Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.

I sit in the hotel lobby until the rain subsides.

Breakdown of Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.

• saya: I
• duduk: to sit
• di: in
• hotel: the hotel
• hujan: the rain
• lobi: the lobby
• sehingga: until
• reda: to ease

Questions & Answers about Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.

In this sentence, does duduk mean literally “to sit” or more like “to “stay / wait / hang around”?

In Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda, duduk covers both ideas at once:

• Literally: to sit (your body is in a sitting position)
• By extension: to stay / remain in a place (often while you’re sitting)

So the sentence can naturally be understood as:

• “I sat in the hotel lobby until the rain eased off.” or
• “I stayed (sitting) in the hotel lobby until the rain eased off.”

Malay doesn’t need to choose as strictly as English does; duduk often implies both “being seated” and “remaining there” in contexts like this.

Could I say Saya tinggal di lobi hotel instead of Saya duduk di lobi hotel?

No, Saya tinggal di lobi hotel is not natural in this context.

• tinggal usually means:
  • to live / reside somewhere: Saya tinggal di London = “I live in London”
  • to stay (for a longer period): Kami tinggal di hotel itu selama seminggu = “We stayed in that hotel for a week”
  • or to be left / remaining: Ada dua keping lagi yang tinggal = “There are two pieces left”

Saying tinggal di lobi hotel sounds like you live in the hotel lobby, not that you’re waiting there for a while. For short-term waiting or just being there, duduk di lobi hotel is the natural choice.

Is the sentence talking about the past, the present, or the future? There’s no tense marker like “was” or “will”.

Malay doesn’t mark tense the way English does. Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda can mean:

• Past: I sat / was sitting in the hotel lobby until the rain eased off.
• Present: I am sitting in the hotel lobby until the rain eases off.
• Future (in the right context): I will sit / stay in the hotel lobby until the rain eases off.

Which one it is depends on context (time words or surrounding sentences). For example:

• Tadi saya duduk di lobi hotel… = Earlier, I sat…
• Nanti saya duduk di lobi hotel… = Later, I’ll sit / stay in the lobby…

If you really want to mark future, you can add akan:

• Saya akan duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.
  = I will sit / stay in the hotel lobby until the rain eases off.

If I want to emphasize that the action was ongoing (like “I was sitting”), do I need sedang: Saya sedang duduk…?

You can use sedang, but you don’t have to.

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel…
  = I sat / I was sitting / I am sitting (context decides)
• Saya sedang duduk di lobi hotel…
  = I am in the middle of sitting / I’m currently sitting in the hotel lobby…

sedang highlights that the action is ongoing right then. For a simple narrative about the past, Malay normally just uses the bare verb:

• Semalam saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.
  = Yesterday I sat / was sitting in the hotel lobby until the rain eased off.

So sedang is optional and more about focus than basic correctness.

Why is it di lobi hotel, not something like ke lobi hotel or pada lobi hotel?

Because di marks location (where something is), while:

• ke marks direction / movement toward a place
• pada is used for more abstract or non-physical “at/on” relationships (time, people, certain objects)

In this sentence:

• di lobi hotel = in/at the hotel lobby (location)
• If you were describing movement to the lobby, you’d use ke:
  • Saya pergi ke lobi hotel. = I went to the hotel lobby.

pada lobi hotel is wrong in this physical-location sense.

Why is it lobi hotel and not hotel lobi? What’s the rule for this order?

In Malay, the normal pattern is:

Head noun + describing noun
(more like “lobby [of] hotel” than “hotel lobby”)

So:

• lobi hotel
  = lobby of the hotel (equivalent to “hotel lobby” in English)
• bilik hotel = hotel room
• pintu rumah = house door (door of the house)

You generally don’t say hotel lobi for “hotel lobby”. The head noun (lobi) comes first, and the noun that modifies / defines it (hotel) comes after.

Do I need to say “the hotel lobby” somehow, e.g. with itu?

