Gara-gara gerimis sejak sore, kami naik angkot dan tidak jadi berjalan kaki.

Gara-gara means because of / due to, but it often carries a slightly negative or inconvenient feeling.

So in this sentence, Gara-gara gerimis sejak sore suggests something like:

• Because it had been drizzling since the afternoon
• Owing to the drizzle since the afternoon
• Because of the drizzle since the afternoon

It is very common in everyday Indonesian.

Not exactly.

• karena = a neutral because
• gara-gara = because of, often implying annoyance, blame, or an unwanted cause

In this sentence, gara-gara fits well because the drizzle caused a change of plan.

Compare:

• Kami terlambat karena macet. = We were late because of traffic.
• Kami terlambat gara-gara macet. = We were late because of traffic.
  This second one sounds a bit more like traffic was the annoying reason.

Gerimis means drizzle or light rain.

It refers to rain that is light and fine, not a heavy downpour.

Related words:

• hujan = rain
• gerimis = drizzle
• hujan deras = heavy rain

So gerimis sejak sore means it had been drizzling since the afternoon.

Sejak means since, and sore means late afternoon / afternoon.

So:

• sejak sore = since the afternoon
• more naturally in English: since earlier in the afternoon or since late afternoon

This tells you the drizzle started in the afternoon and continued up to the relevant time in the sentence.

Because kami means we, excluding the listener, while kita means we, including the listener.

So kami naik angkot means:

• we took an angkot
• but you are not part of that we

This is an important distinction in Indonesian:

• kami = we, not you
• kita = we, including you

Angkot is short for angkutan kota, a kind of public minibus used in many Indonesian cities.

It is a cultural word, so there often is not one perfect English translation. Depending on context, you might translate it as:

• minibus
• shared minibus
• public minivan
• sometimes just leave it as angkot

So kami naik angkot means they took this kind of local public transport.

Yes, naik literally means go up / ascend, but in Indonesian it is also very commonly used to mean ride / take a vehicle.

So:

• naik bus = take the bus
• naik kereta = take the train
• naik sepeda = ride a bicycle
• naik angkot = take an angkot

This is a very natural Indonesian pattern. Even though the literal idea is go up onto, the actual meaning in context is simply ride / take.

Tidak jadi means not end up doing something, not go through with something, or cancel the plan to do something.

So:

• tidak jadi berjalan kaki = didn’t end up walking
• or didn’t end up going on foot
• or decided not to walk after all

This expression is very common in spoken and written Indonesian.

Examples:

• Saya tidak jadi pergi. = I didn’t end up going.
• Mereka tidak jadi beli rumah itu. = They didn’t end up buying that house.

Both forms exist, but they work a little differently.

• berjalan kaki = to walk / to go on foot
• jalan kaki can also mean to walk, especially in casual use, but it is also a fixed expression meaning on foot

In this sentence, berjalan kaki sounds clear and grammatical as a verb phrase.

Examples:

• Kami berjalan kaki ke kantor. = We walked to the office.
• Kami ke kantor dengan jalan kaki. = We went to the office on foot.

So here, berjalan kaki is simply the verbal expression to walk.

Indonesian often does not need a verb equivalent to English it was in weather expressions.

English says:

• It was drizzling
• It has been drizzling since the afternoon

Indonesian can simply say:

• gerimis sejak sore

The subject it is not needed, and the language often allows this kind of compressed expression when the meaning is obvious.

It has a very common Indonesian structure:

Cause first + main result

• Gara-gara gerimis sejak sore, = Because of the drizzle since the afternoon,
• kami naik angkot = we took an angkot
• dan tidak jadi berjalan kaki = and didn’t end up walking

So the logic is:

1. cause: drizzle since the afternoon
2. result: they took public transport
3. changed plan: they did not walk

This fronting of the reason is very natural in Indonesian.

Yes. For example:

• Karena gerimis sejak sore, kami naik angkot dan tidak jadi berjalan kaki.

This is correct and slightly more neutral than gara-gara.

The original with gara-gara feels a bit more conversational and gives a sense that the drizzle was the inconvenient reason their plan changed.

It is mostly everyday, natural Indonesian.

• gara-gara is conversational and slightly informal
• angkot is an everyday real-world term
• the rest of the sentence is standard and normal

So the sentence sounds like something a person might naturally say in speech or informal writing. In a more formal style, someone might prefer karena instead of gara-gara.

A natural translation would be:

• Because it had been drizzling since the afternoon, we took an angkot and didn’t end up walking.

Other natural versions are:

• Because of the afternoon drizzle, we took an angkot instead of walking.
• Since it had been drizzling all afternoon, we took an angkot and didn’t walk.

The exact English wording can vary, but the Indonesian sentence clearly means that the drizzle caused them to change from walking to taking an angkot.