Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.

I was almost late to the office this morning because of the heavy rain.

Breakdown of Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.

• adalah: to be
• sebuah: a
• saya: I
• kantor: the office
• karena: because
• ke: to
• hujan: the rain
• deras: heavy
• pagi ini: this morning
• terlambat: late
• nyaris: almost

Questions & Answers about Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.

What does nyaris mean exactly, and how is it different from hampir?

Both nyaris and hampir mean almost / nearly.

In everyday conversation, nyaris and hampir are usually interchangeable:

• Saya nyaris terlambat.
• Saya hampir terlambat.
  → I was almost late.

Nuance (very slight, and often ignored in speech):

• nyaris can sound a bit more dramatic or emphasize that something very narrowly didn’t happen.
• hampir is more neutral and is used more often overall.

In your sentence, you could replace nyaris with hampir without changing the basic meaning:

• Saya hampir terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.

Why is it terlambat and not just lambat?

• lambat = slow
• terlambat = late (too late, after the expected time)

Examples:

• Internetnya lambat. = The internet is slow.
• Saya terlambat ke kantor. = I am late to the office.

So Saya nyaris lambat ke kantor would sound odd, because you’re not “almost slow to the office”; you’re “almost late”. The correct word is terlambat.

Why is it ke kantor and not di kantor?

In Indonesian:

• ke = to, used for movement towards a place
• di = at / in, used for location (where something/someone is)

Your sentence is about going to the office, so we use ke:

• Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor.
  → I was almost late to the office. (movement)

If you were talking about being at the office, you’d use di:

• Saya terlambat di kantor.
  → I was late at the office. (e.g. late for something happening there)

Why is it just kantor, not kantor saya (“my office”)?

In Indonesian, it’s common to drop possessive words when the context is clear.

kantor here is understood as the office where I work, so people normally just say:

• Saya pergi ke kantor. = I go to (my) office.
• Dia berangkat dari rumah ke kantor. = He/She leaves from home to (their) office.

You only need kantor saya if you want to emphasize specifically my own office (e.g. I own it, or to contrast with someone else’s office):

• Dia ke kantor saya, bukan ke kantor kamu.
  He went to my office, not your office.

Can pagi ini be moved to another position in the sentence?

Yes. Indonesian word order is flexible with time expressions. All of these are natural:

• Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.
• Pagi ini saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor karena hujan deras.
• Saya pagi ini nyaris terlambat ke kantor karena hujan deras.

The most common positions are:

1. At the beginning: Pagi ini saya… (emphasis on “this morning”)
2. Before the main verb/adjective: Saya pagi ini nyaris terlambat…

Your original version is also fine and common.

What’s the difference between pagi ini and tadi pagi?

Both can be translated as this morning, but the nuance is different:

• pagi ini: literally “this morning”; can be used while it’s still the same morning, and sometimes also later in the day in casual speech.
• tadi pagi: “earlier this morning” / “this morning (earlier)”; clearly refers to a time that has already passed.

If you’re still in the morning when speaking, pagi ini is perfect. If it’s already afternoon or night, tadi pagi is often more precise:

• It’s still morning now:
  Pagi ini saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor.
• It’s evening now, talking about earlier:
  Tadi pagi saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor.

Could we say karena hujan deras, saya nyaris terlambat… instead? Is the word order important?

Yes, both orders are correct:

• Saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.
• Karena hujan deras, saya nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini.

Indonesian allows both:

1. Main clause first, reason later:
   Statement → Reason
   Very common in speech.

2. Reason first, main clause later:
   Reason → Result
   Also common; can sound a bit more structured or formal in writing.

Meaning is the same. It’s mainly a matter of style or what you want to emphasize.

What’s the difference between karena and sebab or gara-gara?

All three can express because / due to, but their usage differs:

• karena: neutral and the most common for “because”.

  • Saya terlambat karena hujan deras.

• sebab: a bit more formal or written; often used like “reason/cause”.

  • Saya terlambat, sebab hujan turun sangat deras.
    (can sound a bit more formal or literary in everyday speech)

• gara-gara: more casual, often implies something negative/annoying; similar to “because of (this annoying thing)”.

  • Saya nyaris terlambat gara-gara hujan deras.
    → I was almost late because of the heavy rain (it was a hassle).

Your sentence with gara-gara would sound slightly more colloquial and emotional.

Why is it hujan deras, not deras hujan?

In Indonesian, the general pattern is:

noun + adjective

So:

• hujan deras = heavy rain (literally: rain + heavy)
• kantor besar = big office
• mobil merah = red car

deras hujan is ungrammatical in this context.

If deras is used as an adverb or predicate, the structure changes:

• Hujannya deras. = The rain is heavy.
  (hujan-nya = the rain; deras is now the predicate/adjective of the subject hujannya)

Can I use aku instead of saya in this sentence?

Grammatically, yes:

• Aku nyaris terlambat ke kantor pagi ini karena hujan deras.

The difference is in formality:

• saya: more polite, neutral, safe in almost any situation (work, strangers, formal).
• aku: more informal, used with friends, family, or people of the same age in casual contexts.

In a work or formal context, saya is usually better. With close friends, aku is very common.