Not necessarily. Malay often leaves definiteness (a / the) to context.

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel…
  can be understood as “in the hotel lobby” if it’s clear which hotel you’re talking about.

If you really want to specify that particular lobby / hotel, you can say:

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel itu…
  = I sat/stayed in that hotel’s lobby.

But in most real situations, di lobi hotel is enough and naturally read as “the hotel lobby”.

What exactly does sehingga mean here, and is it the same as sampai or hingga?

sehingga introduces a limit in time or extent, and here it means “until”:

• …sehingga hujan reda. = …until the rain eased off.

Common near-synonyms:

• hingga – slightly shorter form; very common, especially in more formal or written language.
• sampai – very common in everyday spoken Malay, a bit more informal than sehingga/hingga in many contexts.

In this sentence, all of these are acceptable:

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda.
• Saya duduk di lobi hotel hingga hujan reda.
• Saya duduk di lobi hotel sampai hujan reda.

Nuance:

• sehingga / hingga: neutral to slightly formal.
• sampai: more colloquial / spoken, especially in Malaysia.

Could I move the “until” part to the front, like Sehingga hujan reda, saya duduk di lobi hotel?

It’s grammatically possible, but not the most natural way to say it in everyday speech.

More natural:

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda. ✅

If you want to front the time clause for stylistic or written emphasis, Malay usually uses apabila / ketika / semasa etc., not sehingga:

• Apabila hujan reda, saya keluar dari lobi hotel.
  = When the rain eased off, I left the hotel lobby.

So for a simple “until X happens” following the main clause, keep sehingga… at the end.

What does reda mean, and how is it different from berhenti in hujan berhenti?

Both can be used with hujan (rain), but they are not identical:

• reda

  • means to subside / to ease / to die down / to abate
  • it suggests the intensity is decreasing and may stop or has stopped
  • common with:
    • hujan reda = the rain eased / let up
    • ribut sudah reda = the storm has calmed down
    • kemarahan dia sudah reda = his/her anger has subsided

• berhenti

  • means to stop (action ends)
  • hujan berhenti = the rain stopped

In many contexts, you could say:

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan berhenti.
  = I sat in the hotel lobby until the rain stopped.

Using reda gives a nuance of the rain calming down / easing, not just the binary “stopped vs not stopped”.

Should I say sehingga hujan sudah reda instead of sehingga hujan reda?

Both forms are possible, with a slight difference in emphasis:

• sehingga hujan reda
  
  • Standard and very common.
  • Implies waiting until the point where the rain has eased/stopped.
• sehingga hujan sudah reda
  
  • Adds sudah (“already”), emphasizing that by that time, the rain had already eased.
  • Slightly heavier / more explicit; useful if you want to underline that the easing is complete.

In everyday speech, sehingga hujan reda on its own is perfectly natural and usually enough.

Is hujan here more like “rain” in general or “the rain” (specific)? There’s no word for “the”.

Malay doesn’t use articles like a / the, so hujan can mean:

• “rain” in general
• “the rain” (that is happening now / that we’re talking about)

Context decides. In this sentence, the natural English translation is:

• “until the rain eased off”

If you really want to specify a particular rain event, you can add something:

• sehingga hujan di luar reda = until the rain outside eased off
• sehingga hujan petang itu reda = until the rain that afternoon eased off

But usually hujan alone is enough.

What’s the difference between saya and aku here? Could I say Aku duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda?

Yes, you can say Aku duduk di lobi hotel sehingga hujan reda, but the choice between saya and aku is about formality and relationship:

• saya
  • neutral, polite, standard
  • used in most formal or semi-formal situations, or with people you don’t know well, or in writing.
• aku
  • informal, intimate
  • used with close friends, family, or in casual situations (and sometimes in songs/poetry).

So:

• Saya duduk di lobi hotel…
  sounds more neutral / polite.
• Aku duduk di lobi hotel…
  sounds more casual and personal.

Grammatically they’re interchangeable; socially they’re not.