Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.

There is a green tree in the backyard.

Breakdown of Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.

• sebuah: a
• di: in
• halaman belakang: the backyard
• hijau: green
• ada: there is
• pohon: the tree

Questions & Answers about Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.

What does ada mean here, and is it always necessary?

In this sentence, ada means there is / there are. It marks the existence of something.

• Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
  → There is a green tree in the backyard.

You can often drop ada in casual speech when the existence is obvious from context, especially in spoken Indonesian:

• Pohon hijau di halaman belakang. (still understandable, but a bit telegraphic)

However, for clear, neutral Indonesian—especially in writing—it’s good to keep ada when you mean there is / there are.

How can I tell if pohon is singular or plural here?

Indonesian nouns usually don’t show singular vs plural. Pohon can mean:

• a tree / one tree
• trees

Context decides which is more natural. Because English usually says a green tree in this type of sentence, learners often interpret it as singular.

If you really want to make it clearly singular, you can say:

• Ada satu pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
  (There is one green tree in the backyard.)

Or use a classifier:

• Ada sebatang pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
  (literally: There is one long/slender unit of green tree…)

For clear plural, you can say:

• Ada beberapa pohon hijau di halaman belakang. (several green trees)
• Ada banyak pohon hijau di halaman belakang. (many green trees)

Why is there no word like a or the before pohon?

Indonesian has no direct equivalents of English articles a / an / the. The bare noun pohon can correspond to:

• a tree
• the tree
• trees
• the trees

You add extra words only when you really need to be specific:

• pohon itu = that/the tree (known or already mentioned)
• pohon ini = this tree
• satu pohon = one tree
• beberapa pohon = some trees / several trees

So Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang. is naturally interpreted as There is a green tree in the backyard, but the Indonesian sentence itself doesn’t force a vs the.

Why is the word order pohon hijau, not hijau pohon?

In Indonesian, the adjective normally comes after the noun:

• pohon hijau = green tree
• rumah besar = big house
• kucing hitam = black cat

Putting the adjective before the noun (hijau pohon) is wrong in standard Indonesian.

So the pattern is: noun + adjective, not adjective + noun.

Could I say pohon yang hijau instead of pohon hijau? Does it change the meaning?

Yes, you can say pohon yang hijau, but it has a slightly different feel.

• pohon hijau = a green tree (simple description)
• pohon yang hijau = the tree that is green / the one which is green

Yang introduces a relative clause or emphasizes the adjective, often implying a contrast or specifying which one:

• Pohon yang hijau ada di halaman belakang.
  → The tree that is green is in the backyard.
  (Maybe there are several trees, but the green one is in the backyard.)

In your original sentence, pohon hijau (without yang) is the most natural neutral description.

What is the function of di in di halaman belakang?

Di is a preposition meaning in / at / on (location).

• di rumah = at home
• di sekolah = at school
• di meja = on the table
• di halaman belakang = in the backyard

In this sentence, di shows where the tree exists: in the backyard.

Does halaman belakang mean backyard, or literally back page?

Halaman has several meanings depending on context:

1. yard / courtyard / yard area (around a house or building)
2. page (in a book, website, etc.)

Here, with belakang (back / behind), halaman belakang means back yard / backyard, not back page.

To mean back page, you would usually say halaman belakang too, but only in a clear book/newspaper/website context. In everyday talk about a house, halaman belakang is understood as backyard.

Can I put the location first, like Di halaman belakang ada pohon hijau?

Yes. Both orders are grammatical:

• Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
• Di halaman belakang ada pohon hijau.

The meaning is essentially the same: There is a green tree in the backyard.

The difference is in emphasis:

• Starting with Ada pohon hijau… focuses on the existence of the tree.
• Starting with Di halaman belakang… focuses a bit more on the place.

Is it okay to say just Halaman belakang ada pohon hijau without di?

That sounds unnatural. For locations, Indonesian almost always uses di to indicate in / at / on.

So you should say:

• Di halaman belakang ada pohon hijau.
  or
• Ada pohon hijau di halaman belakang.

Leaving out di here would be considered incorrect in standard Indonesian.

If I wanted to say There are many green trees in the backyard, how would I change this sentence?

You mainly need to:

1. Make the plurality explicit.
2. Add many.

You can say:

• Ada banyak pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
  → There are many green trees in the backyard.

Or, with a slightly different nuance:

• Di halaman belakang ada banyak pohon hijau.

If you want to stress the plural by repetition (common in Indonesian), you can also say:

• Ada banyak pohon-pohon hijau di halaman belakang.
  but this is less common than just banyak pohon hijau and can sound a bit heavy or literary.