Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.

We stand in front of the stage.

Breakdown of Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.

• kami: we
• berdiri: to stand
• pentas: the stage
• di hadapan: in front of

Questions & Answers about Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.

What exactly does kami mean, and how is it different from kita?

Both kami and kita mean “we / us”, but they differ in who is included:

• kami = we (excluding the person spoken to)
  
  • Example idea: kami = “I + my friends, but not you.”
• kita = we (including the person spoken to)
  
  • Example idea: kita = “you and I (and maybe others).”

In Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas, the speaker is saying that the group does not include the listener. If the speaker wanted to include the listener, they would say Kita berdiri di hadapan pentas.

Is the subject pronoun kami necessary? Can I just say Berdiri di hadapan pentas?

In Malay, the subject pronoun can be dropped if it is clear from context, but doing so can sometimes make the sentence sound less complete or less clear.

• Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → Clear: “We (not including you) are standing in front of the stage.”

• Berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → Grammatically possible, but feels like a fragment unless it’s part of a larger context (e.g. instructions, a caption, or after someone has already asked “What are you doing?”).

For clear, neutral sentences, it’s better to keep kami.

What does berdiri literally mean, and why is there a ber- at the front?

The base word is diri, which means “self” or “body” in some contexts.

The prefix ber- is a common verb-forming prefix. With diri, it forms:

• berdiri = “to stand” / “to be standing”

So berdiri is the correct verb for “to stand, be on one’s feet.”
You cannot normally use diri alone as a verb for “stand”; you need ber-:

• ✅ Saya berdiri. = I stand / I am standing.
• ❌ Saya diri. (incorrect as “I stand.”)

How do I know whether berdiri means “are standing,” “stood,” or “will stand”? Where is the tense?

Malay verbs like berdiri do not change form for tense. The same form can mean present, past, or future, depending on context or time words:

• Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  
  • Could be: “We are standing / We stood / We will stand in front of the stage,” depending on context.

You add time markers if you need to be explicit:

• Tadi kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “Just now / earlier we stood in front of the stage.”
• Sekarang kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “Now we are standing in front of the stage.”
• Nanti kami akan berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “Later we will stand in front of the stage.”

The verb berdiri itself does not change.

What is the difference between di hadapan and di depan?

Both di hadapan and di depan generally mean “in front of”.

• di hadapan
  
  • Slightly more formal or bookish.
• di depan
  
  • Very common in everyday speech, slightly more casual/neutral.

In this sentence, you can usually say:

• Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
• Kami berdiri di depan pentas.

Both are acceptable and natural; di depan is what you’ll hear very often in conversation.

Can pentas mean any kind of “stage”? Is it only for theaters?

Pentas means “stage, platform, performance stage” and is used quite broadly:

• A theater stage
• A temporary stage for concerts or ceremonies
• A raised platform used for speeches or shows

So in Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas, pentas is the physical stage area where performances or speeches happen. It is not used for metaphorical “life stage” the way English sometimes uses “stage” (for that, Malay would phrase things differently).

Why is it di hadapan pentas and not di pentas hadapan?

The structure here is:

• di (preposition “at/in/on”)
• hadapan (“front”)
• pentas (“stage”)

Literally: “at the front [of the] stage.”

Malay normally orders these elements as:

• di + [position noun] + [reference noun]
  → di hadapan pentas = in front of the stage.

Di pentas hadapan would be interpreted differently:

• pentas hadapan = “the front stage” (a stage that is in front of something else), so
• di pentas hadapan = “on/at the front stage,” which is a different meaning.

So to say “in front of the stage,” you need di hadapan pentas or di depan pentas.

How do I show clearly that more than one person is involved? Kami doesn’t look plural to me.

In Malay, pronouns like kami are inherently plural; you don’t add an -s or any plural marker:

• kami = we (plural)
• saya = I (singular)
• dia = he / she / it (singular)
• mereka = they (plural)

If you want to emphasize the group idea even more, you can add words like:

• Kami semua berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “All of us are standing in front of the stage.”

But kami by itself already means “we (plural).”

How would I say explicitly “We are currently standing in front of the stage”?

You can add sedang to emphasize that the action is ongoing right now:

• Kami sedang berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “We are (currently) standing in front of the stage.”

Sedang is optional; without it, Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas can still be understood as present tense if the context is present. Sedang just makes the “right now / in progress” meaning more explicit.

Can berdiri be used without mentioning a place, like just “We stood”?

Yes. Berdiri does not require a location phrase. You can say:

• Kami berdiri.
  → “We stood / We are standing.”

Adding a place just gives more detail:

• Kami berdiri di hadapan pentas.
  → “We stood / are standing in front of the stage.”