Awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk di kabin ketika ombak mulai besar.

Awak feri means the ferry crew.

Here, awak refers to the people working on the ferry, such as the staff or crew members. In this kind of sentence, it usually works like a collective noun, so it can refer to the crew as a group rather than just one person.

• awak feri = ferry crew
• seorang awak feri = one crew member of the ferry
• para awak feri = the crew members

So in this sentence, awak feri meminta kami... is best understood as the ferry crew asked us...

Feri is the Indonesian spelling of the English loanword ferry.

Indonesian often adapts foreign words to Indonesian spelling patterns, so:

• ferry → feri
• cabin → often kabin
• practice → praktik

So feri is the normal Indonesian form.

This means asked us to remain seated or asked us to keep sitting.

The structure is:

• meminta = to ask/request
• kami = us
• tetap duduk = remain sitting / stay seated

So the pattern is:

meminta + object + action

Examples:

• Dia meminta saya menunggu. = He asked me to wait.
• Guru meminta murid-murid diam. = The teacher asked the students to be quiet.
• Awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk. = The ferry crew asked us to remain seated.

This is a very common Indonesian pattern.

Because Indonesian often does not need untuk in this structure.

Both of these are possible:

• Awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk...
• Awak feri meminta kami untuk tetap duduk...

The version without untuk is very natural and common. It is often more direct and a little more compact.

So:

• meminta kami tetap duduk = asked us to remain seated
• meminta kami untuk tetap duduk = also correct, with to stated more explicitly

Tetap means still, remain, or continue to.

So:

• duduk = sit / be sitting
• tetap duduk = remain seated / keep sitting / stay seated

Without tetap, the sentence would still make sense, but it would lose the idea of continuing to stay in that position.

Compare:

• meminta kami duduk = asked us to sit down / asked us to sit
• meminta kami tetap duduk = asked us to stay seated / remain sitting

In this ferry situation, tetap is important because the crew is telling people not to get up.

Yes, di kabin means in the cabin or inside the cabin area.

• di = in / at / on, depending on context
• kabin = cabin

So duduk di kabin means sit in the cabin.

In transportation contexts, di kabin usually means inside the enclosed passenger area, not outside on deck.

In this sentence, ketika means when.

You could usually replace it with saat without much change in meaning:

• ketika ombak mulai besar
• saat ombak mulai besar

Both mean when the waves started getting bigger.

A rough guide:

• ketika can feel a little more formal or written
• saat is also very common and natural

In everyday Indonesian, both are widely used.

Yes. In Indonesian, besar can be used for waves to mean big, strong, or rough.

So ombak mulai besar means something like:

• the waves started getting big
• the sea was starting to get rough

Even though English often prefers high waves or rough waves, Indonesian commonly uses besar.

You may also hear:

• ombaknya besar = the waves are big
• ombak mulai membesar = the waves started getting bigger

mulai besar is natural, especially in everyday speech. mulai membesar sounds a bit more explicitly verbal, like started to become bigger.

Here, kami means us.

That is because it is the object of meminta:

• meminta kami = asked us

A useful reminder:

• kami = we/us, but excluding the listener
• kita = we/us, including the listener

In this sentence, the speaker is talking about the passengers as a group, not including the ferry crew, so kami makes sense.

Usually, kami is better here.

Why? Because kami excludes the person being spoken to, while kita includes them.

If a passenger is telling someone else about what happened, kami is natural:

• Awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk... = The ferry crew asked us to remain seated...

If you used kita, it would suggest that the listener was part of that same group:

• Awak feri meminta kita tetap duduk... = The ferry crew asked all of us, including you, to remain seated.

So the right choice depends on who is included.

Yes, the word order is natural, and yes, the ketika clause can go at the beginning.

Original:

• Awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk di kabin ketika ombak mulai besar.

Also natural:

• Ketika ombak mulai besar, awak feri meminta kami tetap duduk di kabin.

Both are correct.

The difference is mostly emphasis:

• putting ketika ombak mulai besar at the end gives the main event first
• putting it at the beginning sets the scene first: When the waves started getting big...

It sounds fairly neutral and natural.

Some parts make it feel a little more standard or written:

• ketika instead of a more casual connector
• tetap duduk as a clear instruction-like phrase

But it is not overly formal. It would sound normal in narration, news-style writing, or ordinary storytelling.

A more casual version might be:

• Waktu ombak mulai besar, awak feri minta kami tetap duduk di kabin.

Here:

• waktu is a more casual when
• minta is a shorter spoken form of meminta

Yes, depending on what exactly you want to say.

Possible alternatives:

• petugas feri = ferry staff / ferry personnel
• staf feri = ferry staff
• kru feri = ferry crew

Nuance:

• awak feri sounds very natural for transportation crew
• kru feri is also very common
• petugas feri can sound a bit more official
• staf feri is understandable, but slightly less specific than crew

So awak feri is a good choice here.

Yes, both are possible.

• ombak mulai besar
• ombak mulai membesar

Difference:

• mulai besar is a little simpler and very natural in everyday Indonesian
• mulai membesar makes the idea of becoming bigger more explicit

So:

• besar = big
• membesar = become/get bigger

In context, both work well. Mulai membesar may sound slightly more polished or descriptive.

In this sentence, it is best understood as stay seated.

Literally, duduk means sit or be sitting, but the combination tetap duduk strongly gives the sense of remain seated.

So this is not just an instruction to sit down once. It means:

• do not stand up
• keep sitting
• remain in your seat

That is why tetap is so important in understanding the full meaning.