Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kru band kampus menunggu di panggung sebelum konser dimulai. - The campus band’s crew waits on the stage before the concert starts.

In Indonesian, the main noun usually comes first, and the following nouns narrow down or specify it. So you don’t say campus band crew in Indonesian order; you say kru band kampus (literally: crew band campus).

Is kru singular or plural here? How do you say “crew members” or “the crews”?

Indonesian nouns usually don’t mark singular vs. plural. Kru can mean:

a crew
the crew
crew members
depending on context.

In this sentence, kru band kampus naturally refers to multiple people (all the technical staff / crew of the campus band).

If you really want to emphasize plurality, you have options:

para kru – the (various) crew members (more formal, used for people)
orang-orang kru – literally crew people, not very natural here
kru-kru band kampus – “crews of campus bands” (reduplication; usually implies more than one crew)

Most of the time, just kru is enough; context tells you it’s plural.

Why is there no word for “the” or “a” in this sentence?

Indonesian does not have articles like English the, a, or an. Noun phrases are inherently neutral; specificity is taken from context.

So kru band kampus can be:

a crew of a campus band
the crew of the campus band

In this sentence, because we’re talking about a specific known group (the campus band’s crew in a particular situation), we translate it as the campus band crew. But that “the” is not explicitly in the Indonesian; it’s supplied by English.

Why is menunggu often translated as “were waiting” or “waited” if it doesn’t show past tense?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Menunggu simply means to wait / waiting. Its time reference (past, present, future) comes from context.

Here, sebelum konser dimulai (before the concert began) clearly places the event in the past, so natural English translations use past tense:

The campus band crew *were waiting on the stage before the concert began.*
The campus band crew *waited on the stage before the concert began.*

In Indonesian, menunggu covers all of these; you adjust the tense only when translating into English.

Could I say sedang menunggu instead of menunggu? What’s the difference?

Yes, you could say:

Kru band kampus sedang menunggu di panggung sebelum konser dimulai.

Sedang marks an action in progress, similar to English be + -ing:

menunggu – wait / waiting (neutral)
sedang menunggu – are/were in the middle of waiting

In many contexts, plain menunggu is enough, especially when the sentence already describes a situation that clearly suggests an ongoing action. Adding sedang just makes the progressive aspect explicit and slightly more descriptive, but it’s not required.

What exactly does di in di panggung mean? Is it “on” or “at”?

Di is a general location preposition, usually translated as in, on, or at, depending on context.

di panggung → on the stage or at the stage

Stage is a surface/platform, so English normally uses on: on the stage. But if you’re thinking more generally about location (not physically standing on the platform), at the stage can also work.

Indonesian doesn’t need to distinguish on/at/in as precisely as English; di covers all of those.

Could I say di atas panggung instead of di panggung? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you could say:

Kru band kampus menunggu di atas panggung sebelum konser dimulai.

Differences:

di panggung – neutral “at/on the stage”; this is what people say most often.
di atas panggung – literally “on top of the stage”; it emphasizes physical position on the platform, not backstage, not under/behind it.

In many situations the two overlap, and both are acceptable. Di panggung is slightly more general; di atas panggung is a bit more visual and specific.

What does sebelum do in this sentence? Is sebelum konser dimulai a full clause?

Sebelum is a subordinating conjunction meaning before (in time).

sebelum konser dimulai = before the concert began / before the concert starts

Here, sebelum introduces a subordinate time clause:

Main clause: Kru band kampus menunggu di panggung
Subordinate clause: sebelum konser dimulai

So yes, sebelum konser dimulai is a full clause: it has a subject (konser) and a verb (dimulai). It functions as a time adverbial for the main action menunggu.

Why is it konser dimulai and not konser mulai? How does dimulai work?

Mulai is the base verb to start / to begin. With prefixes it behaves like this:

memulai (sesuatu) – to start something (active)
- Panitia memulai konser. – The committee starts the concert.
dimulai – is started / begins (passive or intransitive-like)
- Konser dimulai. – The concert is started / The concert begins.

Using dimulai with konser is very natural and slightly more formal, especially in announcements and descriptions:

Konser akan dimulai pukul delapan. – The concert will begin at eight.

Konser mulai is understandable and sometimes heard, but konser dimulai sounds more standard and idiomatic.

What’s the difference between memulai konser and konser dimulai?

They differ in focus and voice:

memulai konser – active, focuses on who starts it
- Panitia memulai konser. – The organizers start the concert.
konser dimulai – passive-like / event-focused, focuses on the event itself
- Konser dimulai pukul delapan. – The concert begins at eight.

In sebelum konser dimulai, we’re not interested in who starts it; we just care about the time when it begins. So konser dimulai is the natural choice.

Is band kampus a fixed expression? Could I also say band universitas?

Band kampus is very common and idiomatic. It usually means:

a band that is tied to a campus (student band, campus-based band)

You can say band universitas, and people will understand it as “university band”, but:

band kampus sounds more colloquial and natural in everyday speech.
universitas feels a bit more formal; kampus is what students say all the time.

So in this context, kru band kampus is more typical than kru band universitas.

If I want to emphasize that they were already waiting, where do I put sudah?

You put sudah before the verb:

Kru band kampus sudah menunggu di panggung sebelum konser dimulai.

This means roughly:

The campus band crew were already waiting on the stage before the concert began.

Sudah adds the nuance that the action had already started or was already in progress by that time.

Why isn’t there a word for “they” in front of menunggu?

Indonesian often omits subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context.

Here, kru band kampus is the subject, so you don’t need a separate pronoun like mereka:

Kru band kampus menunggu di panggung… – The campus band crew waited…

If you added mereka, it would sound redundant or ungrammatical:

✗ Kru band kampus mereka menunggu… – wrong
✓ Mereka menunggu di panggung… – They waited on the stage… (if mereka is already known from context)

So you either use the noun phrase kru band kampus or the pronoun mereka as subject, but not both together.