Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan soundcheck di panggung utama. - Before the concert starts, the crew does a soundcheck on the main stage.

Konser dimulai
- di- + mulai = passive form, literally “the concert is started / is begun.”
- Sounds a bit more formal or neutral-standard, common in announcements:
  - Konser akan dimulai pukul delapan.
Konser mulai
- Uses the base verb mulai intransitively: “the concert starts.”
- More casual / conversational:
  - Konser mulai jam delapan, ya.

In your sentence, “Sebelum konser dimulai …” feels like neutral–formal narration, and it slightly emphasizes the event of the concert beginning, not who starts it.

Could I say “Sebelum memulai konser, kru melakukan soundcheck …” instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can, but the structure changes:

Sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan soundcheck …
- Subordinate clause: konser dimulai (“the concert begins / is started”).
- Focus is on the concert as an event.
Sebelum memulai konser, kru melakukan soundcheck …
- Subordinate clause: (mereka) memulai konser (“(they) start the concert”).
- Implied subject of memulai is usually the same as the subject of the main clause (kru), so it feels like:
  - “Before (they) started the concert, the crew did a soundcheck …”

Both are grammatical.
The version with konser dimulai sounds a bit more objective and typical in narration; memulai konser highlights the crew (or organizers) as the ones starting it.

How do we know this sentence is talking about the past, when there’s no past tense marking?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense (past / present / future). The verb melakukan here is tenseless.

Time is understood from:

Context (e.g., you’re telling a story about last night’s concert).
Optional time words:
- Past: tadi, kemarin, dulu, sudah, telah
  - Kemarin, sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan soundcheck …
- Future: nanti, besok, akan
  - Besok, sebelum konser dimulai, kru akan melakukan soundcheck …

So without extra words, the sentence can be interpreted as past, present, or future. English forces you to choose (“did / do / will do”), but Indonesian does not.

What exactly does “melakukan” do here? Could we leave it out and just say “kru soundcheck di panggung utama”?

Melakukan is a “light verb” meaning “to do / to carry out” an activity that’s expressed as a noun:

melakukan penelitian – to do research
melakukan wawancara – to do an interview
melakukan perjalanan – to make a trip

Here:

melakukan soundcheck = “to do a soundcheck.”

In casual spoken Indonesian, you will often hear:

Kru soundcheck di panggung utama
Mereka lagi soundcheck di panggung utama

That’s perfectly natural in informal contexts.

In neutral or slightly formal writing, “kru melakukan soundcheck …” sounds more standard. Both are acceptable; melakukan just makes it feel more like standard written Indonesian.

Is “soundcheck” really used in Indonesian, or is there a more “Indonesian” word?

Yes, “soundcheck” is widely used in Indonesian, especially in music and event contexts. It’s treated as a loanword:

Kami ada soundcheck jam empat sore.

More “Indonesian-sounding” alternatives include:

cek suara – check the sound
pengecekan suara – sound checking (more formal)
uji coba suara – sound test

So you could also say:

Sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan *cek suara di panggung utama.*
… kru melakukan *pengecekan suara di panggung utama.*

But among people in the music world, “soundcheck” is very normal.

Why is “di panggung utama” at the end? Could it go in another place?

Yes, Indonesian word order is quite flexible for adverbial phrases like locations and times.

Your version:

Sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan soundcheck di panggung utama.

Other natural options:

Kru melakukan soundcheck di panggung utama sebelum konser dimulai.
Di panggung utama, kru melakukan soundcheck sebelum konser dimulai. (slight emphasis on the location)

General pattern:

Core clause: Subject – Verb – Object → kru melakukan soundcheck
Adverbials (time, place, manner) are often placed at the end, but can be moved for emphasis or flow.

So the chosen position is typical, but not the only possible one.

What does “kru” mean exactly? Is it singular or plural in Indonesian?

Kru is a loanword corresponding to English “crew.”

It usually behaves like a collective noun:
- Kru sedang menyiapkan panggung. – “The crew is preparing the stage.”
Indonesian doesn’t change the word for plural, so kru can mean “crew” in a general sense, singular or plural depending on context.

To be more specific, you can add other words:

seluruh kru – the whole crew
para kru – the crew members (emphasizing plural)
anggota kru – crew member(s)
seorang anggota kru – one crew member

In your sentence, kru naturally reads as “the (whole) crew.”

There’s no word for “the” or “a” in the sentence. How do we know it means “the concert,” “the crew,” “the main stage”?

Indonesian generally does not use articles like “the” or “a/an.”

konser can mean “a concert” or “the concert”
kru can mean “a crew” or “the crew”
panggung utama can mean “a main stage” or “the main stage”

Definiteness comes from:

Context – If both speaker and listener know which concert, crew, and stage are being discussed, it’s understood as “the.”
Demonstratives when needed:
- itu / ini:
  - konser itu – that / the concert
  - panggung utama itu – that / the main stage
  - kru itu – that crew

So your sentence, in a realistic context (talking about a specific event), is naturally interpreted with “the” in English.

There are two “di” forms: “dimulai” and “di panggung utama.” Are they the same word?

They look the same but function differently:

di- (attached, no space) in dimulai
- This is the passive verb prefix.
- di- + mulai = dimulai (“is started / is begun”).
- Always written together with the verb: dibuka, ditutup, dimakan, dibaca, dimulai.
di (separate word) in di panggung utama
- This is the preposition “at / in / on.”
- Always written separately from the noun:
  - di rumah, di sekolah, di Jakarta, di panggung utama.

Spelling rule of thumb:

Location preposition → di + [space] + place word
Passive verb prefix → di- + [no space] + verb

Is the comma after “dimulai” necessary?

Yes, according to standard Indonesian punctuation, the comma is recommended here.

Pattern:

When a dependent clause (introduced by sebelum, sesudah, karena, jika, kalau, etc.) comes before the main clause, you put a comma:
- Sebelum konser dimulai, kru melakukan soundcheck …
- Karena hujan, konser ditunda.

If the main clause comes first, the comma is usually omitted:

Kru melakukan soundcheck di panggung utama sebelum konser dimulai.
Konser ditunda karena hujan.

So your comma use is standard and correct.

What’s the difference between “sebelum” and “sebelumnya” here? Could I say “Sebelumnya, kru melakukan soundcheck …”?

Yes, but the structure changes.

sebelum
- Conjunction or preposition meaning “before.”
- Used to introduce a time phrase or clause:
  - sebelum konser dimulai – before the concert begins
  - sebelum makan – before eating
sebelumnya
- Literally “before it / before that / previously.”
- Functions more like an adverb, often referring to an earlier time already known from context:
  - Sebelumnya, kru melakukan soundcheck di panggung utama.
    → “Previously / Beforehand, the crew did a soundcheck on the main stage.”

In your original sentence, “Sebelum konser dimulai, …” explicitly states before what (before the concert began).
“Sebelumnya, kru melakukan soundcheck …” would work if the concert or event has already been mentioned in the previous sentence, and “sebelumnya” refers back to that earlier point in time.