Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota pada Sabtu malam.

We visited the new planetarium in the city on Saturday night.

Breakdown of Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota pada Sabtu malam.

• di: in
• baru: new
• kami: we
• kota: the city
• malam: the night
• Sabtu: Saturday
• pada: on
• mengunjungi: to visit
• planetarium: the planetarium

Questions & Answers about Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota pada Sabtu malam.

What is the difference between kami and kita, and could I use kita here?

Both mean “we/us”, but:

• kami = we (excluding the listener)
• kita = we (including the listener)

In this sentence, kami implies the speaker and some others went to the planetarium, but the person being spoken to did not go.

If the listener was also part of the group that visited, you should use kita:
Kita mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota pada Sabtu malam.

Why do we use mengunjungi instead of something simpler like pergi ke?

Mengunjungi means “to visit (a place/person)” and takes a direct object:

• Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru… = We visited the new planetarium…

Pergi ke means “to go to” and is slightly more neutral:

• Kami pergi ke planetarium baru… = We went to the new planetarium…

Both are correct, but mengunjungi emphasizes the act of visiting (like making a visit), while pergi ke just states that you went there. Mengunjungi sounds a bit more formal/”textbooky”; pergi ke is very common in everyday speech.

What does the prefix meng- (in mengunjungi) do, and what is the base word?

The base word is kunjung, related to berkunjung (“to pay a visit”).

Mengunjungi is formed as: meng- + kunjung + -i

• meng-: a common verb prefix that turns roots into active verbs
• -i: a suffix that often means “do this to that object/at that place”

So mengunjungi [something] = “to visit [that thing/place/person]”.
You’ll see this pattern a lot: meng- + root + -i for transitive verbs that take a direct object.

Why is baru placed after planetarium instead of before it, like in English?

In Indonesian, the usual order is:

• Noun + Adjective

So:

• planetarium baru = new planetarium
• buku besar = big book
• rumah tua = old house

Putting baru before planetarium (baru planetarium) would be ungrammatical in normal Indonesian. To say “a new planetarium”, just use planetarium baru; context tells us whether it’s “a” or “the”.

There’s no word for “a” or “the” here. How do we know if it’s “a new planetarium” or “the new planetarium”?

Indonesian normally has no articles like “a/an” or “the”.

Planetarium baru can mean:

• a new planetarium
• the new planetarium

The exact meaning comes from context, not from a specific word. If you really want to emphasize it’s “a/one” planetarium (and not two), you can add sebuah:

• Kami mengunjungi sebuah planetarium baru… = We visited a/one new planetarium…

But sebuah is optional and often left out in natural speech and writing.

Does planetarium need a classifier like sebuah or a number like satu?

It doesn’t need one. The basic sentence is already natural:

• Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru…

You can add a classifier or number for clarity or emphasis:

• Kami mengunjungi sebuah planetarium baru… (a/one new planetarium)
• Kami mengunjungi satu planetarium baru… (one new planetarium – emphasizing the number)

Indonesian often omits these when the exact number or “a/the” is clear from context.

What exactly does di kota mean here? Is it “in the city”, “in town”, or something else?

Di means “in/at/on” (location), and kota means “city/town”.

Di kota on its own can be understood as:

• “in the city”
• “in town”

Which city? Context decides. To specify, you add more words:

• di kota ini = in this city
• di kota kami = in our city
• di Kota Bandung = in the city of Bandung (capitalized because it’s a proper name)

In this sentence, planetarium baru di kota is easily understood as “the new planetarium in town / in the city”.

Does di kota describe the planetarium or the visiting? In other words, is the planetarium in the city, or were we in the city when we visited?

By default, di kota here is read as modifying planetarium baru:

• planetarium baru di kota ≈ the new planetarium in the city

The structure is:

• Kami (subject)
• mengunjungi (verb)
• planetarium baru di kota (object noun phrase)
• pada Sabtu malam (time phrase)

So the natural reading is: We visited the new planetarium that is in the city.

If you wanted to clearly say “we were in the city when we visited a (not necessarily city-owned) planetarium”, you might rephrase, for example:

• Di kota itu, kami mengunjungi sebuah planetarium baru…

Why do we use pada before Sabtu malam? Could we just say Sabtu malam?

Pada is a preposition often used with time expressions, similar (roughly) to “on/at” in English:

• pada Sabtu malam ≈ “on Saturday night”

In informal speech and writing, many people simply drop pada:

• Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota Sabtu malam.

This is common and acceptable in casual contexts.
In more formal writing (essays, exams, news), using pada with days, dates, and specific times is preferred:

• pada hari Sabtu
• pada tanggal 5 Mei
• pada pukul 7 malam

Does Sabtu malam mean Saturday evening or Saturday night? And what’s the difference from malam Sabtu?

Sabtu malam means the night of Saturday (Saturday evening/night).

Indonesian has an important pattern:

• malam + [day] = the evening/night before that day
• [day] + malam = the evening/night of that day

So:

• malam Sabtu = Friday night (the night before Saturday)
• Sabtu malam = Saturday night

In this sentence, pada Sabtu malam clearly refers to Saturday night.

Can the time expression pada Sabtu malam go at the beginning of the sentence instead of the end?

Yes. Time expressions are flexible in Indonesian. You can say:

• Kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota pada Sabtu malam.
• Pada Sabtu malam, kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota.
• Sabtu malam, kami mengunjungi planetarium baru di kota. (more informal – no pada)

All are grammatical. Moving (pada) Sabtu malam to the front just shifts emphasis slightly to when it happened.

How do you pronounce mengunjungi? Is the ng like in English “sing”?

Yes, ng in Indonesian is pronounced like ng in English “sing”.

Syllable breakdown: me-ngun-ju-ngi

• me-: like “meh” (short e)
• ngun: ng as in sing
  • “oon” (like soon but shorter)
• ju: “joo” (like June without the n)
• ngi: ng (again as in sing) + “ee”

There are no silent letters in mengunjungi; all letters are pronounced.

Why is Sabtu capitalized but kota is not?

In Indonesian spelling:

• Days of the week (like Senin, Selasa, Sabtu) are capitalized.
• Common nouns like kota (city), rumah (house), buku (book) are not capitalized unless they are part of a proper name.

So:

• Sabtu is capitalized because it is a day name.
• kota is lowercase here because it just means “a/the city” in general.

It would be capitalized only in a proper name like Kota Bandung or Kota Jakarta.