Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kami duduk di tepi tebing sambil mengamati awan yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah. - We sat on the edge of the cliff while observing the clouds moving slowly above the valley.

In the sentence Kami duduk di tepi tebing..., the speaker is talking about a group that does not include the person being spoken to.
If the speaker wanted to say “you and I sat…”, they would use kita instead:
Kita duduk di tepi tebing…

How do we know the tense of duduk? Does it mean “sit,” “are sitting,” or “sat”?

Indonesian verbs usually don’t change form for tense. The verb duduk just means to sit / sit / sat / are sitting, depending on context.

In a narrative context (describing a scene), English naturally turns it into “We sat” or “We were sitting”.

If you want to emphasize that the action is happening right now, you can add sedang:

Kami sedang duduk di tepi tebing = We are sitting at the edge of the cliff.

But even without sedang, context usually makes the time clear.

What does di tepi tebing mean exactly, and can I say di pinggir tebing instead?

di = at / in / on
tepi = edge / side
tebing = cliff

So di tepi tebing = at the edge of the cliff.

You can say di pinggir tebing:

pinggir also means “edge / side”, often used for physical edges (of roads, rivers, tables, etc.).

Nuance:

tepi can sound slightly more neutral or literary.
pinggir is very common in everyday speech.

In this sentence, both di tepi tebing and di pinggir tebing are acceptable and natural.

What does sambil mean, and how is it used in this sentence?

sambil means “while (at the same time as)” and links two actions with the same subject.

Structure:

Subject + Action 1 + sambil + Action 2

In the sentence:

Kami duduk = We sat / were sitting
mengamati awan = observing the clouds
sambil connects these: We sat while observing the clouds.

Both actions (sitting and observing) are done by kami at the same time.

Compare:

Saya makan sambil menonton TV. = I eat while watching TV. (same subject, same time)

What is the nuance of mengamati compared to melihat or melihat-lihat?

All three involve seeing, but with different nuances:

melihat = to see / to look (neutral, general)
- Saya melihat awan. = I see clouds.
mengamati = to observe, to watch carefully (more deliberate, focused)
- Kami mengamati awan. = We are observing / studying the clouds.
melihat-lihat = to look around / browse casually
- Saya melihat-lihat toko. = I’m just looking around the shop.

In the sentence, mengamati suggests they are not just noticing the clouds, but watching them intentionally, maybe paying attention to how they move.

What is the function of yang in awan yang bergerak pelan?

yang introduces a relative clause, similar to “that / which / who” in English.

awan = clouds
bergerak pelan = move slowly
awan yang bergerak pelan = clouds that move slowly / clouds that are moving slowly

So yang marks “the clouds which are moving slowly”.
The structure is:

Noun + yang + description
awan yang bergerak pelan = the clouds that are moving slowly
orang yang duduk di sana = the person who is sitting there

Why is it bergerak pelan and not pelan bergerak? Where do adverbs usually go?

In Indonesian, adverbs like pelan (slowly) usually come after the verb:

bergerak pelan = move slowly
berjalan cepat = walk quickly
berbicara pelan-pelan = speak slowly

pelan bergerak is not natural here.

You can also use pelan-pelan to emphasize slowness or make it sound softer:

awan yang bergerak pelan-pelan = clouds that are moving very slowly / gently.

How do we know that di atas lembah describes the clouds and not where “we” are sitting?

We look at the word order and clause structure.

The sentence is:

Kami duduk di tepi tebing sambil mengamati awan yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah.

Break it down:

Kami duduk di tepi tebing = We sat at the edge of the cliff.
sambil mengamati awan = while observing the clouds
yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah = which were moving slowly over the valley

The phrase yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah sticks together as one description of awan:

awan [yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah]
= the clouds [that were moving slowly over the valley]

If di atas lembah described kami, it would normally appear closer to duduk:

Kami duduk di atas lembah di tepi tebing... (but that would sound odd; a valley is usually below, not “on top”.)

Can the word order be changed, for example putting di atas lembah earlier in the sentence?

You can move things a bit, but you must keep the meaning clear.

For example:

Kami duduk di tepi tebing, mengamati awan yang bergerak pelan di atas lembah.
(Just adds a comma in writing; spoken pause. Same meaning.)

If you move di atas lembah too far from awan, it may become confusing:

Kami duduk di tepi tebing di atas lembah sambil mengamati awan yang bergerak pelan.

This could be interpreted as:

We sat on a cliff above the valley, while observing clouds that were moving slowly (location of the cliff, not explicitly of the clouds).

So, the original order is a natural way to show that di atas lembah belongs to awan yang bergerak pelan.

Why is awan not marked as plural, even though we say “clouds” in English?

Indonesian usually doesn’t mark plural nouns if it’s already clear from context.

awan can mean cloud or clouds.
In this scene, it’s natural in English to say clouds (more than one), so we translate it that way.

If you really want to emphasize plurality, you can:

Repeat the noun: awan-awan (still sounds poetic or descriptive here).
Add a number or quantifier: banyak awan (many clouds).

But awan alone is completely normal and often the most natural choice.

What is the overall formality level of this sentence? Would people say this in everyday speech?

The sentence is in standard, neutral Indonesian:

All words (kami, duduk, di tepi tebing, sambil, mengamati, awan, bergerak pelan, lembah) are standard.
It sounds natural in writing (narration, stories, descriptions), and also fine in careful spoken language.

In casual conversation, speakers might:

Use lihat-lihat or ngeliatin / ngamatin (colloquial forms) instead of mengamati, depending on dialect/region.
Still, the original sentence is perfectly acceptable and not overly formal.