Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Adik perempuan saya juga memakai sarung tangan karet supaya tidak takut menyentuh alat laboratorium. - My younger sister also wears rubber gloves so she isn’t afraid to touch the laboratory tools.

In the sentence, “adik perempuan saya” is understood as “my younger sister”.
If you said only “adik saya”, it could mean my younger brother or sister, unless context clarifies.

Why is it “adik perempuan saya” and not “saya adik perempuan” for “my younger sister”?

In Indonesian, possessives with saya, kamu, dia, etc. usually come after the noun:

adik saya = my younger sibling
adik perempuan saya = my younger sister
buku saya = my book

So the pattern is:
[thing] + [owner] → adik perempuan + saya

“saya adik perempuan” would sound like “I (am) a younger sister,” and is still incomplete/ungrammatical as a full sentence.

Does “adik perempuan saya” always mean “my younger sister,” or can it be used more broadly?

Most commonly it means “my younger sister.”

But culturally, adik can also refer to:

a younger female relative,
a younger girl you are close to,
or sometimes just a younger female person (in some contexts, even a polite address).

In this sentence, though, with no extra context, the natural English translation is “my younger sister.”

Why is “juga” placed after “saya”? Could it go in other positions?

The sentence is:

Adik perempuan saya juga memakai sarung tangan karet …

Here juga means “also / too.” It’s placed after the subject phrase “adik perempuan saya”:

Adik perempuan saya juga memakai … = My younger sister also wears …

Other possible positions:

Adik perempuan saya memakai juga sarung tangan karet…
→ Grammatically possible but sounds awkward and less natural.
Saya juga punya adik perempuan yang memakai sarung tangan karet.
→ Different structure and meaning.

For “also” modifying the subject (my younger sister also, in addition to someone else), the normal place is after the full subject and before the verb:
[subject] + juga + [verb].

What is the difference between “memakai”, “pakai”, and “menggunakan” here?

All three can mean “to use / to wear” in different contexts.

memakai
- More neutral/standard.
- Common for clothes and accessories: memakai baju, memakai sarung tangan.
pakai
- More colloquial / informal.
- Often used in speech: Dia pakai sarung tangan karet.
menggunakan
- Literally “to use,” more general, slightly more formal.
- Sounds better with tools/equipment: menggunakan alat laboratorium.

In this sentence, memakai sarung tangan karet (wearing rubber gloves) is natural and standard. You could also say pakai in casual speech.

How does the phrase “sarung tangan karet” work grammatically? Why are there three nouns in a row?

Breakdown:

sarung tangan = glove(s)
(literally: sarung = cover/sleeve, tangan = hand → “hand-cover”)
karet = rubber

So the structure is:

[head noun] + [modifier(s)]
sarung tangan (glove) is the main thing,
karet (rubber) is a material modifier.

sarung tangan karet = rubber gloves (gloves made of rubber).

Indonesian often stacks nouns like this:

sepatu kulit = leather shoes
meja kayu = wooden table
sarung tangan karet = rubber gloves

Could I say “sarung tangan dari karet” instead of “sarung tangan karet”?

Yes, you can.

sarung tangan karet
- Shorter, more compact, very natural.
sarung tangan dari karet
- Literally “gloves from rubber / made of rubber.”
- Explicitly emphasises “made from rubber.”

Both are correct. In everyday speech and writing, the shorter “sarung tangan karet” is more common unless you especially want to stress the material.

What does “supaya” mean here, and how is it different from “agar”, “biar”, or “untuk”?

In the sentence:

… memakai sarung tangan karet supaya tidak takut menyentuh alat laboratorium.

supaya introduces a purpose / result clause, meaning “so that / in order that.”

Approximate equivalents:

supaya = so that, in order that
agar = so that (slightly more formal; very similar to supaya)
biar = so that (more informal/colloquial)
untuk = for / to (purpose, but usually before a noun or a verb phrase, not a full clause with its own subject)

You could say:

… memakai sarung tangan karet agar tidak takut menyentuh … (formal, correct)
… memakai sarung tangan karet biar tidak takut menyentuh … (informal, natural)

Using supaya here is neutral and very common.

Why is there no subject like “dia” after “supaya”? Shouldn’t it be “supaya dia tidak takut…”?

In Indonesian, if the subject of the second clause is the same as the subject of the first clause, it is very common to omit it.

Full version (explicit):
Adik perempuan saya memakai … supaya dia tidak takut menyentuh …
Natural shortened version:
Adik perempuan saya memakai … supaya tidak takut menyentuh …

Both are correct. The shortened version is more typical because “dia” would be redundant—the listener automatically understands that “tidak takut” refers to adik perempuan saya.

Why is it “tidak takut” and not something like “tidak merasa takut”?

takut = afraid
merasa takut = to feel afraid

In everyday Indonesian, you usually just use takut as an adjective or stative verb:

Dia takut. = She is afraid.
supaya tidak takut = so (she is) not afraid.

merasa takut is possible, but it adds a slight nuance of explicitly mentioning the feeling (“to feel fear”) and is less common in a simple, practical sentence like this. It would sound a bit heavier:

supaya tidak merasa takut menyentuh alat laboratorium
→ grammatically correct, but not necessary here.

What is the difference between “menyentuh” and “sentuh”?

sentuh is the root verb: “touch.”
menyentuh is the meN--prefixed form, the standard active verb form.

In normal sentences, you usually use the meN- form for active verbs:

Dia menyentuh meja. = She touches the table.
supaya tidak takut menyentuh alat laboratorium = so she’s not afraid to touch the lab equipment.

The bare root sentuh is used in:

imperatives: Sentuh meja itu! = Touch that table!
certain fixed phrases, or with other prefixes/suffixes.

So here, menyentuh is the correct form.

What does “alat laboratorium” mean exactly, and how is it different from “peralatan laboratorium”?

alat = tool, instrument, device
peralatan = equipment (collection/set of tools)
laboratorium = laboratory

So:

alat laboratorium = a lab tool / lab instrument, or more generally “lab equipment” in a looser sense.
peralatan laboratorium = lab equipment as a set/collection, more explicitly plural/collective.

In this sentence, “menyentuh alat laboratorium” can be understood as “touch laboratory equipment.” If you want to stress the idea of equipment as a group, you could say “menyentuh peralatan laboratorium.” Both are acceptable.

Why isn’t there a “di” before “laboratorium”? Should it be “di laboratorium”?

Here, laboratorium is part of a noun phrase, not a location phrase.

alat laboratorium = lab equipment / equipment of the lab
→ laboratorium is modifying alat (what kind of tool? a lab tool).
di laboratorium = in the laboratory
→ This would describe place, not type of tool.

If you wanted to mention the place, you might say:

Adik perempuan saya memakai sarung tangan karet di laboratorium.
→ My younger sister wears rubber gloves in the laboratory.

In the original sentence, we’re talking about what she touches (lab tools), not where she is, so “alat laboratorium” is correct without di.