Nanti, akan, sebelum

A future time phrase can be enough: Konser mulai jam delapan, besok saya datang. Akan is an optional future marker, not a tense ending.

Nanti means later. Sepuluh menit lagi means in ten minutes; sepuluh menit lalu ten minutes ago. Sebelum konser means before the concert.

Saya akan cari Miko is a plan. More formal mencari and conversational cari express the same action; prefixes do not show past versus future.

Indonesian has no inflected future tense. A time phrase such as besok or the marker akan gives future meaning.

Kemarin, tadi, sudah, belum

Use kemarin for yesterday and tadi for earlier today or a recently mentioned earlier time. Verbs do not acquire a past ending: Kemarin saya melihat Miko.

Sudah signals completion or a state already true; it is not an obligatory past tense. Belum means not yet, so belum melihat differs from an ordinary tidak melihat denial.

Melihat and mendengar are the normal words for see and hear; learn these common prefixed forms as words. Keep a clear time phrase when retelling events.

Pertama, lalu, setelah itu

Sequence words include pertama first, lalu then and setelah itu after that. A past time phrase or story context locates unchanged verbs in the past.

Tidak negates a past event too: Saya tidak menari. Do not use belum when you mean did not rather than not yet.

A report uses exact times such as jam dua puluh empat belas for 20:14. Sesuatu means something, tidak ... apa-apa nothing in a negative sentence.

Waktu, sedang, tidak tidur

Waktu or ketika can mean when: Waktu konser mulai, saya di bangku. The verb stays unchanged in both parts.

Sedang marks an action in progress at the time being discussed: Bu Sari sedang tidur. It can apply to now or a past scene; it is not itself a past tense.

Saya tidak tidur denies sleeping. Hanya menutup mata means only closing eyes. Tidak negates a verb; bukan rejects a noun identity, and belum says not yet.

Sudah, -nya, salam

-nya can refer to a previously identified person or thing: mulutnya, his mouth; corongnya, the mouthpiece. Context must make the referent clear.

Retell with short unchanged verbs and clear time: Sabtu ada festival. Saya bekerja di stan. Lampu mati. Sudah can add completion but need not appear on every line.

A postcard can open with Anna yang baik and close with Salam. Future plans use besok or akan. Kirim sends, balas replies. Use these phrases in short messages.