Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pedagang itu ramah kepada anak-anak dan bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan. - That vendor is friendly to children and is responsible for maintaining cleanliness.

In Indonesian, the demonstrative itu placed after a noun makes it definite, like “that” or often “the” in English. So Pedagang itu means “that/the vendor (we’ve been talking about).” Without itu, pedagang could mean a vendor in general or “vendors” depending on context. For “this vendor,” use pedagang ini.

What’s the difference between pedagang, penjual, and tukang?

pedagang: trader/vendor/merchant; an occupation, often market or street vendors. Neutral–formal.
penjual: “seller,” a role in a transaction (often contrasted with pembeli “buyer”). More transactional.
tukang: colloquial label for specific trades/services (e.g., tukang bakso, tukang kayu). Can sound casual; context matters.

In this sentence, pedagang is the most natural general term.

Why is there no “to be” verb? Is ramah functioning as the predicate?

Yes. Indonesian adjectives can function as predicates without a copula. Pedagang itu ramah … means “That vendor is friendly ….” You don’t use adalah before adjectives; adalah is mainly used before noun phrases.

Why is anak doubled into anak-anak? Do I have to use the hyphen?

Reduplication (anak-anak) marks plurality (“children”). Standard spelling requires a hyphen for full reduplication, so anak-anak is correct. Plain anak can mean “a child,” “children,” or “offspring” depending on context; using anak-anak makes the plurality explicit.

Is ramah kepada the right preposition? Can I use pada, terhadap, dengan, or sama?

The common collocation is ramah kepada [people].
ramah pada is also acceptable, a bit more general/formal.
ramah terhadap is possible but sounds more formal/abstract; terhadap is often used for attitudes/relations.
ramah dengan is not the usual choice here.
In casual speech, ramah sama anak-anak is common.

Stick with ramah kepada in neutral/formal contexts.

Could I say ramah anak instead of ramah kepada anak-anak?

Not for a person. ramah anak is an attributive compound meaning “child‑friendly” used for places/products/policies (e.g., kafe ini ramah anak). For a person being friendly to children, use ramah kepada anak-anak.

What exactly is being coordinated by dan here?

Two predicates, each with its own complement:

ramah kepada anak-anak
bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan The subject Pedagang itu applies to both. No need to repeat the subject or add a pronoun.

Do I need untuk before menjaga after bertanggung jawab?

Both are acceptable:

bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan (very common)
bertanggung jawab untuk menjaga kebersihan (slightly more explicit/formal) With an action (verb) afterward, untuk is optional. With a noun, use atas: bertanggung jawab atas kebersihan.

What’s the difference between bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan and bertanggung jawab atas kebersihan?

bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan emphasizes the duty to perform the action of keeping things clean.
bertanggung jawab atas kebersihan states accountability for the state of cleanliness as a noun phrase. Choose based on whether you want to stress the action or the outcome.

Is the spelling bertanggung jawab two words or one?

Two words. The base noun is tanggung jawab (“responsibility”), and the predicate form is bertanggung jawab. The single-word spelling is common informally but nonstandard in formal writing.

What does menjaga convey here? Could I use memelihara or merawat?

menjaga = “to guard/keep/maintain,” and it collocates very naturally with kebersihan: menjaga kebersihan.

memelihara kebersihan is acceptable, slightly more formal.
merawat is for caring for living things/objects; merawat kebersihan is uncommon.

What does kebersihan literally mean? How is it formed?

It’s a ke- … -an nominalization of bersih (“clean”), so kebersihan = “cleanliness.” The pattern forms abstract nouns: keadilan (justice) from adil (just), kebenaran (truth) from benar (true).

Can I add -nya to say “the cleanliness of the place” or “its cleanliness”?

Yes. kebersihannya means “its/the cleanliness,” with -nya referring to a known referent (e.g., the stall/area).

bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihannya = responsible for maintaining its cleanliness.
bertanggung jawab atas kebersihannya = responsible for its cleanliness.

How is tense expressed? Does this mean “is friendly” or “was friendly”?

Indonesian doesn’t mark tense on the predicate. Pedagang itu ramah … is time‑neutral; context supplies present/past/habitual meaning. To specify, add markers like sudah (already), sedang (in progress), or time expressions.

Can I move kepada anak-anak to the end: Pedagang itu ramah dan bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan kepada anak-anak?

That’s awkward and can be misread as modifying the second predicate. Keep the complement with its adjective: ramah kepada anak-anak. The original order is best.

Is there an informal way to say this?

A natural colloquial version: Pedagang itu ramah sama anak-anak dan bertanggung jawab jaga kebersihan.

sama instead of kepada is common in speech.
Dropping the prefix (jaga vs menjaga) is colloquial but widely heard.
Keep bertanggung jawab; don’t reduce it to tanggung jawab here.

Could I turn the descriptive part into an attributive clause with yang?

Yes: Pedagang yang ramah kepada anak-anak itu bertanggung jawab menjaga kebersihan. This foregrounds friendliness as a defining characteristic of the vendor being referred to. In the original, both properties are simply asserted about the same vendor.