Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Setiap Agustus, sekolah kami mengadakan upacara bendera untuk memperingati hari kemerdekaan. - Every August, our school holds a flag ceremony to commemorate Independence Day.

Setiap Agustus = every August.
Tiap Agustus is basically the same meaning; tiap is slightly more informal/colloquial.
You can also say setiap bulan Agustus (every month of August), but that sounds a bit redundant; setiap Agustus is more natural for “every August (every year)”.

Why is it “Setiap Agustus” and not “pada Agustus” or “di Agustus”?

For time expressions like months, days, dates, Indonesian often drops the preposition:

Setiap Agustus is the normal way to say every August.
Pada Agustus (in August) is possible, but sounds more formal or written.
Di Agustus for time is generally avoided; di is mainly for places, not for months.

So “setiap Agustus” is the most natural spoken/written choice here.

Can I also say “Sekolah kami mengadakan upacara bendera setiap Agustus”? Is the word order important?

Yes, that sentence is correct and means the same thing.

Setiap Agustus, sekolah kami … (time at the beginning)
Sekolah kami … setiap Agustus. (time at the end)

Indonesian is flexible: moving the time phrase emphasizes it slightly, but the meaning (habitual action every August) does not change. Both are natural.

What exactly does “sekolah kami” mean, and how is “kami” different from “kita”?

sekolah kami = our school (not including you, the listener)
sekolah kita = our school (including you, the listener)

So kami = we/us (exclusive), kita = we/us (inclusive).

In this sentence, sekolah kami implies the speaker’s school, and the listener is not assumed to be part of that school. If you were talking to your classmates or fellow teachers from the same school, you’d more naturally say “sekolah kita”.

What does “mengadakan” mean here, and is it like “to have” or “to hold” an event?

Mengadakan means “to hold / to organize / to stage” (an event).

It often collocates with events: mengadakan upacara, mengadakan rapat, mengadakan lomba, etc.
In English you might translate it as “hold” or “organize”:
- Our school holds a flag ceremony…
- Our school organizes a flag ceremony…

It is formed from ada (“to exist / there is”) with meN- … -kan and is a bit formal/neutral in tone. Synonyms include menyelenggarakan and (more journalistic) menggelar.

What exactly is an “upacara bendera”? Is it just any ceremony with a flag?

In Indonesian school and national context, upacara bendera is a specific, formal flag-raising ceremony:

Typically done every Monday at schools and on special days like Hari Kemerdekaan.
Includes lining up, saluting the flag, singing the national anthem, speeches, etc.

Upacara = ceremony (formal, ritualized), whereas acara is more general: event/program (party, meeting, talk show, etc.). So upacara bendera is a standard national/school ceremony, not just any casual event with a flag.

Why is there no “a” or “the” before “upacara bendera” or “hari kemerdekaan”?

Indonesian does not have articles like “a/an/the”. Nouns usually appear without any article, and context shows whether you mean “a” or “the”.

upacara bendera can mean “a flag ceremony” or “the flag ceremony”, depending on context.
hari kemerdekaan can mean “Independence Day” in general, usually understood as the one you have in mind.

If you need to be very specific, Indonesian uses other words like itu (that/the), sebuah (a), etc., or adds extra information (e.g. hari kemerdekaan Indonesia).

What does “untuk memperingati” mean, and can I drop “untuk”?

Untuk memperingati here means “to commemorate / in order to commemorate”.

untuk = for / in order to
memperingati = to commemorate, to observe (an important day)

Whole phrase: mengadakan upacara bendera untuk memperingati hari kemerdekaan = hold a flag ceremony to commemorate Independence Day.

You sometimes see memperingati hari kemerdekaan directly after a noun (upacara bendera memperingati hari kemerdekaan), but in this “mengadakan X untuk Y” pattern, untuk is natural and expected. Dropping it here would sound odd in standard Indonesian.

What does “memperingati” literally mean, and how is it used?

Memperingati means “to commemorate / to solemnly mark” an important day or event.

It is commonly used with days and anniversaries:

memperingati hari kemerdekaan – to commemorate Independence Day
memperingati Hari Pahlawan – to commemorate Heroes’ Day
memperingati ulang tahun kota ini – to commemorate this city’s anniversary

Literally, it is related to ingat (to remember). Compared to merayakan (to celebrate), memperingati sounds more solemn/formal, focusing on remembrance, not just having fun.

Does “hari kemerdekaan” automatically refer to Indonesian Independence Day? Should it be capitalized?

On its own, hari kemerdekaan literally means “independence day” and could refer to any country’s. But:

In everyday Indonesian, especially around August, hari kemerdekaan is usually understood as Indonesia’s Independence Day (17 August) unless another country is mentioned.
To be explicit, people say Hari Kemerdekaan Indonesia or Hari Kemerdekaan Republik Indonesia.

In standard writing, names of official days are capitalized: Hari Kemerdekaan, Hari Kemerdekaan RI, etc. In casual writing, people often don’t follow capitalization rules strictly.

How do we know this sentence describes a habitual action (every year), not a single event, since the verb doesn’t change?

Indonesian verbs do not change for tense (no -ed, -s, etc.). Habit or time reference is shown by time expressions and context.

Here, setiap Agustus (“every August”) clearly shows a repeated, habitual action. So the meaning is:

Every August (regularly, every year), our school holds a flag ceremony…

Without setiap, the sentence could describe something more like a one-time event in August.

What is the level of formality of this sentence? Would it sound natural in everyday speech?

The sentence is neutral–formal, and sounds very natural in school / official / written contexts.

mengadakan upacara bendera untuk memperingati hari kemerdekaan is typical of announcements, reports, or teachers’ speech.
In casual conversation a student might say something like:
- “Tiap Agustus, di sekolah kami ada upacara bendera buat Hari Kemerdekaan.”

So it’s perfectly normal Indonesian, just a bit on the formal side.

Is the comma after “Setiap Agustus” necessary?

When a time expression comes at the beginning of the sentence, a comma is recommended in standard Indonesian:

Setiap Agustus, sekolah kami mengadakan…

In informal writing, many people omit it, and the sentence is still understood. But in careful writing (school essays, newspapers), keeping the comma is preferred.