Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

My cat hides under the chair when it rains heavily.

Breakdown of Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

• kucing: the cat
• ketika: when
• kursi: the chair
• saya: my
• hujan: the rain
• deras: heavy
• di bawah: under
• bersembunyi: to hide

Questions & Answers about Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

Why is it kucing saya instead of something like saya kucing for my cat?

In Indonesian, the usual pattern for possession is:

[NOUN] + [PRONOUN]

So:

• kucing saya = my cat
• rumah saya = my house
• teman saya = my friend

Putting saya before the noun (saya kucing) is ungrammatical in standard Indonesian.

There’s also a more “attached” form using -ku:

• kucingku = my cat (more informal/intimate)

All of these mean my cat, but the basic, neutral form is kucing saya.

What exactly does bersembunyi mean, and why not just sembunyi?

Root: sembunyi = hide, hidden

With the prefix ber-, it becomes a verb meaning to hide (oneself), used intransitively:

• bersembunyi = to hide

In standard Indonesian you normally use the ber- form here:

• Kucing saya bersembunyi = My cat hides / is hiding.

In casual speech, some people do say:

• Kucing saya sembunyi di bawah kursi.

This is widely understood, but bersembunyi is the more correct/standard form.

Is bersembunyi telling me anything about tense, like past or present?

No. Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense.

Bersembunyi just means hide / to hide without specifying past, present, or future.

The sentence:

• Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

can mean:

• My cat hid under the chair when it rained heavily. (past)
• My cat hides under the chair when it rains heavily. (general habit)

Tense is understood from context or from time words such as:

• tadi (earlier)
• kemarin (yesterday)
• besok (tomorrow)
• akan (will)
• sedang (currently, in progress)

How does di bawah kursi work? Why do we need di and bawah?

Breakdown:

• di = at / in / on (location preposition)
• bawah = under / below (literally “bottom / lower part”)
• kursi = chair

Di bawah functions together like under:

• di bawah kursi = under the chair

You can’t drop di here in standard Indonesian.

Think of:

• di atas meja = on the table
• di dalam tas = inside the bag
• di belakang rumah = behind the house
• di bawah kursi = under the chair

Bawah almost always appears with di when used for location.

What’s the difference between di bawah and ke bawah?

• di bawah = at / in the position under (static location)
• ke bawah = to below / going down (movement/direction)

In this sentence, the cat is already under the chair, so it’s a location:

• di bawah kursi = under the chair

If you wanted to emphasize movement to that place, you could say:

• Kucing saya lari ke bawah kursi.
  = My cat runs under the chair.

Here ke expresses motion towards that place.

Why is it ketika hujan deras and not something like ketika hujan itu deras?

Ketika hujan deras literally: when rain heavy → when (there is) heavy rain.

In Indonesian:

• You usually don’t need an explicit “there is” verb.
• You also often don’t mark “the” or “a” unless you really need to specify.

Hujan deras is a fixed, natural phrase meaning heavy rain. Adding itu (that) would make it very specific:

• ketika hujan itu deras = when that rain is heavy
  (sounds more like you’re talking about a particular rain you already mentioned)

In a general statement about what the cat does whenever it rains heavily, ketika hujan deras is exactly right.

What’s the difference between ketika, saat, and waktu meaning when?

All three can translate as when, but there are nuances:

• ketika

  • Neutral, common in both spoken and written language.
  • Often used in narratives.
  • Works well here: ketika hujan deras = when it rains heavily.

• saat

  • Very common in spoken Indonesian, also fine in writing.
  • Slightly more colloquial/versatile.
  • saat hujan deras = at the time of heavy rain / when it rains heavily.

• waktu

  • Literally “time”.
  • Also used as “when”, especially in speech.
  • waktu hujan deras = when it rains heavily.

In this sentence, you can naturally say:

• Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.
• Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi saat hujan deras.
• Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi waktu hujan deras.

All are acceptable, with very similar meaning. Ketika is slightly more neutral/formal.

Could I put the when-clause at the beginning, like in English: “When it rains heavily, my cat hides…”?

Yes. Indonesian allows that, and it’s very natural:

• Ketika hujan deras, kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi.

You can also do the same with saat or waktu:

• Saat hujan deras, kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi.
• Waktu hujan deras, kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi.

Both orders are normal:

1. Kucing saya bersembunyi … ketika hujan deras.
2. Ketika hujan deras, kucing saya bersembunyi …

Why is there no word for the in kursi – how do I know if it’s “the chair” or “a chair”?

Indonesian has no articles like a/an/the.

• kursi can mean a chair or the chair, depending on context.

If context has already established a specific chair (for example, you’re both in the same room looking at one chair), kursi will be understood as the chair.

If you really want to make it more specific, you can add:

• kursi itu = that chair / the chair (that one)

But in many everyday sentences, kursi alone is enough and natural.

Is hujan deras just rain heavy? Why is the adjective after the noun?

Yes, structurally it’s rain heavy:

• hujan = rain
• deras = heavy (for rain, flow, etc.)

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun:

• kucing besar = big cat
• rumah baru = new house
• hujan deras = heavy rain

So hujan deras literally mirrors the typical Indonesian pattern [noun] + [adjective].

Could I use aku instead of saya here? Like kucing aku?

Yes, but with nuance differences:

• saya = I / my (neutral, polite, common in most situations)
• aku = I / my (informal, used with friends, family, close people)

With aku, possession is usually shown by the suffix -ku:

• kucingku = my cat (informal/intimate)
• kucing aku is heard, but kucingku sounds more natural.

So depending on the level of formality:

• Neutral/polite: Kucing saya bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.
• Informal: Kucingku bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

How would I say “My cat ran and hid under the chair when it rained heavily”?

You’d usually add a motion verb and keep bersembunyi:

• Kucing saya lari dan bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.

Breakdown:

• lari = run / ran
• dan = and
• bersembunyi = hide / hid

Again, the verbs do not change form for tense; past is understood from context or by adding a time word if needed:

• Tadi kucing saya lari dan bersembunyi di bawah kursi ketika hujan deras.
  = Earlier, my cat ran and hid under the chair when it rained heavily.