Saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

I can hear the sound of the rain from the living room.

Breakdown of Saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

• saya: I
• bisa: can
• dari: from
• ruang tamu: the living room
• suara: the sound
• hujan: the rain
• dengar: to hear

Questions & Answers about Saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

Why do we use bisa here? Could I also say Saya dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu without bisa?

Bisa literally means can / to be able to, so Saya bisa dengar... is close to “I can hear...” or “I’m able to hear...”.

You can drop bisa and say Saya dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu. The difference is subtle:

• Saya bisa dengar suara hujan...
  – Emphasizes ability or possibility (e.g., “From here, I can hear it.”)
• Saya dengar suara hujan...
  – More like a simple statement of fact: “I hear the sound of the rain...”

Both are natural; which one you choose depends on whether you want to highlight the ability/possibility (bisa) or just describe what’s happening (no bisa).

What’s the difference between dengar and mendengar?

They come from the same root:

• dengar = root form
• mendengar = meN-
  • dengar (a more “complete” verb form)

Usage:

• In informal / everyday Indonesian, people very often say dengar after a modal like bisa, mau, harus, etc.
  
  • Saya bisa dengar suara hujan. (very natural in speech)
• In more formal Indonesian, or when the verb stands alone, you’ll often see mendengar:
  • Saya mendengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

So:

• Spoken, casual: Saya bisa dengar...
• Neutral/formal writing: Saya bisa mendengar... or Saya mendengar...

Both are grammatically acceptable; the choice is mostly about style and formality.

Why is it suara hujan for “the sound of (the) rain” and not suara dari hujan?

In Indonesian, the usual way to say “sound of X” is:

suara + [thing that makes the sound]

So:

• suara hujan = sound of rain
• suara mobil = sound of a car / traffic
• suara angin = sound of the wind

The second noun (hujan) functions like a descriptive modifier after the main noun (suara).
Suara dari hujan is understandable but sounds unnatural and wordy in this context. Indonesian rarely uses dari to join two nouns in this kind of “X of Y” phrase; the default is just noun + noun: suara hujan.

What’s the difference between suara and bunyi? Could I say bunyi hujan?

Both relate to sound, but there are tendencies:

• suara
  
  • Often: voice (human or animal)
  • Also: sound in a more general or slightly more abstract sense
  • Common in fixed expressions: suara hujan, suara musik, suara mesin
• bunyi
  
  • Literally “sound” (the physical phenomenon)
  • Often used in contexts like bunyi bel (the sound of the bell), bunyi ledakan (the sound of an explosion), school physics, spelling, etc.

You can say bunyi hujan, and people will understand, but suara hujan is more idiomatic and common to talk about the rain as something you hear in the background.

Why is it dari ruang tamu? Could I also say di ruang tamu?

Both are possible, but they focus on different things:

• dari ruang tamu = from the living room
  – Emphasizes the source/location you are in when you hear it.
  – Like English: “I can hear the sound of the rain from the living room.”
• di ruang tamu = in the living room
  – Emphasizes where the activity is happening.
  – Saya dengar suara hujan di ruang tamu is more like:
  “In the living room, I hear the sound of the rain.”

In many contexts, they can describe the same real situation (you’re in the living room hearing the rain), but:

• dari = origin / starting point / comes from that place
• di = location where something is happening

Your original sentence uses dari to highlight that the living room is the place from which you can hear the rain.

Can I omit Saya and just say Bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu?

Yes. Indonesian often drops the subject pronoun when it’s clear from context.

• Bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
  – Natural in conversation, especially as a quick comment like “(I/you/we) can hear the sound of the rain from the living room.”

However:

• If it’s not clear who you’re talking about, including Saya keeps it explicit.
• In writing (especially formal writing), you’re more likely to see the subject kept: Saya bisa mendengar...

How do I say this in the past or future? Indonesian doesn’t show tense in the verb, so what would I change?

The verb dengar / mendengar doesn’t change. You show time with time words:

• Past (earlier today / just now)
  
  • Tadi saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
    = Earlier / just now I could hear the sound of the rain from the living room.

• Past (general / yesterday / before)

  • Kemarin saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
    = Yesterday I could hear the sound of the rain from the living room.

• Future

  • Nanti saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
    = Later I will be able to hear the sound of the rain from the living room.
  • Saya akan bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
    = More explicit “will be able to”.

So you keep bisa dengar the same and add words like tadi, kemarin, besok, nanti, akan to indicate time.

Does bisa here mean “can” as in ability, or “can” as in permission? Could I use boleh or dapat instead?

In this sentence, bisa expresses ability / possibility, not permission:

• Saya bisa dengar suara hujan...
  = I am able to hear / it is possible for me to hear...

Compare:

• boleh = may / allowed to (permission)
  – Saya boleh pulang. = I may go home / I’m allowed to go home.
  – Saya boleh dengar musik? = May I listen to music?

• dapat
  – In modern spoken Indonesian, dapat is more formal than bisa.
  – You can say Saya dapat mendengar suara hujan..., but it sounds more formal or written.

In casual speech, bisa is by far the most common choice for “can” (ability/possibility) in a sentence like this.

Is the word order fixed? Can I say Saya bisa dengar dari ruang tamu suara hujan?

The natural word order is:

Saya bisa dengar [object] [extra information]
Saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

Putting dari ruang tamu in the middle like Saya bisa dengar dari ruang tamu suara hujan is technically understandable but sounds awkward and unnatural.

More natural variations include:

• Dari ruang tamu, saya bisa dengar suara hujan.
  – Fronts the location for emphasis: “From the living room, I can hear the sound of the rain.”
• Saya bisa dengar suara hujan, dari ruang tamu.
  – You might hear this in speech with a pause, but it’s more like adding an afterthought.

So stick to:

• Saya bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
• or Dari ruang tamu, saya bisa dengar suara hujan.

Is this sentence formal or informal? How would it change in casual conversation?

As written, it’s neutral:

• Saya = neutral, polite
• bisa dengar = common in everyday speech
• Whole sentence is fine in most contexts (talking to friends, coworkers, etc.).

In more formal writing or speech, you might see:

• Saya dapat mendengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu.

In casual conversation, people might say:

• Aku bisa dengar suara hujan dari ruang tamu. (using aku)
• In Jakarta-style slang: Gue bisa denger suara hujan dari ruang tamu.
  – Note the pronunciation spelling denger you may see in informal text.

So the main changes for style are the pronoun (saya / aku / gue) and sometimes the verb form (dengar / mendengar / denger). The basic structure stays the same.