Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Anak-anak dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga di lingkungan kami. - Children are protected by family and neighbors in our neighborhood.

Anak means child. In Indonesian, repeating a noun (called reduplication) often makes it plural, so anak-anak usually means children.

Notes:

anak = a child / the child (singular; can also be generic)
anak-anak = children / the children (plural, more clearly plural)

Context can sometimes make anak itself mean children, but anak-anak is the safest, clear way to say children.

Is Anak-anak dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga an example of the passive voice?

Yes.

melindungi = to protect (active)
- Keluarga dan tetangga melindungi anak-anak.
  → The family and neighbors protect the children.
dilindungi = to be protected (passive)
- Anak-anak dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga.
  → The children are protected by the family and neighbors.

In the passive pattern:

di- is the passive prefix.
The object of the active sentence (anak-anak) becomes the subject in the passive sentence.
The agent (doer) appears in a phrase with oleh (by).

What is the difference between melindungi and dilindungi?

Both come from the root lindung (protection).

melindungi
- Prefix meN-
  - root lindung
    - suffix -i
- Active: X protects Y
- Example: Keluarga melindungi anak-anak.
  → The family protects the children.
dilindungi
- Prefix di-
  - root lindung
    - suffix -i
- Passive: Y is protected (by X)
- Example: Anak-anak dilindungi keluarga.
  → The children are protected (by the family).

So you choose based on what you want to highlight:

Focus on who protects → use melindungi.
Focus on who is protected → use dilindungi.

What does oleh mean in dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga? Is it necessary?

Oleh means by (the same as in English passive sentences, e.g. “protected by…”).

Anak-anak dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga.
→ The children are protected by the family and the neighbors.

In many everyday sentences, oleh can be dropped if the meaning is still clear:

Anak-anak dilindungi keluarga dan tetangga.
→ Sounds natural in conversation, still means the same.

So:

Formal / careful: keep oleh.
Informal / everyday speech: you can often omit oleh.

What does di lingkungan kami mean exactly? Is it the same as “in our neighborhood”?

Yes, in this sentence di lingkungan kami is very close to in our neighborhood / in our community.

di = in/at/on (location preposition)
lingkungan = environment, neighborhood, surrounding area, social circle
kami = we / our (excluding the listener)

So:

di lingkungan kami = in our neighborhood / in our community (but not yours)

Depending on context, lingkungan can mean:

physical neighborhood, like the houses and streets nearby, or
social environment / community around you.

What’s the difference between kami and kita here?

Both mean we / us / our, but:

kami = we (EXCLUDING the person being spoken to)
kita = we (INCLUDING the person being spoken to)

In the sentence:

di lingkungan kami implies our neighborhood, not including you (for example, I’m telling someone about my own area elsewhere).

If I’m talking to a neighbor about the same place we both live in, I would more naturally say:

Anak-anak dilindungi oleh keluarga dan tetangga di lingkungan kita.
→ Children are protected by family and neighbors in our (you and me) neighborhood.

Can the word order be changed to make an active sentence, like in English?

Yes. You can change it to an active voice sentence:

Keluarga dan tetangga melindungi anak-anak di lingkungan kami.
→ The family and neighbors protect the children in our neighborhood.

Meaning is almost the same; the difference is emphasis:

Passive (Anak-anak dilindungi…): emphasizes the children and their condition (they are protected).
Active (Keluarga dan tetangga melindungi…): emphasizes who is doing the protecting (family and neighbors).

Is anak-anak here more like “the children” or just “children” in general?

Indonesian usually doesn’t use articles like the, a, or an, so anak-anak can mean:

the children (specific children, e.g., children in our neighborhood), or
children in general (kids in that area).

In this sentence, because we say di lingkungan kami (in our neighborhood), it’s natural to understand anak-anak as (the) children in our neighborhood.

Why is di used twice, once as a prefix (dilindungi) and once as a separate word (di lingkungan)? Are they related?

They look the same but function differently:

di- in dilindungi
- This is a prefix attached to a verb root.
- It marks passive voice.
- Always written together with the verb: dilindungi, dibaca, ditulis.
di in di lingkungan kami
- This is a preposition meaning in/at/on.
- It marks location.
- Always written separately from the noun: di rumah, di sekolah, di lingkungan.

So:

dilindungi (one word) = is protected.
di lingkungan (two words) = in the neighborhood.

Mixing the spacing (e.g. writing dirumah for di rumah) is a very common mistake, but it’s incorrect in standard writing.

Can I say di dalam lingkungan kami instead of di lingkungan kami?

You can, but the nuance is slightly different:

di lingkungan kami
- Natural and common.
- Simply means in our neighborhood / in our community.
di dalam lingkungan kami
- Literally inside our neighborhood / inside our environment.
- Grammatically fine, but sounds a bit more formal or more physically “inside the boundaries of” something.

For everyday speech and writing, di lingkungan kami is the most natural choice.