Dari jendela pesawat, saya melihat lampu-lampu landasan sebelum kami mendarat.

Because Indonesian often puts a location or point of view at the beginning of the sentence for context.

• Dari jendela pesawat = From the airplane window
• Then the main clause follows: saya melihat ...

This fronting is very natural in Indonesian. It sets the scene first, a bit like:

• From the plane window, I saw...

You could also say:

• Saya melihat lampu-lampu landasan dari jendela pesawat...

That is also understandable, but the original version emphasizes the viewpoint first.

Usually, yes. Dari commonly means from, but it can be used in several related ways:

• from a place: dari Jakarta
• from a person: dari teman saya
• from a source/origin: terbuat dari kayu
• from a viewpoint/location: dari jendela pesawat

In this sentence, dari shows the place from which the speaker saw something.

Indonesian often expresses noun relationships by simply placing two nouns together:

• jendela pesawat = airplane window
• literally something like window airplane

This is very common and natural. The second noun modifies the first.

Compare:

• rumah saya = my house
• pintu mobil = car door
• jendela pesawat = airplane window

Using dari here would sound less natural if you just mean the window belonging to the plane.

This is called reduplication, and one of its common functions is to show plurality.

• lampu = a lamp / light or lights in a general sense
• lampu-lampu = lights, clearly plural

So lampu-lampu landasan means the runway lights.

Important: Indonesian does not always need reduplication to express plural. Context can already make it clear. But here, lampu-lampu emphasizes that there were multiple lights.

Yes, in this sentence landasan refers to the runway area.

More literally, landasan is something like a base, platform, or surface for movement/landing, depending on context. In airport language, it can refer to a runway, especially in expressions like:

• landasan pacu = runway more explicitly

So:

• lampu-lampu landasan = runway lights

The sentence omits pacu, which is normal if the meaning is already clear from context.

Saya is the more neutral and polite word for I.

• saya = polite/neutral, widely usable
• aku = more informal and personal

In a textbook-style sentence, saya is the safest and most standard choice.

So the sentence sounds natural and neutral.

This is a very important distinction in Indonesian:

• kami = we, not including the person being spoken to
• kita = we, including the person being spoken to

In the sentence, kami mendarat means we landed / were landing, referring to the speaker and others on the plane, but not the listener.

Since the listener is not part of the group on the plane, kami is correct.

Mendarat means to land.

It comes from darat, which is related to land in the sense of ground or dry land, plus the prefix meN-, which often forms verbs.

So:

• darat = land/ground
• mendarat = to land

This verb is intransitive here, meaning the subject performs the action without a direct object:

• Pesawat itu mendarat. = The plane landed.

If you want a transitive form, Indonesian can use:

• mendaratkan = to land something

For example:

• Pilot mendaratkan pesawat. = The pilot landed the plane.

Indonesian does not mark tense the way English does.

The verbs stay the same:

• melihat can mean see / saw
• mendarat can mean land / landed / was landing

Time is usually understood from:

• context
• time words like kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), besok (tomorrow)
• the situation described

In this sentence, the sequence of events makes it clear that the speaker is talking about a past event.

Melihat is the standard verb form meaning to see.

• lihat can appear in informal speech, commands, or casual usage
• melihat is more complete and standard in formal or neutral Indonesian

Examples:

• Saya melihat gunung itu. = standard
• Lihat! = Look!
• Saya lihat dia tadi. = common in speech, but more informal

So in a well-formed standard sentence, melihat is the expected choice.

Sometimes Indonesian does omit subjects when they are obvious, but in this sentence kami helps make the meaning clear.

• sebelum kami mendarat = before we landed / before we were landing
• sebelum mendarat could also be understood in some contexts as before landing, but it is less explicit

Including kami makes the clause complete and clear: the people on the plane are the ones landing.

The comma separates the introductory phrase from the main clause.

• Dari jendela pesawat, = scene-setting phrase
• saya melihat... = main statement

This is similar to English punctuation in sentences like:

• From the plane window, I saw the runway lights.

In Indonesian, commas are often used after a fronted phrase like this, especially in careful writing.

Not always. Pesawat can more generally mean a device, machine, or aircraft, depending on context.

For example:

• pesawat terbang = airplane / aircraft
• pesawat televisi = television set

But in everyday modern Indonesian, pesawat by itself very often means airplane, especially when the context clearly involves flying, windows, landing, and runways.

So here, pesawat is naturally understood as plane.

Yes. A word-for-word breakdown is helpful, but natural English may phrase it more smoothly.

Word-for-word:

• lampu-lampu = lights
• landasan = runway

Natural translation:

• the runway lights

This is common when translating Indonesian noun phrases. You often do not translate each word mechanically; instead, you choose the most natural English expression.