Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Ketika saya merasa egois, saya mengingat nasihat nenek dan berusaha berbagi waktu dengan adik. - When I feel selfish, I remember Grandma’s advice and try to share my time with my younger sibling.

saat – also “when / at the time (that)”, very common and natural:
Saat saya merasa egois, ...
waktu – literally “time”, but also used like “when”:
Waktu saya merasa egois, ... (a bit more casual)
kalau – usually “if/when”, more informal and can imply condition:
Kalau saya merasa egois, ... (sounds a bit more like “if I feel selfish”)

In this context, all four are grammatically possible.
Ketika and saat are the safest, neutral options, including in writing.

Why is it saya merasa egois and not something like saya merasa saya egois or merasa diri saya egois?

In Indonesian, merasa + adjective is the usual pattern and already means “feel (adjective)”.

saya merasa egois = “I feel selfish”

You normally don’t repeat the subject after merasa, unless you’re emphasizing something special. Compare:

Saya merasa sedih. – I feel sad.
Mereka merasa malu. – They feel ashamed.

Forms like merasa diri saya egois or merasa saya egois sound unnatural or overly complicated in normal speech.

So just remember the pattern:
[subject] + merasa + [adjective]

Could I drop saya and just say Ketika merasa egois, saya mengingat …?

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

All of these are correct and natural:

Ketika saya merasa egois, saya mengingat …
Ketika merasa egois, saya mengingat …

The second version is slightly more compact and sounds natural, especially in writing or more formal styles, because it’s clear the subject is still saya.

What is the difference between mengingat and ingat? Why do we use mengingat here?

The base word is ingat = “to remember / to recall”.
With prefixes:

mengingat = “to remember (something)” in an active, deliberate way
- Saya mengingat nasihat nenek. – I remember grandma’s advice.
teringat = “to suddenly remember / be reminded of” (more passive, like it comes to mind)
- Saya teringat nasihat nenek. – I’m reminded of / I suddenly remember grandma’s advice.

Here we talk about a conscious effort to recall advice as a guide for behavior, so mengingat (active) is very natural.

Bare ingat is also heard in casual speech like:

Saya ingat nasihat nenek. – I remember grandma’s advice.

Grammatically, mengingat matches the standard verb pattern better.

How does possession work in nasihat nenek? Why isn’t it like “nenek’s advice” with an extra word?

Indonesian usually shows possession by putting the possessor after the thing:

nasihat nenek = literally “advice grandmother” → “grandmother’s advice”
buku adik = “younger sibling’s book”
rumah teman = “friend’s house”

You don’t need an extra word like English ’s or of.
If you want to make it clearer that it’s my grandmother, you can say:

nasihat nenek saya – my grandmother’s advice

So the pattern is:
[thing] + [owner]
and optional saya/kamu/dia can be added after the noun for “my/your/his/her”.

Does nenek automatically mean “my grandma”? Why not say nenek saya?

Nenek by itself just means “grandmother”. But in many real contexts, when you say nenek about your own life, Indonesians will assume it’s your own grandmother, unless context says otherwise.

Compare:

Saya mengingat nasihat nenek. – Most likely “I remember my grandmother’s advice.”
Saya mengingat nasihat nenek saya. – Explicitly “my grandmother’s advice.”

Both are correct.
Adding saya just makes the ownership explicit; leaving it out is common and still natural if context is clear.

What exactly does adik mean? Is it “little brother” or “little sister”?

Adik means “younger sibling”, and it is gender-neutral:

Could be younger brother
Could be younger sister

If you need to be specific, you can say:

adik laki-laki – younger brother
adik perempuan – younger sister

In many everyday contexts, adik alone is enough, and people assume you’re talking about your younger sibling unless you clarify otherwise.

Do I need to say adik saya instead of just adik to mean “my younger sibling”?

You can, but you don’t have to.

berbagi waktu dengan adik – “share time with (my) younger sibling”
berbagi waktu dengan adik saya – “share time with my younger sibling” (explicit)

In family contexts, Indonesians often omit the possessive pronoun because it’s obvious from context that it’s your own adik, kakak, ibu, ayah, etc.

Use adik saya if:

you need to contrast with someone else’s sibling, or
the context is not clear.

Why do we say berusaha berbagi? What is the nuance of berusaha compared to mencoba?

Both berusaha and mencoba are related to “try”, but with slightly different feel:

berusaha = to make an effort, to strive
- Focus on effort and intention.
mencoba = to try, to attempt, to test
- Can mean just “try out” or “give it a try”.

In this sentence:

berusaha berbagi waktu suggests there is a conscious effort or struggle to share time (maybe it’s not easy because of egoism or busyness).
mencoba berbagi waktu would be okay and understandable, but feels a bit less about ongoing effort and more like “I try to share time / I give it a try”.

So berusaha fits the moral/behavioral improvement context very well.

Is it necessary to have berusaha untuk berbagi? Why is there no “to” before berbagi?

In Indonesian, you usually don’t need a word like “to” before the next verb. You can say:

berusaha berbagi waktu – “try to share time”

You can also say:

berusaha untuk berbagi waktu

This is also correct and quite common, especially in more formal language.
But untuk here is optional. Both versions mean the same thing, and the shorter one is very natural.

Why is berbagi waktu dengan adik and not something like berbagi waktu kepada adik?

The usual pattern with berbagi (to share) is:

berbagi [something] dengan [someone]
share [something] with [someone]

Examples:

berbagi makanan dengan teman – share food with a friend
berbagi cerita dengan pacar – share stories with (your) boyfriend/girlfriend

So:

berbagi waktu dengan adik – share time with (my) younger sibling

Using kepada would sound off here; kepada is more like “to” in a directional sense (give something to someone, speak to someone), not the “with” sense of sharing.

Is egois just the English word “egoist/egoistic”, or does it have a different nuance in Indonesian?

Egois is a loanword but is fully natural in Indonesian and means:

selfish / self-centered

Common usage:

Dia orangnya egois. – He/She is a selfish person.
Jangan egois. – Don’t be selfish.

In saya merasa egois, it has the same basic meaning as in English “I feel selfish”, and it’s a very typical way to express that idea in Indonesian.

Is the word order “Ketika saya merasa egois, saya …” fixed, or can I move things around?

You can move the time clause either before or after the main clause:

Ketika saya merasa egois, saya mengingat nasihat nenek dan berusaha berbagi waktu dengan adik.
Saya mengingat nasihat nenek dan berusaha berbagi waktu dengan adik ketika saya merasa egois.

Both are correct.
Differences:

Putting ketika… at the beginning slightly emphasizes the time/situation.
In writing, when the ketika-clause comes first, you normally use a comma before the main clause, just like in English.