Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.

My parents smile when we eat breakfast together.

Breakdown of Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.

• sebuah: a
• makan: to eat
• kami: we
• sarapan: the breakfast
• tersenyum: to smile
• bersama: together
• ketika: when
• saya: my
• orang tua: the elder

Questions & Answers about Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.

In Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama, does orang tua mean parents or old people? How do I know?

Orang tua literally means old person, but in everyday Indonesian the fixed phrase orang tua almost always means parents (as a pair).

• orang tua saya = my parents (standard, neutral)
• orang-orang tua di kampung itu = the old people in that village

You usually know it means parents when:

• it’s followed by a possessive (orang tua saya, orang tua mereka, orang tuanya)
• the context is family, home, school, etc.

So in this sentence, orang tua saya is understood as my parents, not my old people.

Why is saya after orang tua? Why not say saya orang tua for my parents?

In Indonesian, possessive pronouns normally come after the noun they belong to:

• rumah saya = my house
• buku kamu = your book
• orang tua saya = my parents

So the pattern is:

[thing owned] + [owner]

Putting saya before a noun usually makes saya the subject, not a possessor:

• saya orang tua = I am a parent / I am an old person

So orang tua saya is my parents, while saya orang tua is I am a parent/old person.

I’ve seen orangtua, orang tua saya, and orang tuaku. What’s the difference between them?

All relate to the same idea (parents), but they differ in spacing and possessive form:

1. orang tua

   • Standard spelling in dictionaries.
   • Two words: orang (person) + tua (old).
   • Used like: orang tua saya (my parents).

2. orangtua

   • Often seen in everyday writing (ads, social media, etc.).
   • Many people write it as one word, though traditional spelling keeps it as two.
   • Meaning is the same: parents.

3. orang tua saya vs orang tuaku

   • orang tua saya = my parents (neutral, slightly more formal).
   • orang tuaku = my parents (more informal/intimate; -ku is a clitic for my).

All of these are understandable; orang tua saya is the safest neutral form.

Why is the verb tersenyum and not just senyum? What does the prefix ter- do here?

The root is senyum (smile). With the prefix ter-, it becomes the standard intransitive verb:

• tersenyum = to smile

So:

• Orang tua saya tersenyum = My parents smile / smiled.

About senyum vs tersenyum:

• tersenyum is the normal, standard verb form, good for spoken and written Indonesian.
• senyum alone can be used as a verb in informal speech:
  • Dia senyum ke saya. (informal)
  • Dia tersenyum kepada saya. (neutral/standard)

There is also tersenyum-senyum (reduplicated), which suggests smiling repeatedly or to oneself, like grinning or smiling to oneself.

So tersenyum here is the correct, neutral choice.

How can I tell if tersenyum here means smile, smiled, or was smiling? There’s no tense marker.

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. Tersenyum can mean smile / smiles / smiled / is smiling / was smiling, depending on context and time words.

To make the time clearer, Indonesians usually add an adverb:

• Past:

  • Tadi orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.
    = Earlier, my parents smiled when we ate breakfast together.

• Habitual / general:

  • Orang tua saya selalu tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.
    = My parents always smile when we eat breakfast together.

• Future:

  • Nanti orang tua saya akan tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.
    = Later my parents will smile when we eat breakfast together.

The basic verb tersenyum itself remains the same; time is shown by other words, not by changing the verb.

What’s the difference between kami and kita? Why is kami used here?

Both kami and kita mean we, but they differ in who is included:

• kami = we (speaker + others), excluding the listener
• kita = we (speaker + others), including the listener

In this sentence:

ketika kami makan sarapan bersama
when we ate breakfast together

The speaker is talking about a breakfast that the listener was not part of. So kami is correct: we (but not you).

If you used kita here, it would suggest the listener was also at that breakfast, which would change the meaning.

Is makan sarapan natural? Doesn’t sarapan already mean breakfast? Can I just say sarapan?

Yes, makan sarapan is natural and widely used, even though it’s literally eat breakfast.

Common ways to say eat breakfast:

• makan sarapan (very common, everyday speech)
• sarapan on its own used as a verb:
  • Kami sarapan bersama. = We had breakfast together.
• makan pagi (literally morning meal; also common in some regions)
• bersarapan (more formal/literary; not so common in casual speech)

So you could also say:

• Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami sarapan bersama.
• Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan pagi bersama.

All are acceptable; makan sarapan and sarapan are probably the most natural in everyday conversation.

What exactly does ketika mean here? Can I replace it with saat or waktu?

Ketika is a conjunction meaning when (at the time that):

... ketika kami makan sarapan bersama
... when we were eating / ate breakfast together

You can usually replace ketika with:

• saat – very similar, maybe slightly more formal/literary in some uses
  
  • Orang tua saya tersenyum saat kami makan sarapan bersama.
• waktu – literally time, but also used as when in everyday speech
  
  • Orang tua saya tersenyum waktu kami makan sarapan bersama.

All three sound natural here, with only slight style differences:

• ketika: neutral, good in writing and speech.
• saat: also neutral, a bit more formal in some contexts.
• waktu: very common in conversation, slightly more casual.

So yes, you can swap ketika with saat or waktu in this sentence.

What does bersama modify here? Does it mean together with my parents or we eat together? Why is it at the end?

Bersama means together / together with. In:

kami makan sarapan bersama

it most naturally links with the action makan sarapan, so it means:

we eat breakfast together

The whole clause is:

ketika kami makan sarapan bersama
when we eat breakfast together

Placing bersama at the end of the verb phrase like this is very typical:

• makan siang bersama = to have lunch together
• belajar bersama = to study together

If you want to stress together with my parents, you might say:

• Saya makan sarapan bersama orang tua saya.
  I eat breakfast together with my parents.

In your original sentence, the main focus is that we (the speaker and some others) are eating breakfast together; the fact that the parents are there is already clear from the subject Orang tua saya.

Can I change the word order and start with ketika? For example: Ketika kami makan sarapan bersama, orang tua saya tersenyum. Is that okay?

Yes, that is perfectly correct and very natural:

• Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.
• Ketika kami makan sarapan bersama, orang tua saya tersenyum.

Both mean the same thing. The difference is only in emphasis and style:

• Starting with Orang tua saya slightly emphasizes my parents.
• Starting with Ketika kami makan sarapan bersama slightly emphasizes the time/situation.

In writing, when ketika starts the sentence, you usually add a comma:

Ketika kami makan sarapan bersama, orang tua saya tersenyum.

How can I say My parents were smiling while we were eating breakfast together, to emphasize the ongoing action, like English was/were -ing?

To express an ongoing action, Indonesian often uses sedang before the verb:

• Orang tua saya sedang tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama.
  Literally: My parents were in the middle of smiling when we ate / were eating breakfast together.

More common and natural would be:

• Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami sedang makan sarapan bersama.
  = My parents smiled / were smiling when we were eating breakfast together.

You usually don’t need sedang in both clauses; adding it once (to the eating part) is enough to give the sense of an ongoing action. The context still plays a big role.

What level of formality is this sentence? Would it be okay in both spoken and written Indonesian?

Orang tua saya tersenyum ketika kami makan sarapan bersama. is:

• Grammatically standard
• Neutral in tone
• Appropriate in both spoken and written Indonesian

It’s fine for:

• everyday conversation
• stories, essays, exams
• neutral written texts

To make it more casual, people might shorten or tweak it a bit in speech:

• Orang tua aku senyum waktu kita sarapan bareng. (very informal, note also kita)

But your original sentence is a good, safe, standard form.