Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat biasanya sepi.

The cafe next to the head office is usually quiet.

Breakdown of Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat biasanya sepi.

• adalah: to be
• biasanya: usually
• kantor pusat: the head office
• kafe: the cafe
• sepi: quiet
• di sebelah: next to

Questions & Answers about Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat biasanya sepi.

What does di mean in di sebelah, and can I just say sebelah kantor pusat?

Di is a preposition that usually means at / in / on / in the.
Sebelah by itself can mean side, next to, or the other side.

• di sebelah kantor pusat = beside / next to the head office
• sebelah kantor pusat (without di) is less natural here; you normally keep di to make it clearly a prepositional phrase about location.

So in this sentence, you should say di sebelah, not just sebelah.

How should I understand the structure kafe di sebelah kantor pusat?

Think of it as a noun with a descriptive phrase after it:

• kafe = the café
• di sebelah kantor pusat = (that is) next to the head office

So kafe di sebelah kantor pusat roughly works like “the café next to the head office” in English.
In Indonesian, descriptive information often comes after the noun.

Can I say kafe yang di sebelah kantor pusat? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

• kafe yang di sebelah kantor pusat

Adding yang makes it feel more like “the café that is next to the head office”, slightly more specific or contrastive.

Difference in feel:

• kafe di sebelah kantor pusat
  Neutral description, commonly used, already clear.

• kafe yang di sebelah kantor pusat
  Emphasizes that particular café among others, like you’re distinguishing it from other cafés.

There is no a or the in the Indonesian sentence. How do I know if it means the café or a café?

Indonesian generally has no articles like a / an / the.
Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat can mean:

• the café next to the head office (if both speakers know which café)
• a café next to the head office (if it’s being mentioned for the first time)

Which one is intended depends on context, not on the grammar of the sentence itself.

What exactly does kantor pusat mean? Is it head office or headquarters?

• kantor = office
• pusat = center

Together, kantor pusat is usually:

• head office (for a company, organization, bank, etc.)
• Often also used like headquarters, especially for businesses.

For military or government headquarters, you might also see markas besar (mabes for short), but for companies kantor pusat is standard.

What does biasanya literally come from, and can I use biasa instead?

Biasanya is built from:

• biasa = usual / ordinary
• -nya = a suffix that, among other functions, can turn adjectives or nouns into adverbs or “the usual …”

In this context, biasanya means usually / as a rule / typically.

You cannot just replace it with biasa here.
Compare:

• Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat biasanya sepi.
  = The café next to the head office is usually quiet.

• Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat biasa sepi.
  This sounds wrong or very odd. Biasa doesn’t work as usually here; you need biasanya.

Can I move biasanya to the beginning or end of the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian is quite flexible with adverbs like biasanya:

• Biasanya, kafe di sebelah kantor pusat sepi.
• Kafe di sebelah kantor pusat sepi biasanya.

The first alternative (putting biasanya at the start) is very natural in speech and writing.
The last one (… sepi biasanya) is possible but less common; it can sound a bit more casual or conversational.

The original position (… biasanya sepi) is also very natural and common.

Why isn’t there a word for is in kafe … biasanya sepi?

Indonesian often drops the verb “to be” when the predicate is an adjective or a noun in the present tense.

• Kafe … sepi.
  Literally: Café … quiet.
  Understood as: The café is quiet.

You only use words like adalah, ialah, or merupakan in specific structures (usually more formal or when linking to a noun phrase), not with simple adjective predicates like sepi.

What does sepi really mean? Is it more like quiet or empty?

Sepi includes both ideas:

• Few or no people there (not crowded)
• Quiet, not much noise or activity

So it can mean:

• quiet, not busy
• sometimes close to empty or deserted, depending on context

In this sentence, biasanya sepi suggests the café is not busy / not many customers, and therefore quiet.

What’s the difference between sepi, tenang, sunyi, and hening?

All relate to quietness, but with different nuances:

• sepi
  Focus on lack of people / activity. A place is not crowded, maybe almost empty.

• tenang
  Focus on calmness / peacefulness. Can refer to mood, situation, or environment:

  • lautnya tenang = the sea is calm
  • saya merasa tenang = I feel calm

• sunyi
  Literary or formal-ish, similar to silent / lonely / deserted.
  Stronger sense of emptiness or isolation.

• hening
  Very quiet, often with a poetic or solemn feel; utter silence.

In the café sentence, sepi is the most natural choice.

Is di sebelah the same as di samping?

They are very close in meaning and often interchangeable:

• di sebelah = next to, beside
• di samping = at/on the side of, next to

Nuance:

• di samping can feel a bit more literal/physical: at the side of.
• di sebelah is extremely common in everyday speech for next to / next door.

In this sentence, you could also say:

• Kafe di samping kantor pusat biasanya sepi.

Both sound natural.

Is kafe the same as warung kopi?

Not exactly:

• kafe
  A café, often more modern or Western-style, with coffee, snacks, a certain “café atmosphere.”

• warung kopi (often warkop)
  Literally coffee stall; more informal, often simpler, sometimes roadside, very local feel.

So kafe di sebelah kantor pusat suggests a more “café-like” place, not just a simple street stall.