Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Anak-anak belajar bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan. - Children learn that rare species need to be protected, not turned into toys.

Anak-anak belajar bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.

Children learn that rare species need to be protected, not turned into toys.

Breakdown of Anak-anak belajar bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.

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Questions & Answers about Anak-anak belajar bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.

What does the reduplication in anak-anak mean, and is it always necessary to show the plural?

Reduplication (anak → anak-anak) is one common way to show plurality in Indonesian. Anak-anak means children (more than one child).

However, it is not always necessary to mark plural explicitly. Indonesian often leaves plurality to context. For example:

Anak belajar… can mean a child learns… or children learn…, depending on context.
Plural can also be indicated by other words: para anak, banyak anak, tiga anak, etc.

So anak-anak is clearer and explicitly plural, but you will often see just anak used with a plural meaning in real usage, especially when a number or a word like banyak (many) is present.

Why is there a hyphen in anak-anak? Could I write anakanak or just anak anak?

In standard Indonesian spelling, reduplicated words must have a hyphen:

anak-anak (children)
buku-buku (books)
rumah-rumah (houses)

Writing anakanak or anak anak is considered incorrect in formal writing. In casual texting, some people might skip the hyphen, but for correct Indonesian, you should always use anak-anak with a hyphen.

What is the function of bahwa in this sentence?

Bahwa introduces a content clause and functions like “that” in English:

Anak-anak belajar bahwa… → The children learn that…

It marks what is being learned, thought, said, etc. Typical verbs that often take bahwa include:

berpikir bahwa (to think that)
mengatakan bahwa (to say that)
menyadari bahwa (to realize that)

In conversation, especially informal speech, bahwa is often dropped:

Anak-anak belajar spesies langka perlu dilindungi… (still natural in speech)

You might also hear kalau in place of bahwa in informal Indonesian, but bahwa is more formal/neutral and more common in writing.

Is spesies singular or plural here? How do I say “species” vs. “a species” in Indonesian?

Indonesian spesies does not change form for singular or plural. Context decides:

spesies langka can mean a rare species or rare species (in general).
banyak spesies langka = many rare species.
satu spesies langka = one rare species.

So both species and a species are usually just spesies, and you add numbers or quantifiers when you need to be explicit.

Why is it spesies langka, not langka spesies?

In Indonesian, adjectives normally come after the noun:

spesies langka = rare species
buku baru = new book
anak kecil = small child

Putting the adjective before the noun (like langka spesies) is not grammatical in standard Indonesian and sounds wrong. So the normal pattern is:

noun + adjective → spesies langka, rumah besar, hewan liar.

What exactly does langka mean? How is it different from jarang?

Langka means rare / scarce / hard to find and is very commonly used for:

rare species: spesies langka
rare items: buku langka, koleksi langka
scarce resources: air bersih semakin langka

Jarang also means rarely / seldom / infrequent, but it is often about frequency of events or actions:

Saya jarang makan daging. = I rarely eat meat.
Dia jarang ke kantor. = He/she rarely goes to the office.

When you talk about rare species, langka is the natural choice: spesies langka, not spesies jarang.

How does perlu dilindungi work grammatically?

Perlu dilindungi literally combines:

perlu = need / necessary
dilindungi = to be protected (passive verb)

So spesies langka perlu dilindungi = rare species need to be protected / it is necessary that rare species be protected.

Structure:

perlu + passive verb → perlu dilindungi, perlu dihormati, perlu diperbaiki, etc.

You could also say:

spesies langka harus dilindungi (must be protected) – stronger, more obligatory.
spesies langka sebaiknya dilindungi (should be protected) – more advisory.

Perlu focuses on necessity, but is a bit softer than harus (must).

What is the base form of dilindungi, and why does it end with -i?

The root is lindung (protection, to protect).

Verb patterns:

melindungi = to protect (active, someone protects something)
dilindungi = to be protected (passive, something is protected by someone)

The -i suffix often marks a verb that has a direct object or a target, like melindungi sesuatu (protect something, protect a target). The passive keeps that -i:

Kita harus melindungi spesies langka.
We must protect rare species.
Spesies langka harus dilindungi (oleh kita).
Rare species must be protected (by us).

In passive sentences like this, the agent (the one who protects) is often left out because the focus is on what needs protection, not on who does it.

