Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas. - All my younger sibling remembers are the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.

Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

All my younger sibling remembers are the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.

Breakdown of Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

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Questions & Answers about Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

What does yang do in this sentence, and how should I understand Yang adik saya ingat?

Yang is a marker that turns the following clause into something like “the thing(s) that …” or “what …”.

adik saya ingat = “my younger sibling remembers (something)”
yang adik saya ingat ≈ “what my younger sibling remembers” / “the things that my younger sibling remembers”

So the whole sentence:

Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

has the structure:

[Yang adik saya ingat] (adalah) [hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas].
“What my younger sibling remembers is only the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.”

Yang itself doesn’t have a direct English equivalent in this sentence, but it functions like “what / the thing(s) that …”.

Why does the sentence start with Yang adik saya ingat instead of just Adik saya ingat …?

Both are possible, but they focus on different parts:

Adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.
= “My younger sibling only remembers the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.”
Focus is on what the younger sibling does (remembering only those things).
Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.
≈ “The things that my younger sibling remembers are only the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.”
Focus is on the set of remembered things (what those things are).

Starting with Yang adik saya ingat makes the remembered things the topic, and then hanya binatang … dan es krim … tells you what that set is. It’s a common way in Indonesian to highlight or “front” information.

Is adik saya the subject or the object in Yang adik saya ingat? Who is remembering what?

In Yang adik saya ingat:

adik saya = subject (“my younger sibling”)
ingat = verb (“remembers”)
yang = stands for the thing(s) remembered (object)

So the inner structure is:

“Younger sibling (subject) + remembers (verb) + [thing(s) represented by yang] (object).”

Then later in the sentence we find out what those thing(s) are:

… hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

Why is there no adalah in Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang …? Could I say adalah there?

You can insert adalah and it’s still correct:

Yang adik saya ingat adalah hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

In Indonesian, adalah (roughly “is/are”) is often omitted, especially in spoken or informal language, when linking two noun phrases or a noun phrase and a description.

So you have two options:

With adalah: a bit more formal or explicit.
Without adalah: very natural, especially in speech.

Meaning is essentially the same.

What exactly does hanya mean here, and where can it appear in the sentence?

Hanya means “only”.

In this sentence:

Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

hanya limits the set of remembered things to just “animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer”:

“The only things my younger sibling remembers are the animals at the zoo and ice cream in the summer.”

You may also see:

Adik saya hanya ingat binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.
(focus more on the verb: “My younger sibling only remembers …”)

You could even say (sounds more formal or emphatic):

Yang adik saya ingat hanyalah binatang di kebun binatang dan es krim di musim panas.

So hanya usually appears right before the thing being limited: a noun, a verb phrase, etc.

Is there any difference between hanya and cuma?

Both hanya and cuma mean “only / just”.

hanya: more neutral/formal, works in writing, news, speeches, etc.
cuma: more informal/colloquial, common in everyday speech.

You could say:

Yang adik saya ingat hanya binatang … (neutral/formal-ish)
Yang adik saya ingat cuma binatang … (more casual)

The grammar is the same; it’s mainly a difference in tone/level of formality.

Why is it binatang di kebun binatang, not something like binatang kebun binatang?

Kebun binatang is a fixed compound meaning “zoo”:

kebun = garden
binatang = animal(s)
kebun binatang = literally “animal garden” → “zoo”

Then we add another binatang in front:

binatang di kebun binatang = “animals in/at the zoo”

Structure:

binatang (animals) + di (at/in) + kebun binatang (zoo)

You do not say binatang kebun binatang to mean “zoo animals”. Use di to show location:

binatang di kebun binatang = animals at the zoo
orang di kebun binatang = people at the zoo

Why is binatang singular in form, but the English meaning is plural (“animals”)?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with an ending like English -s.

binatang can mean “animal” or “animals”, depending on context.
If you really want to emphasize plurality, you can say binatang-binatang, but this is often unnecessary and can sound heavy if overused.

In this context:

… hanya binatang di kebun binatang …

It’s clear from meaning and world knowledge that we are talking about more than one animal, so binatang is naturally understood as “animals”.

What does kebun binatang literally mean, and is it the normal word for “zoo”?

Literally:

kebun = garden
binatang = animal(s)
kebun binatang = “animal garden”

Functionally, it just means “zoo” and is the standard term across Indonesian. People might occasionally say zoo (English loanword) in very informal speech, but kebun binatang is the normal, correct Indonesian word.

Why do we say di musim panas for time? Can we also say pada musim panas or something else?

di is a preposition that usually means “at / in / on” and is used for places and times in everyday Indonesian.

di musim panas = “in summer / in the summer”

You can also say:

pada musim panas – a bit more formal or explicit, often in writing.
waktu musim panas or saat musim panas – “when it’s summer / during summer”.

All of these are grammatically acceptable:

es krim di musim panas
es krim pada musim panas
es krim waktu musim panas

The original sentence uses di, which is very natural and common in casual language.

Does musim panas really mean “summer”? Indonesia only has rainy and dry seasons, right?

In Indonesian:

musim = season
panas = hot
musim panas = “hot season” → used like “summer”

Traditionally, Indonesia talks more about:

musim hujan = rainy season
musim kemarau = dry season

However, because of global usage and school calendars, musim panas is widely understood as “summer” (the hot season associated with school holidays, etc.). So es krim di musim panas naturally means “ice cream in summer.”

What does adik mean exactly? Is it “younger brother” or “younger sister”?

Adik means “younger sibling”, and it is gender-neutral.

adik alone does not specify male or female.
adik saya = “my younger sibling”.

If you want to specify gender:

adik laki-laki saya = my younger brother
adik perempuan saya = my younger sister

In everyday speech, context usually tells you whether the younger sibling is male or female, so people often just say adik saya.

Is there any difference between adik saya and adikku?

Both mean “my younger sibling”, but they differ in style and formality:

adik saya
- uses saya (“I / me”) which is more formal/polite
- common in neutral, polite conversation, writing, etc.
adikku
- -ku is a possessive suffix meaning “my”
- sounds more informal/intimate, used with friends, family, in stories, songs, etc.

In this sentence, adik saya is a neutral, polite choice:

Yang adik saya ingat …

You could say Yang adikku ingat … in a more personal or informal context. The meaning is the same; only the tone changes.