Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.

Finally I can sleep calmly.

Breakdown of Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.

• saya: I
• dengan: with
• tidur: to sleep
• tenang: calm
• bisa: can
• akhirnya: in the end

Questions & Answers about Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.

What does akhirnya literally mean, and how is it different from akhir?

Akhir means “end”.
Akhirnya is built from akhir + -nya, and as a whole it usually functions as an adverb meaning “finally / in the end / at last.”

So:

• akhir = the end (of something)
  
  • di akhir film = at the end of the movie
• akhirnya = finally / eventually / in the end
  
  • Akhirnya saya bisa tidur = Finally I can sleep.

In your sentence, akhirnya is best translated as “finally / at last.”

Why is akhirnya placed at the beginning? Can it go somewhere else?

Putting akhirnya at the beginning emphasizes the feeling of relief or conclusion:

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally, I can sleep peacefully. (Strong focus on finally.)

Other possible positions:

• Saya akhirnya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Still natural; the focus is a bit more on me (saya) and the process I went through.
• Saya bisa tidur dengan tenang akhirnya.
  Also possible in speech; sounds more informal and a bit “afterthought”-like.

All three are grammatical; the difference is nuance and emphasis, not correctness. Starting with akhirnya is very common when expressing relief.

What’s the difference between saya and aku here?

Both mean “I / me”, but they differ in formality and context:

• saya
  • Neutral–polite
  • Used with strangers, in formal situations, at work, in writing, with older people or people you don’t know well.
• aku
  • Informal / intimate
  • Used with close friends, family, and in casual situations; often in songs, poetry, social media.

So:

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Neutral, polite, fine in almost any context.

• Akhirnya aku bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  More casual, intimate.

The rest of the sentence doesn’t need to change; only the pronoun switches.

Why is bisa used for “can”? What about dapat and boleh?

Bisa means can / be able to and is very common in everyday speech.

• saya bisa tidur = I can sleep / I’m able to sleep

Comparison:

• bisa
  • Ability or possibility
  • Very common, neutral
  • Saya bisa tidur sekarang. = I can sleep now.
• dapat
  • Can (ability/possibility) or get/receive
  • Sounds a bit more formal or written when used as “can”
  • Akhirnya saya dapat tidur dengan tenang. = Finally I was able to sleep peacefully. (Formal-ish)
• boleh
  • Permission: may / am allowed to
  • Saya boleh tidur sekarang? = May I sleep now?

In your sentence, bisa is the most natural choice because it talks about finally being able to sleep, not being allowed to.

Does this sentence mean “finally I can sleep” (now) or “finally I could sleep” (in the past)? There’s no tense marker.

Indonesian usually does not mark tense on the verb. Bisa tidur on its own can refer to:

• Present / near future:
  Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally I can sleep peacefully (now / from now on).

• Past (often understood from context):
  If you were telling a story about last night, this same sentence could be understood as
  “Finally I was able to sleep peacefully.”

To make the past explicit, speakers often add time words or aspect markers:

• Akhirnya tadi malam saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally last night I could sleep peacefully.
• Akhirnya saya sudah bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally I’m now able to sleep peacefully (implies a change from before).

Why isn’t there untuk (to) before tidur? In English we say “can to sleep” (well, “can sleep”).

In Indonesian, you put the verb directly after bisa:

• bisa tidur = can sleep
• bisa pergi = can go
• bisa makan = can eat

You don’t say:

• ✗ bisa untuk tidur (unnatural in this meaning)

So the structure is simply:

[bisa] + [base verb]
bisa tidur, bisa bekerja, bisa bicara, etc.

What does dengan tenang mean literally, and why do we use dengan here?

Literally:

• dengan = with
• tenang = calm, peaceful

So dengan tenang = “with calmness / in a calm way”, i.e. calmly / peacefully.

In Indonesian, one common way to make an adverb (manner) from an adjective is:

dengan + adjective

Examples:

• berbicara dengan pelan = to speak softly
• berjalan dengan cepat = to walk quickly
• tidur dengan tenang = to sleep peacefully

You could say simply tidur tenang, but:

• dengan tenang sounds very natural and clearly adverbial (manner).
• tidur tenang can be used, but may sound a bit more like a set phrase, and in some contexts it’s used for “rest in peace” when someone has died. Context matters.

Could I just say Akhirnya saya bisa tidur tenang without dengan?

Yes, Akhirnya saya bisa tidur tenang is grammatically fine and understandable.

Nuance:

• tidur dengan tenang
  Very clearly “sleep in a peaceful way,” neutral and common.
• tidur tenang
  Also possible, but:
  • Often sounds a bit more like a descriptive phrase (“sleep [that is] peaceful”).
  • In some contexts, it is used in expressions referring to the dead (similar to “rest in peace”), e.g. Semoga dia tidur tenang.

For everyday, neutral “I finally can sleep peacefully,” dengan tenang is very safe and natural.

What’s the difference between tenang and nyenyak when talking about sleep?

Both can describe sleep, but they focus on different aspects:

• tenang = calm, peaceful, not disturbed
  
  • tidur dengan tenang = sleep peacefully, without worry or disturbance.
• nyenyak = deep, sound, good-quality sleep
  
  • tidur nyenyak = sleep soundly / sleep deeply.

So:

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Emphasis: my mind is calm, no worries/noise; I can rest peacefully.

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur nyenyak.
  Emphasis: I finally got deep, good-quality sleep.

Both are natural; which you choose depends on what you want to highlight.

Can I drop saya and just say Akhirnya bisa tidur dengan tenang?

Yes. Indonesian often drops the subject if it’s clear from context:

• Akhirnya bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Literally: “Finally can sleep peacefully.”

In conversation, people will normally understand that you are talking about yourself, especially if you’re describing your own situation. It sounds a bit more casual and spoken.

Including saya makes the subject explicit and is more neutral/complete:

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang.

Is tidur a verb or a noun here? Can it also be a noun like “sleep”?

In this sentence, tidur functions as a verb: to sleep.

However, tidur can act as both verb and noun, depending on context:

• Verb:
  • Saya ingin tidur. = I want to sleep.
• Noun:
  • Kurang tidur itu tidak sehat. = Lack of sleep is unhealthy.

You could make a more noun-based version:

• Akhirnya saya bisa mendapatkan tidur yang tenang.
  Literally: Finally I can get peaceful sleep.

This is grammatically correct but sounds more formal and less natural in everyday speech than the simple verb construction bisa tidur dengan tenang.

Is this sentence formal or informal overall?

The sentence is neutral and fits many situations:

• Akhirnya – neutral
• saya – neutral–polite
• bisa – neutral, everyday
• tidur dengan tenang – neutral

You could use it in:

• Casual conversation
• Talking to colleagues
• Writing a message or a diary entry
• Even in relatively polite contexts

To make it clearly informal, you might change saya to aku or a regional pronoun (e.g., gue in Jakarta):

• Akhirnya aku bisa tidur dengan tenang. (informal, friendly)
• Akhirnya gue bisa tidur dengan tenang. (Jakarta-style slang)

How would I say this in a more emotional or emphatic way in Indonesian?

You can add particles or extra words for emphasis:

• Akhirnya saya bisa juga tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally I can sleep peacefully (at last, after all this time).

• Akhirnya, saya benar-benar bisa tidur dengan tenang.
  Finally, I can really sleep peacefully.

• Akhirnya saya bisa tidur dengan tenang lagi.
  Finally I can sleep peacefully again. (implies it used to be like this before, then stopped, now back to normal.)

These additions don’t change the core grammar, just the emotional strength or nuance.