Why is bukan used here instead of tidak?

Indonesian distinguishes bukan and tidak:

tidak negates verbs and adjectives.
- tidak makan (do not eat)
- tidak besar (not big)
bukan negates nouns, noun phrases, and whole ideas, and is also used in “not X but Y” contrasts.

In bukan dijadikan mainan, the bukan is part of a contrast:

…perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.
= …need to be protected, not (to be) turned into toys.

This is like English “not … but …”, so bukan is the right negator in this construction. Using tidak dijadikan mainan would sound off here.

What does dijadikan mainan literally mean? How is it different from menjadi mainan or sebagai mainan?

Breakdown:

menjadikan A (sebagai) B = to make A (into / as) B
dijadikan = passive form: to be made (into)
dijadikan mainan = to be made into a toy / to be turned into a toy, to be used as a toy

So:

spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.
Rare species need to be protected, not turned into toys.

Comparison:

menjadi mainan = to become a toy / to be a toy (focus on the state/result)
dipakai sebagai mainan = to be used as a toy (focus on use)
dijadikan mainan = someone deliberately makes/uses it as a toy (focus on the act of turning it into a toy)

Here, dijadikan mainan highlights the wrong human action of treating rare species as playthings.

Why is the subject missing in bukan dijadikan mainan? Who is doing the action?

The subject (and often the agent) is simply understood from context and omitted:

Full idea: Spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan (spesies langka) dijadikan mainan (oleh manusia).

In Indonesian, it’s very common to drop repeated elements when they’re obvious:

Saya makan nasi dan (saya) minum teh.
Spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.

The implied subject in both parts is spesies langka, and the implied agent in the second clause is people/humans. The focus is on what should or should not happen to the species, not on explicitly saying by whom.

Could I say perlu untuk dilindungi instead of perlu dilindungi?

Yes, perlu untuk dilindungi is grammatically possible, but in most cases it sounds more wordy and less natural than simply perlu dilindungi.

Typical, natural patterns:

perlu dilindungi
perlu diperbaiki
perlu diubah

You usually add untuk when the following part is an infinitive-like phrase or when you need to separate structures more clearly, e.g.:

Pendidikan perlu ditingkatkan untuk meningkatkan kualitas hidup.

But in this sentence, perlu dilindungi is already clear and concise, so it’s preferred.

Can I use mempelajari instead of belajar here? What’s the difference?

There is a subtle difference:

belajar = to learn / to study (intransitive, no direct object required)
- Anak-anak belajar. = The children are learning.
- Anak-anak belajar bahwa… = The children learn that…
mempelajari = to study something, to learn about something (transitive, takes an object)
- Anak-anak mempelajari spesies langka.
  = The children study rare species.

In your sentence, the children are learning a fact/idea (introduced by bahwa), so belajar bahwa… is natural.

If you change it to:

Anak-anak mempelajari bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi…

it is not wrong, but it sounds more like they are formally studying the topic, maybe in a school subject. Belajar is simpler and more neutral here.

How formal is this sentence? How would it look in more casual spoken Indonesian?

The given sentence is neutral–formal and fits writing, school materials, or news.

A more casual spoken version could be:

Anak-anak belajar kalau spesies langka itu perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadiin mainan.

Informal features:

kalau instead of bahwa
adding itu after spesies langka to make it more conversational: spesies langka itu
dijadiin (colloquial shortening of dijadikan) in casual speech

In writing or in formal contexts, the original version is better:

Anak-anak belajar bahwa spesies langka perlu dilindungi, bukan dijadikan mainan.

How do you pronounce spesies, langka, and dilindungi?

Approximate pronunciation (Indonesian vowels are pure and stable):

spesies: spuh-SEES
- IPA: /spəˈsi.es/
- Three syllables: spe-si-es
langka: LUNG-kah (with ng as in sing)
- IPA: /ˈlaŋ.ka/
- Two syllables: lang-ka
dilindungi: dee-lin-DOO-gee
- IPA: /di.linˈduŋi/
- Four syllables: di-lin-du-gi
- Final gi is like gee in geese, and ng in -duŋ- is like ng in sung.

Stress is usually on the second-to-last syllable (SE in spesies, lang in langka, DU in dilindungi).