Pas menyeberang jalan di depan kampus, saya melihat mobil itu tiba-tiba menepi tanpa memberi sein.

Here, pas means when or while. It introduces the time background for the main event.

So:

• Pas menyeberang jalan ... = When/while crossing the street ...

A very important point: pas is common in everyday Indonesian, but it is relatively informal. In more formal Indonesian, you would more often see:

• saat
• ketika

So this sentence could also be written as:

• Saat menyeberang jalan di depan kampus, saya melihat ...
• Ketika menyeberang jalan di depan kampus, saya melihat ...

Those sound more formal or written.

The subject is understood from the main clause: saya.

So Pas menyeberang jalan ... literally looks like When crossing the street ..., with the subject omitted because it is the same as the subject in the main clause.

This is very natural in Indonesian. If the subject is clear from context, it is often left unstated.

So the meaning is:

• Pas menyeberang jalan ..., saya melihat ...
• When I was crossing the street ..., I saw ...

It would be less natural to repeat saya unnecessarily.

Yes. Menyeberang jalan is the standard and natural expression for to cross the street/road.

Breakdown:

• menyeberang = to cross over
• jalan = road / street

So:

• menyeberang jalan = cross the road/street

This is a very common collocation in Indonesian.

The standard form is menyeberang.

It comes from the base seberang. With the meN- prefix, it becomes menyeberang.

You may hear menyebrang in casual speech, and many Indonesians say it informally, but menyeberang is the standard form you should learn and use in careful writing.

Di depan kampus means in front of the campus or outside the campus area, at the front.

Breakdown:

• di = at / in / on
• depan = front
• di depan = in front of
• kampus = campus

So:

• jalan di depan kampus = the road in front of the campus

In English, you might naturally say the street in front of the campus or the street outside the campus depending on context.

Indonesian does not use articles like a, an, and the the way English does.

So kampus can mean:

• campus
• a campus
• the campus

The exact interpretation comes from context.

In this sentence, di depan kampus most naturally means in front of the campus or in front of campus, depending on the situation.

In Indonesian, demonstratives such as ini and itu usually come after the noun.

So:

• mobil itu = that car
• kampus ini = this campus

This is the normal word order.

So:

• saya melihat mobil itu = I saw that car

Putting itu before the noun would not be the normal structure here.

Melihat means to see.

Here it is the main verb of the sentence:

• saya melihat mobil itu ...
• I saw that car ...

It introduces what the speaker observed. After melihat, Indonesian often continues directly with the event seen, without needing a word like that:

• Saya melihat mobil itu tiba-tiba menepi
• literally: I saw that car suddenly pull over

This structure is very common.

Because Indonesian often links perception verbs directly to the action being perceived.

So this structure is normal:

• Saya melihat mobil itu menepi
• I saw the car pull over

You do not need an extra connector like bahwa here.

Using bahwa after melihat would usually sound unnatural in this kind of direct observation sentence.

Tiba-tiba means suddenly.

In this sentence, it modifies menepi:

• mobil itu tiba-tiba menepi
• the car suddenly pulled over

Its position is flexible in some cases, but the placement here is very natural. It comes before the verb it affects.

You could think of it as highlighting the unexpectedness of the car’s action.

Menepi means to pull over, move to the side, or go to the edge/shoulder of the road.

It comes from tepi, meaning edge or side.

So in traffic context:

• mobil itu menepi = the car pulled over / moved to the side

This is a very useful verb for road and driving situations.

Sein means turn signal or indicator.

In Indonesian traffic language, sein is extremely common. You may also hear:

• lampu sein = turn signal light / indicator light

So:

• memberi sein
• menyalakan sein
• menyalakan lampu sein

all relate to signaling before turning or pulling over.

In everyday speech, sein by itself is very common and natural.

Because tanpa memberi sein is a natural, concise way to say without signaling.

Breakdown:

• tanpa = without
• memberi sein = give a signal / signal with the indicator

So:

• tanpa memberi sein = without using the turn signal / without signaling

A longer version like tanpa menyalakan lampu sein is also possible, but it is more explicit and a bit less compact. The version in the sentence sounds very natural in everyday Indonesian.

Yes, literally it is something like give a signal.

Indonesian often uses memberi in expressions where English would use a different verb, such as:

• memberi tahu = inform / let someone know
• memberi izin = give permission
• memberi sein = signal with the indicator

So while the literal wording may feel different from English, it is a normal Indonesian expression.

In this context, it means the car pulled over without signaling first.

The most natural interpretation is:

• the car moved to the side
• and it did so without using its turn signal

So the phrase describes the manner of the action. It does not focus on the entire timeline of the car’s signaling behavior in general, just on this particular action.

It has two main parts:

1. Pas menyeberang jalan di depan kampus

   • a time/background clause
   • When crossing the street in front of the campus

2. saya melihat mobil itu tiba-tiba menepi tanpa memberi sein

   • the main clause
   • I saw that car suddenly pull over without signaling

So the structure is:

• [time/background] + [main event]

This is a very common Indonesian sentence pattern.

It is mostly neutral, but pas makes it more conversational.

Other parts are completely normal standard Indonesian:

• menyeberang jalan
• saya melihat
• mobil itu
• tiba-tiba menepi
• tanpa memberi sein

If you wanted a more formal version, you could replace pas with saat or ketika:

• Saat menyeberang jalan di depan kampus, saya melihat mobil itu tiba-tiba menepi tanpa memberi sein.

That would sound more suitable for formal writing.

Usually, no—not in this sentence as it stands.

Indonesian often omits subjects when they are understood, but in this sentence saya is the subject of the main clause and is important for clarity:

• Pas menyeberang jalan di depan kampus, saya melihat ...

If you removed saya, the sentence would feel incomplete or unclear.

The omitted subject is in the first part, not the main clause.

Not really. The natural interpretation is that saya was crossing the street.

That is because in Indonesian, when a clause like Pas menyeberang jalan ... has no subject, listeners usually understand it to refer to the subject of the main clause, unless context clearly says otherwise.

So native speakers will normally understand:

• I was crossing the street
• I saw that car pull over

Sometimes, depending on context, but pulled over is better.

Menepi is more specific than just stop. It means moving toward the side or edge of the road, not simply ceasing movement.

So:

• stopped = possible in a loose translation
• pulled over / moved to the side = more accurate

Because Indonesian does not mark tense on verbs the way English does.

Verbs like:

• menyeberang
• melihat
• menepi
• memberi

do not change form for past, present, or future.

Time is understood from context, time expressions, or the situation. In this sentence, the whole event is clearly a past narrative because of the way it is presented, even though there is no past verb ending.

That is very normal in Indonesian.