another position, like before keadaan or after pulih?

Yes, adverbs like pelan-pelan are fairly flexible in Indonesian, but some positions sound more natural than others.

All of these are possible:

keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih ✔ (very natural)
keadaan di rumah kami pulih pelan-pelan ✔ (also okay)
pelan-pelan, keadaan di rumah kami pulih ✔ (with a pause/comma, for emphasis on “slowly”)

Less natural:

pelan-pelan keadaan di rumah kami pulih (possible, but the rhythm is a bit awkward in everyday speech)

Typical, most neutral versions:

Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih.
Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pulih pelan-pelan.

What’s the difference between pelan-pelan, perlahan-lahan, perlahan, and lambat?

All relate to slowness, but with different common uses and tones.

pelan-pelan
- Informal, everyday, very common in speech.
- Means slowly / gradually / take it easy.
- Often used as a gentle instruction: Pelan-pelan ya (“Go slowly, okay”).
perlahan-lahan
- Slightly more formal/neutral.
- Also slowly / gradually.
- Works well in writing or more formal speech.
perlahan
- Shorter form of perlahan-lahan.
- Means slowly, often a bit more formal/neutral than pelan-pelan.
lambat
- Adjective slow in the sense of not fast / delayed.
- Often used for speed or lateness: internetnya lambat (the internet is slow), dia lambat datang (he/she came late/slowly).
- Not usually used as an adverb for process recovery like pulih lambat in this sentence; pelan-pelan or perlahan-lahan are more natural there.

So in this sentence, pelan-pelan or perlahan-lahan are the best choices.

What exactly does pulih mean, and how is it different from sembuh?

Pulih means to recover / to return to normal. It’s quite general and can be used for:

Health: kesehatannya mulai pulih (his/her health is starting to recover)
Situations: ekonomi mulai pulih (the economy is starting to recover)
Conditions: keadaan pulih (the condition returns to normal)

Sembuh is to be cured / to heal and is more strongly associated with:

Illness: dia sudah sembuh (he/she has recovered from illness)
Injuries

In this sentence, we’re talking about an overall situation/condition, not a sick person, so pulih is the most natural choice.

Is the comma after reda necessary, and can I put the clauses in the opposite order?

The comma after reda is standard and recommended, because Setelah hujan reda is a dependent time clause placed at the beginning.

You can definitely change the order, just like in English:

Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih.
Keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih setelah hujan reda.

Both are correct. When the setelah-clause comes first, a comma is normally used. When it comes second, a comma is usually not needed.

Could I say Setelah hujan reda, rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih instead? Does that change the meaning?

You could, but the nuance changes.

keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih
= the situation/condition at our house slowly recovered
(focus on what life/situation there was like)
rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih
Literally = our house slowly recovered
(sounds more like the house itself is what’s recovering—e.g., the house was damaged and later restored)

That second version is understandable, but in natural usage Indonesians usually talk about keadaan / situasi recovering, not the house as a person-like subject. The original sentence sounds more idiomatic.

If I want to emphasize that things have already recovered, where would I put sudah?

To emphasize a finished result, you can use sudah before the verb pulih:

Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami sudah pulih.

If you keep pelan-pelan, it starts to sound like you’re mixing process (“slowly”) and completed result (“already”) in one short sentence, which is a bit odd. More natural options:

Talk about the process (no sudah):
- Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih.
Talk about the final result (drop pelan-pelan):
- Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami sudah pulih.

You can describe both, but usually in two clauses or sentences, for example:

Setelah hujan reda, keadaan di rumah kami pelan-pelan pulih, dan sekarang sudah pulih sepenuhnya.
(After the rain subsided, the situation at our house slowly recovered, and now it has fully recovered.)