Padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan dibuat sangat mirip alam liar.

The small grassland where that bear walks is made very similar to the wild.

Breakdown of Padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan dibuat sangat mirip alam liar.

• itu: that
• sangat: very
• kecil: small
• berjalan: to walk
• mirip: similar
• di mana: where
• beruang: the bear
• padang rumput: the grassland
• dibuat: to be made
• alam liar: the wild

Questions & Answers about Padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan dibuat sangat mirip alam liar.

In this sentence, what is the grammatical subject and what is the main verb?

The grammatical subject is the whole noun phrase:

Padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan
(the small meadow where the bear walks)

The main verb of the sentence is dibuat (was made / is made).

So structurally it is:

• Subject: Padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan
• Verb: dibuat
• Complement: sangat mirip alam liar (very similar to the wild)

Literally: The small meadow where the bear walks was made very similar to the wild.

How is di mana being used here? Is it just “where”, and can I replace it with yang or tempat?

Here di mana functions as a kind of relative clause marker meaning “where”, linking padang rumput kecil (small meadow) and beruang itu berjalan (the bear walks).

So:

• padang rumput kecil di mana beruang itu berjalan
  = the small meadow where the bear walks

This di mana is quite common in modern Indonesian, especially in writing influenced by English.

However, many speakers feel that tempat or yang is more natural here:

• padang rumput kecil tempat beruang itu berjalan
• padang rumput kecil yang menjadi tempat beruang itu berjalan

All of these are understandable. In more formal or “textbook-correct” Indonesian, tempat is often preferred for places:

• Padang rumput kecil tempat beruang itu berjalan dibuat…

Is the di in di mana the same as the di- in dibuat?

No, they are different.

1. di in di mana

   • This is the preposition di meaning “in/at/on”.
   • di mana literally: in where / at where → where.

2. di- in dibuat

   • This is a prefix marking the passive voice.
   • buat = to make → dibuat = is made / was made.

So:

• di (separate word) = preposition (in, at, on)
• di- (attached) = passive prefix

Why is dibuat (passive) used instead of an active form like membuat?

Dibuat is used because the focus of the sentence is the meadow, not the people who made it.

• Padang rumput kecil … dibuat sangat mirip alam liar.
  Literally: The small meadow … was made very similar to the wild.
  → Emphasis: the meadow and its characteristics.

If you used an active sentence, it would look like this:

• Para penjaga kebun binatang membuat padang rumput kecil … sangat mirip alam liar.
  The zookeepers made the small meadow … very similar to the wild.

In the original sentence, the agent (the makers) is unimportant or obvious from context, so Indonesian naturally uses the passive with dibuat and simply omits the agent.

In sangat mirip alam liar, why is there no dengan after mirip? Should it be mirip dengan alam liar?

The more standard / careful form is indeed:

• sangat mirip dengan alam liar
  very similar to the wild

In colloquial use, many speakers drop dengan and just say:

• mirip alam liar, mirip kucing, etc.

So:

• mirip dengan X = clearly correct and safe in any context
• mirip X = common and acceptable in everyday speech and many texts

For learners, it’s good habit to use mirip dengan:

• Padang rumput kecil … dibuat sangat mirip dengan alam liar.

Is mirip an adjective (“similar”) or a verb (“to resemble”) in Indonesian?

In Indonesian, mirip behaves like a stative verb or adjective (the distinction is not as sharp as in English).

You can think of it like “to be similar / to resemble”:

• Padang rumput itu mirip alam liar.
  The meadow resembles the wild / is similar to the wild.

It does not need a separate verb like “to be”:

• You do not say: ✗ padang rumput itu adalah mirip alam liar
• You just say: padang rumput itu mirip (dengan) alam liar

What exactly does padang rumput kecil mean? Is it like “field”, “lawn”, or “meadow”?

Padang rumput kecil literally means “small grassland” or “small meadow”.

• padang = open field / plain
• rumput = grass
• kecil = small

So the idea is a small, grassy, open area – something like an artificial little meadow for the bear.

Compare:

• lapangan rumput – a grass field (often for sports, like a pitch)
• rumput (by itself) – just “grass”
• padang (by itself) – a field / plain, not necessarily grassy

So padang rumput kecil is a natural-sounding way to refer to a small, meadow-like enclosure.

What does beruang itu mean exactly? Why is there itu and no word like “a” or “one bear”?

Beruang itu means “that bear” or “the bear” (a specific bear that both speaker and listener know about).

Breakdown:

• beruang = bear
• itu = that / the (demonstrative pointing to a specific one)

Indonesian has no articles like “a” or “the”. To say “a bear”, you typically use a classifier:

• seekor beruang = a bear / one bear

So:

• beruang itu → that bear / the bear (we’ve been talking about)
• seekor beruang → a bear (not previously known/specific)

What is the nuance of berjalan here? How is it different from jalan or jalan-jalan?

• berjalan = to walk (literally, to move on foot)

  • beruang itu berjalan = the bear walks / is walking

• jalan alone:

  • As a noun: jalan = road, street
  • As a verb (colloquial): Aku jalan ke kantor. = I walk to the office.

• jalan-jalan = to stroll / go for a walk / go out for fun

  • Kami jalan-jalan di taman. = We walked around the park / went for a stroll.

In your sentence, berjalan focuses on the physical act of walking in the meadow, not sightseeing or recreation, so berjalan is the natural choice.

How do we know if dibuat here means “is made” (present) or “was made” (past), since there’s no tense marker?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense. Dibuat by itself can mean:

• is made, was made, or even has been made— depending entirely on context and time expressions.

To make the time more explicit, Indonesian often adds adverbs:

• dulu (in the past):
  Padang rumput kecil itu dulu dibuat…
  That small meadow was made in the past…

• sedang (in progress):
  Padang rumput kecil itu sedang dibuat…
  That small meadow is being made…

But if the context is a description of an already-existing enclosure (as in a zoo), English would naturally translate dibuat here as “was made / has been made”, even though the Indonesian form doesn’t change.