Saya menyiapkan uang receh untuk ongkos angkot sebelum berangkat ke pasar.

Menyiapkan means to prepare something.

It comes from the base siap, which means ready.
With the affixes meN- and -kan, it becomes a transitive verb:

• siap = ready
• menyiapkan = to make ready, to prepare

In this sentence, Saya menyiapkan uang receh means I prepared some small change.

Not by grammar alone. Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So Saya menyiapkan uang receh could mean something like:

• I prepared some change
• I am preparing some change
• I prepare some change

The time is usually understood from context. Because of the full sentence and its meaning, English will often translate it as a past action, but Indonesian itself does not mark that directly here.

Uang receh means small change or loose change.

It usually refers to:

• coins
• low-value money
• sometimes small banknotes too, not only coins

So it is the kind of money you prepare when you want to pay a small fare exactly or avoid needing change.

Untuk means for.

In this sentence, it shows the purpose of the small change:

• uang receh untuk ongkos angkot = small change for the angkot fare

So the idea is not just that the speaker has small change, but that they prepared it for a specific use.

Ongkos angkot means the angkot fare.

Breakdown:

• ongkos = fare, cost, expense
• angkot = a kind of public minibus

So ongkos angkot is the money needed to ride an angkot.

Angkot is short for angkutan kota, literally city transport.

It refers to a common Indonesian form of public transportation: a small shared minibus or van that carries passengers along a route.

So this is a very culture-specific word. In English, people often translate it approximately as:

• public minibus
• shared minivan
• local minibus

Because the subject is already clear.

In Indonesian, when the subject of the second clause is the same as the main subject, it is very common to leave it out:

• Saya menyiapkan uang receh sebelum berangkat ke pasar
• literally: I prepared small change before leaving for the market

You can say sebelum saya berangkat ke pasar, but leaving out saya is very natural and sounds smoother.

Both can relate to going, but they are not exactly the same.

• pergi = to go
• berangkat = to depart, to set off

Berangkat often emphasizes the start of a trip or leaving from a place. In this sentence, that fits well because the person is preparing money before setting off for the market.

So sebelum berangkat ke pasar feels a bit like before heading out to the market.

Ke marks direction or destination. It usually means to.

So:

• ke pasar = to the market
• ke sekolah = to school
• ke rumah = to the house/home

Indonesian does not use articles like a or the in the same way English does, so ke pasar can be translated as to the market or sometimes just to market, depending on context.

Yes. Indonesian is quite flexible with adverbial phrases like time expressions.

A very natural alternative is:

Sebelum berangkat ke pasar, saya menyiapkan uang receh untuk ongkos angkot.

This means the same thing. Putting sebelum berangkat ke pasar first simply gives the time setting first, like English Before leaving for the market, I prepared small change for the angkot fare.

In a standalone sentence, saya is useful and natural because it clearly gives the subject: I.

But in conversation, Indonesian often drops subjects when they are obvious from context. So if everyone already knows who is being talked about, someone might simply say:

Menyiapkan uang receh untuk ongkos angkot sebelum berangkat ke pasar.

That kind of omission is common in speech, but for learners, keeping saya is usually the safest choice.

You can also hear recehan, especially in casual speech, and it also means small change.

But uang receh is very clear and straightforward:

• uang receh = small change
• recehan = loose change, small denomination money

So in this sentence, uang receh is completely natural and easy to understand.