Setibanya di mal, kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift karena antreannya lebih pendek.

Setibanya means upon arriving or when (someone) arrived.

It comes from the root tiba = to arrive, plus the pattern se- ... -nya, which often gives the meaning as soon as or upon in formal Indonesian.

So:

• tiba = arrive
• setibanya = upon arrival / as soon as (someone) arrived

In this sentence, Setibanya di mal means Upon arriving at the mall.

This structure is fairly formal. In everyday speech, many people would more naturally say:

• Sesampainya di mal...
• Waktu sampai di mal...
• Pas sampai di mal...

This is because di and ke have different functions:

• di = in / at a place
• ke = to a place

Here, the sentence says Setibanya di mal = upon arriving at the mall, so the person is already at the destination. That is why di mal is used.

Compare:

• Kami pergi ke mal. = We went to the mall.
• Kami sudah di mal. = We are already at the mall.

So after the idea of arrival, di is the natural choice.

Indonesian distinguishes between two kinds of we:

• kami = we, but not including the listener
• kita = we, including the listener

So kami memilih naik eskalator means we chose to take the escalator, but the person being spoken to is not part of that group.

If the speaker wanted to include the listener, they would say kita instead.

This is a very important distinction in Indonesian and often feels unusual to English speakers, since English has only one word, we.

Both are possible, but memilih naik eskalator is very natural and concise in Indonesian.

• memilih naik eskalator = chose to take the escalator
• memilih untuk naik eskalator = chose to take the escalator

The version without untuk is more direct and common in many situations. Indonesian often allows one verb to be followed directly by another verb.

Examples:

• Saya ingin makan. = I want to eat.
• Mereka mulai bekerja. = They started working.
• Kami memilih naik eskalator. = We chose to take the escalator.

Adding untuk can sound a bit more formal or emphatic, but it is not necessary here.

In this sentence, daripada means rather than or instead of.

So:

• naik eskalator daripada lift = take the escalator rather than the elevator

This is one of the common uses of daripada.

It is also used in comparisons:

• lebih murah daripada itu = cheaper than that

By contrast, dari usually means from:

• Saya dari Jakarta. = I am from Jakarta.

Although in casual speech some people use dari where prescriptive grammar prefers daripada, in careful standard Indonesian, daripada is the better choice in this sentence.

Lift is a common Indonesian word for elevator. It is a loanword.

That may feel surprising to an American English speaker, because American English usually says elevator, while British English says lift. Indonesian borrowed lift, and that is the normal everyday term.

So:

• lift = elevator
• eskalator = escalator

Both are standard and very common.

Antreannya means the queue / the line or its queue / the queue for it, depending on context.

Breakdown:

• antrean = queue, line
• -nya = a very common suffix that can mean the, his/her/its, or refer back to something already understood from context

In this sentence, antreannya refers to the line associated with the option just mentioned. The meaning is basically:

• because the line was shorter
• or more literally, because its queue was shorter

The suffix -nya often helps make a noun sound definite, like the in English, even though Indonesian does not have articles like the or a.

Compare:

• antrean = a queue / queue in general
• antreannya = the queue / its queue

Yes. In Indonesian, pendek = short, and it can be used for things like lines or queues.

So:

• antreannya lebih pendek = the line was shorter

This works much like English, where we also say a short line or a long line.

You could also hear:

• antreannya lebih sedikit = the queue had fewer people
• tidak terlalu ramai = not too crowded

But lebih pendek is perfectly natural.

Karena means because. It introduces the reason.

So the sentence structure is:

• Setibanya di mal = upon arriving at the mall
• kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift = we chose to take the escalator rather than the elevator
• karena antreannya lebih pendek = because the line was shorter

This is a very common connector in Indonesian.

Other common cause/reason words include:

• sebab = because / since
• soalnya = because / the thing is... (more conversational)

It sounds mostly neutral, with a slightly formal touch because of setibanya.

The rest of the sentence is very standard and natural:

• kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift karena antreannya lebih pendek

But setibanya is a bit more polished or written-sounding than everyday casual speech.

More casual versions might be:

• Pas sampai di mal, kami pilih naik eskalator daripada lift karena antreannya lebih pendek.
• Waktu sampai di mal, kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift karena antreannya lebih pendek.

So the original sentence is absolutely correct, but the first word makes it feel a little more formal than ordinary conversation.

In standard Indonesian, mal is the usual spelling.

Even though English has mall, Indonesian spelling normally adapts many loanwords to Indonesian conventions, so mal is the standard form.

You may still see mall in business names, branding, or signs, but in ordinary Indonesian writing, mal is preferred.

So in a textbook or standard sentence, di mal is the expected spelling.

Yes. Indonesian word order is fairly flexible, especially with time/background phrases and reasons.

For example, these are also natural:

• Kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift setibanya di mal karena antreannya lebih pendek.
• Karena antreannya lebih pendek, setibanya di mal kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift.
• Setibanya di mal, karena antreannya lebih pendek, kami memilih naik eskalator daripada lift.

However, the original version is smooth and clear because it gives the background first, then the main action, then the reason:

1. arrival at the mall
2. choosing the escalator
3. reason: shorter line

That is a very common and natural flow in Indonesian.