Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Tim kami bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat. - Our team works together to achieve the meeting's goal.

Tim = team
kami = we / our (exclusive: not including the listener)
bekerja sama = to work together, to cooperate
- bekerja = to work
- sama = same / together
untuk = for / in order to / to (expressing purpose)
mencapai = to achieve / to reach
tujuan = goal, objective, purpose
rapat = meeting

A very literal gloss would be:
Team our work-together for achieve goal meeting.
Natural English: Our team works together to achieve the meeting’s goal(s).

Why is it Tim kami and not kami tim?

In Indonesian, possessors usually come after the noun they possess:

tim kami = our team (literally: team our)
rumah saya = my house (literally: house my)
ide mereka = their idea (literally: idea their)

So:

tim is the main noun (head)
kami functions like our, placed after the noun

Kami tim is not natural Indonesian and will sound wrong. To say our team, you almost always need tim kami.

What is the difference between kami and kita?

Both can be translated as we / us / our, but:

kami = we (exclusive)
- excludes the person you are talking to
- used when the listener is not part of the group
kita = we (inclusive)
- includes the person you are talking to
- used when the listener is part of the group

In Tim kami bekerja sama…, the speaker is talking about their team and implies the listener is not part of that team.

If the listener were part of the same team, you would more naturally say:

Tim kita bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat.
= Our team (including you) works together to achieve the meeting’s goal.

How do I know the tense of bekerja sama here? Is it present, past, or future?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense.
Bekerja sama by itself is tenseless; the time is understood from context or from time markers:

Tim kami sudah bekerja sama… = Our team has already worked together… (past / completed)
Tim kami sedang bekerja sama… = Our team is working together… (present, in progress)
Tim kami akan bekerja sama… = Our team will work together… (future)

In your sentence without any marker:

Tim kami bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat.

it can mean:

Our team works together… (present, general statement)
Our team worked together… (past, if the context is past)
Sometimes even a future meaning, if the context is clearly about a future plan.

The tense is supplied by context, not by the verb form.

What is the difference between bekerja and bekerja sama?

bekerja = to work (focus on the action of working itself)
bekerja sama = to work together, to cooperate, to collaborate

Compare:

Tim kami bekerja.
= Our team works. (They are working, but it doesn’t say anything about cooperation.)
Tim kami bekerja sama.
= Our team works together. (Emphasizes joint effort, cooperation.)

So bekerja sama stresses collaboration within or between people/groups, not just the fact that work is being done.

I’ve seen bekerjasama and kerja sama. Which is correct: bekerja sama, bekerjasama, or kerja sama?

Modern standard Indonesian (KBBI) treats:

kerja sama (two words) as a noun:
- kerja sama = cooperation, collaboration
- Example: Kami menghargai kerja sama Anda. = We appreciate your cooperation.
bekerja sama (two words) as a verb:
- bekerja sama = to cooperate / to work together
- Example: Mereka bekerja sama dengan baik. = They cooperate well.

The form bekerjasama (one word) is widely seen in informal writing and older texts, but according to current formal spelling standards, you should write:

kerja sama (noun)
bekerja sama (verb)

Your sentence is using the verb, so bekerja sama is the standard spelling.

What exactly does untuk do in bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat? Could I omit it?

Untuk introduces a purpose or goal, similar to:

to / in order to / for the purpose of in English.

In your sentence:

bekerja sama = work together
untuk mencapai = to achieve / in order to achieve
tujuan rapat = the meeting’s goal(s)

So bekerja sama untuk mencapai… = work together in order to achieve…

Can you omit untuk?

Tim kami bekerja sama mencapai tujuan rapat.

This is sometimes heard in speech, but it feels more compressed and less standard.
Using untuk is:

clearer
more natural in neutral/formal Indonesian

So bekerja sama untuk mencapai… is the safest and most correct expression.

What does mencapai literally mean, and how is it formed?

Base word: capai
- As a verb: to reach (physically or figuratively)
- As an adjective: tired / exhausted in everyday speech (different meaning, same form)
With prefix meN-: mencapai
- meN- is a common verb-forming prefix meaning roughly to do X
- mencapai = to reach / to achieve / to attain (usually figurative goals)

Examples:

Ia mencapai tujuannya. = He/She achieved his/her goal.
Penjualan tahun ini mencapai rekor tertinggi. = This year’s sales reached a record high.

In your sentence, mencapai is clearly the “to achieve” meaning:
bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat = work together to achieve the meeting’s objectives.

How does tujuan rapat work grammatically? Why is the order not like English meeting goal?

Indonesian noun phrases typically follow the pattern:

[main noun] + [modifier]

Here:

tujuan = goal, objective (main noun / head)
rapat = meeting (modifier, indicating what the goal belongs to or is about)

So:

tujuan rapat = the goal(s) of the meeting / the meeting’s goal(s)

This corresponds to English Noun + of + Noun, not Noun + Noun order:

tujuan rapat ≈ goal of the meeting
agenda rapat ≈ agenda of the meeting
peserta rapat ≈ participants of the meeting

If you reversed it to rapat tujuan, it would sound like “goal meeting”, which is not a normal phrase and would likely confuse listeners.

Does tujuan here mean one goal or several goals? How do you make it clearly plural?

By default, a singular noun in Indonesian can be singular or plural, depending on context:

tujuan rapat can mean:
- the meeting’s goal (one)
- the meeting’s goals (several)

If you really want to emphasize more than one goal, you can:

Use reduplication:
- tujuan-tujuan rapat = the meeting’s goals (plural is clear)
- In practice, many speakers still just say tujuan rapat and rely on context.
Add a number or quantifier:
- beberapa tujuan rapat = several goals of the meeting
- dua tujuan rapat = two goals of the meeting

But in normal sentences, tujuan rapat is usually enough, and listeners will understand from context whether it is one or more.

What’s the difference between rapat and other words like pertemuan or meeting?

rapat
- Common word for a formal meeting, often work- or organization-related.
- e.g. office meetings, committee meetings, board meetings.
pertemuan
- More general: a meeting / encounter / gathering.
- Can be formal or informal, and not necessarily in a work context.
miting / meeting (borrowed from English; spellings vary)
- Used in some contexts (often informal or influenced by English), but rapat is the standard Indonesian word for a formal meeting.

In your sentence, tujuan rapat clearly refers to:

the objectives of a formal meeting, such as a work meeting, team meeting, etc.

You could say tujuan pertemuan, but that might sound a bit more generic and not as strongly tied to the typical office/organizational rapat context.

Can I change the word order and put the purpose at the beginning, like in English “To achieve the meeting’s goals, our team works together”?

Yes. That is very natural and common in Indonesian:

Untuk mencapai tujuan rapat, tim kami bekerja sama.

This has the same meaning as your original sentence, just with a different emphasis:

Original: Tim kami bekerja sama untuk mencapai tujuan rapat.
- Focuses first on our team and the fact that they work together.
Fronted purpose: Untuk mencapai tujuan rapat, tim kami bekerja sama.
- Puts more emphasis on the purpose (achieving the meeting’s goals).

Both word orders are grammatically correct and idiomatic.