Di pelabuhan kecil itu, muatan sayur datang pagi-pagi lalu dibawa ke pasar dengan cepat.

Because these are two different di forms in Indonesian.

Di + separate word is a preposition meaning in, at, on:

• di pelabuhan = at the harbor

di- + attached to a verb is a passive prefix:

• dibawa = is carried / was carried

This is a very important spelling rule in Indonesian:

• di pasar = at the market
• dibawa = carried

So if di shows location, it is usually written separately. If it forms a passive verb, it is written together.

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun, not before it as in English.

So:

• pelabuhan kecil = small harbor
• pasar besar = big market
• rumah tua = old house

This noun + adjective order is one of the most basic Indonesian patterns.

In Indonesian, demonstratives like ini and itu usually come at the end of the noun phrase.

So the normal order is:

• noun + adjective + itu
• pelabuhan kecil itu = that small harbor

More examples:

• rumah besar itu = that big house
• mobil baru itu = that new car

For an English speaker, this can feel backwards at first, but it is completely normal in Indonesian.

Muatan means load, cargo, shipment, so muatan sayur means something like a load of vegetables or vegetable cargo.

Using muatan makes the sentence sound more about transport or logistics, not just the vegetables themselves. It focuses on the vegetables as something being shipped.

So:

• sayur = vegetables
• muatan sayur = a cargo/load of vegetables

This is fairly natural in transport, port, and market contexts.

Both can relate to vegetables, but sayur is very common in compounds and everyday use.

In many contexts:

• sayur = vegetables / vegetable dishes / greens
• sayuran = vegetables, often as a category or collection

In a phrase like muatan sayur, sayur sounds natural and compact. Indonesian often uses the shorter noun in this kind of noun-noun combination.

So this is not really a mistake or unusual choice; it is a normal collocation.

This is reduplication, which is very common in Indonesian.

Pagi-pagi usually means:

• early in the morning
• very early
• first thing in the morning

It does not just mean a plain morning. It gives a stronger sense of earliness or emphasis.

Compare:

• datang pagi = arrive in the morning
• datang pagi-pagi = arrive very early in the morning

So the repetition adds nuance, not just plurality.

Lalu links two events in sequence. It means something like:

• then
• after that
• and then

In this sentence, it shows the order:

1. the cargo arrives
2. then it is taken to the market

It is a very common connector in Indonesian narratives and descriptions of events.

Dibawa is passive, while membawa is active.

• membawa = to carry / bring
• dibawa = to be carried / be taken

The sentence uses the passive because the focus is on the cargo, not on the people doing the action.

So:

• Muatan sayur membawa... would be wrong, because the cargo is not doing the carrying.
• Muatan sayur dibawa ke pasar = the vegetable cargo was taken to the market

Passive is very common in Indonesian, especially when the thing affected by the action is more important than the doer.

The agent is simply not mentioned because it is not important here, or it is understood from context.

Indonesian often leaves out the doer in passive sentences if the focus is on the result or the object affected.

So dibawa ke pasar means:

• taken to the market

without saying exactly by whom.

If you wanted to mention the doer, you could add oleh:

• dibawa ke pasar oleh para pekerja = taken to the market by the workers

But in many natural Indonesian sentences, the agent is omitted.

Because ke shows movement toward a destination, while di shows location.

• ke pasar = to the market
• di pasar = at the market

Since the cargo is being moved, ke is the correct choice.

Compare:

• Muatan dibawa ke pasar = the cargo was taken to the market
• Muatan ada di pasar = the cargo is at the market

Dengan cepat means quickly or rapidly.

Yes, Indonesian can often also just use cepat directly:

• dibawa ke pasar dengan cepat
• dibawa ke pasar cepat-cepat
• sometimes simply dibawa ke pasar cepat

But dengan cepat sounds clear, standard, and slightly more formal or written.

So:

• cepat = fast / quickly
• dengan cepat = in a quick manner / quickly

Indonesian often puts a place or time expression at the beginning to set the scene.

So Di pelabuhan kecil itu gives the location first, and then the main events follow. This is very natural in Indonesian.

The sentence structure is roughly:

• location first
• main noun/topic
• event
• next event

Starting with the location helps frame the whole situation, much like English sentences such as:

• At that small harbor, ...

Indonesian usually does not mark tense the way English does. The verb forms datang and dibawa do not automatically tell you whether the action is past, present, or future.

Instead, tense is understood from:

• context
• time words
• the situation being described

In this sentence, pagi-pagi gives time information, but it does not by itself force a specific English tense. Depending on context, the sentence could be understood as:

• a past event
• a habitual description
• a present narration

This is one of the biggest differences from English: Indonesian is often less tense-heavy and more context-dependent.