Saya merasa lebih tenang setelah membaca catatan ejaan dan arti kata sebelum tidur.

Because Indonesian does not use a verb like to be in the same way English does.

• Saya tenang = I am calm
• Saya merasa tenang = I feel calm

So in this sentence, merasa is already the main verb, meaning to feel. You do not need anything equivalent to am.

Merasa means to feel in an emotional or internal sense.

In Saya merasa lebih tenang, it means I feel calmer or I feel more calm.

A useful comparison:

• merasa = to feel
• rasa = feeling, taste, sense
• merasakan = to feel, experience, perceive something more explicitly

In everyday speech, merasa is very common for emotions and states:

• Saya merasa lelah = I feel tired
• Dia merasa senang = He or she feels happy

Lebih means more, so lebih tenang means more calm or, more naturally in English, calmer.

Indonesian often forms comparisons with:

• lebih + adjective

Examples:

• lebih besar = bigger
• lebih cepat = faster
• lebih tenang = calmer

Unlike English, Indonesian does not usually change the adjective itself. It uses lebih instead.

Because Indonesian commonly uses adjectives directly after verbs like merasa.

So:

• merasa tenang = feel calm
• merasa takut = feel afraid
• merasa bingung = feel confused

You do not need an extra word equivalent to English calmly or to be calm here. The adjective tenang works naturally as the state being felt.

The subject is understood from context: it is the same saya from the main clause.

So:

• Saya merasa lebih tenang setelah membaca...

naturally means:

• I feel calmer after reading...

Indonesian often leaves out a repeated subject when it is already obvious.

If you wanted to state it more explicitly, you could say:

• Saya merasa lebih tenang setelah saya membaca...

But that is usually less natural unless you want extra emphasis.

This phrase most likely means notes on spelling and word meanings.

Breakdown:

• catatan = notes, a note, written notes
• ejaan = spelling
• arti kata = word meaning, meaning of a word

So catatan ejaan dan arti kata refers to notes dealing with both:

• spelling
• the meanings of words

Depending on context, catatan could mean either:

• notes in general
• a set of study notes
• written entries

Arti means meaning, while arti kata means specifically the meaning of a word or word meaning.

Adding kata makes the meaning more specific. It tells you that the notes are about vocabulary meanings, not meaning in a broader sense.

Compare:

• arti = meaning
• arti kata = word meaning
• kata = word

So catatan ejaan dan arti kata is clearer than just catatan ejaan dan arti.

It can suggest either one depending on context, but most naturally it means before sleeping or before going to sleep.

Breakdown:

• sebelum = before
• tidur = sleep, to sleep

In everyday use, sebelum tidur often refers to the time right before you sleep at night, so in many contexts it is very close to before bed.

Again, the subject is understood from context.

In this sentence, the person who sleeps is naturally the same person as the one speaking: saya.

So sebelum tidur is understood as:

• before I sleep
• before going to sleep

Indonesian often omits pronouns when they are obvious.

You could say:

• sebelum saya tidur

but the shorter sebelum tidur is very natural.

They mark two different time relationships:

• setelah membaca... = after reading...
• sebelum tidur = before sleeping

So the sentence gives a sequence:

1. the reading happened
2. it happened before sleep
3. after that reading, the speaker felt calmer

This is a good example of how Indonesian often uses time words instead of changing verb forms.

Indonesian verbs do not usually change form for tense.

Instead, time is shown through:

• context
• time words
• sequence markers

In this sentence, the timing is clear because of:

• setelah = after
• sebelum = before

So even though membaca and tidur do not change form, the sentence clearly tells you when each action happened relative to the others.

Membaca is the standard active verb form meaning to read.

It comes from:

• root: baca = read
• active prefix: meN-
• result: membaca = to read

In formal and neutral Indonesian, membaca is the normal form in a sentence like this.

Using just baca is possible in casual speech, but it is less standard:

• setelah membaca = standard
• setelah baca = casual, conversational

Yes. A few natural alternatives are:

• Saya merasa lebih tenang sesudah membaca catatan ejaan dan arti kata sebelum tidur.
• Saya merasa lebih tenang setelah saya membaca catatan ejaan dan arti kata sebelum tidur.
• Sebelum tidur, saya merasa lebih tenang setelah membaca catatan ejaan dan arti kata.

Notes:

• setelah and sesudah are very similar, though setelah is often more common.
• Adding saya after setelah makes the subject explicit, but it is not necessary.
• Moving sebelum tidur to the front changes the rhythm, not the basic meaning.