Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan. - The gymnastics class is held every Saturday morning on the field.

Yes, kelas senam is a natural and common way to say “exercise class” in Indonesian, especially for things like aerobics, Zumba, or group workout sessions.

Why is there no word for “is” or “are” in “kelas senam diadakan …”?

Indonesian usually does not use a separate verb for “to be” (is/are) in this kind of sentence. Instead, the verb diadakan already covers the idea of “is held / is organized”.

So:

Kelas senam diadakan …
= “The exercise class is held …”

You don’t need an extra word like “is”. The verb form itself is enough.

What does “diadakan” mean exactly, and why is it used here?

Diadakan comes from the base verb “adakan” (to hold / to organize) with the passive prefix “di-”.

adakan = to hold, to organize (an event)
diadakan = to be held, to be organized

So kelas senam diadakan literally means:

“The exercise class is held / is organized …”

It’s passive, which is very common in Indonesian when talking about scheduled events.

Could you say “kelas senam ada setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan” instead? What’s the difference?

You can say:

Kelas senam ada setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.

This literally means “The exercise class exists/is there every Saturday morning in the field.” It’s understandable and not wrong, but:

diadakan emphasizes the event being organized/held.
ada just says it exists / takes place, more neutrally.

For schedules and formal announcements, diadakan sounds more natural and a bit more formal. Ada is more casual and less specific.

Why is “setiap” used? Is “tiap” also possible?

Setiap means “every” (in time or count).

setiap Sabtu pagi = every Saturday morning

Tiap is a shorter, more informal variant of setiap. You can say:

Kelas senam diadakan tiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.

Both are correct. Setiap tends to sound a bit more neutral/formal. Tiap is common in speech and informal writing.

Why is it “setiap Sabtu pagi” and not “setiap pagi Sabtu”?

The natural order in Indonesian is:

setiap + day
then any time of day

So:

setiap Sabtu pagi = every Saturday morning

“Setiap pagi Sabtu” would sound odd and ungrammatical. Time expressions like this normally go from larger unit to smaller:

day → time of day → exact clock time
- e.g. setiap Sabtu pagi jam delapan (every Saturday morning at eight o’clock)

Should “Sabtu” be capitalized? Do days of the week always start with a capital letter?

Yes. In modern standard Indonesian spelling, days of the week are capitalized, like proper nouns:

Senin, Selasa, Rabu, Kamis, Jumat, Sabtu, Minggu

So Sabtu in “setiap Sabtu pagi” is correctly capitalized.

What exactly does “lapangan” mean? Is it always a “field”?

Lapangan literally means “field / open ground / court”, and the exact meaning depends on context:

lapangan sepak bola = soccer field
lapangan basket = basketball court
lapangan sekolah = school yard / school field

In “di lapangan” (with no extra details), it usually means an open field or yard, often understood from context (e.g., the school field, community field). In many communities, lapangan is a shared open area used for sports, ceremonies, and events.

Why is the preposition “di” used before “lapangan”? Is it like English “at” or “in”?

Di is a general location preposition that often covers what English expresses with “in,” “at,” or “on”, depending on context.

di lapangan can mean “in the field” or “at the field”, depending on how you’d naturally phrase it in English.

Indonesian doesn’t make the same sharp distinction between “in” and “at” as English does; di is often enough.

Why is there no word for “the” in “kelas senam” or “lapangan”?

Indonesian does not have articles like “a/an” or “the”. Whether something is specific or general is understood from context, not from a separate word.

kelas senam can mean “an exercise class” or “the exercise class”
di lapangan can mean “in a field” or “in the field”

Here, from context (a schedule), we naturally understand it as:

“The exercise class is held every Saturday morning in the field.”

Is “kelas senam” singular or plural? How do I know if it’s “class” or “classes”?

By itself, kelas senam is number-neutral; it can mean “exercise class” or “exercise classes”. There is no plural -s in Indonesian.

Context tells you:

Kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.
→ Usually understood as one scheduled class every Saturday morning.

If you want to be explicit:

Beberapa kelas senam diadakan … = Several exercise classes are held …
Dua kelas senam diadakan … = Two exercise classes are held …

Can I move “di lapangan” to the front: “Di lapangan, kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi”?

Yes, that is grammatically correct:

Di lapangan, kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi.

Putting “di lapangan” first emphasizes the place. The basic, neutral order is usually:

Subject – Verb – Time – Place
- Kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.

But Indonesian word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs of place/time.

Why is it “Sabtu pagi” and not “pagi hari Sabtu” or something longer?

You can say longer forms like:

pagi hari Sabtu
pada Sabtu pagi hari

But in everyday language, people prefer the short, direct form:

Sabtu pagi

It’s clear and idiomatic, and the extra word hari (“day”) is usually unnecessary unless you want to be very formal or poetic.

Is “pada” needed before “setiap Sabtu pagi” or “di lapangan”?

You don’t need pada here, and the sentence is already natural without it.

Kelas senam diadakan setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.

You could add pada in more formal or written style:

Kelas senam diadakan pada setiap Sabtu pagi di lapangan.
Kelas senam diadakan pada Sabtu pagi di lapangan.

But in normal speech and most writing, leaving “pada” out is more common and perfectly correct.