Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang. - The children laugh when they see a cute monkey at the zoo.

anak (no reduplication) can actually mean “child” or “children” depending on context.
Reduplication forces the plural reading: anak-anak = clearly children.
You don’t always need reduplication to express plural; Indonesian often leaves number to context:
- Saya punya anak. = I have a child / children (ambiguous without context).
There are other ways to show plural:
- para anak (more formal, “the children” as a group)
- banyak anak = many children
- tiga anak = three children

In this sentence, anak-anak is a natural, neutral way to say children clearly.

In English we say “laughed” and “saw” (past tense). Why doesn’t the Indonesian sentence show past tense?

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense (past, present, future). The verbs tertawa and melihat stay the same:

tertawa = laugh / laughed / is laughing
melihat = see / saw / is seeing

Tense is usually shown by:

time words: kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), besok (tomorrow), etc.
aspect words: sudah (already), sedang (currently), akan (will)

So, for an explicitly past meaning you might say:

Anak-anak tadi tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.
= The children just now laughed when they saw a cute monkey at the zoo.
Anak-anak sudah tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.
= The children (had) already laughed when they saw a cute monkey at the zoo.

In the original sentence, the time is understood from context; Indonesian doesn’t need past-tense verb forms.

There is no subject before melihat. Should it be ketika mereka melihat to mean “when they saw”?

It can be ketika mereka melihat, but it’s not required. In Indonesian, when two clauses have the same subject, the subject is often omitted in the second clause:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika (mereka) melihat monyet lucu…

Because anak-anak is the subject of the first clause, Indonesian listeners automatically understand that they are the ones who melihat in the second clause.

Both are correct:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu… (more natural, efficient)
Anak-anak tertawa ketika mereka melihat monyet lucu… (still correct, a bit more explicit)

What is the difference between ketika, saat, and waktu? Could I replace ketika here?

All three can mean “when” in a time sense, and all three can be used in this sentence:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat…
Anak-anak tertawa saat melihat…
Anak-anak tertawa waktu melihat…

Nuance:

ketika – neutral, slightly more formal / standard, very common in writing.
saat – also neutral; often used in both spoken and written language; can feel a bit smoother or more “literary” in some contexts.
waktu – literally “time”; as a conjunction meaning “when” it can sound more conversational and informal.

In everyday speech, saat and waktu are extremely common. In writing or more formal contexts, ketika and saat are very safe choices.

Why is it monyet lucu (noun + adjective) instead of lucu monyet like in English “cute monkey”?

Indonesian adjectives normally come after the noun:

monyet lucu = cute monkey
anak kecil = small child
rumah besar = big house

So the natural order is:

noun + adjective

Putting lucu before monyet ( lucu monyet ) is not normal as a noun phrase and would sound wrong or only occur in special contexts (for example, as a stylistic inversion in poetry, or as part of a larger structure like yang lucu, monyet itu…).

So monyet lucu is the standard way to say “a cute monkey / cute monkeys.”

Does monyet lucu mean “a cute monkey” or “cute monkeys”? How do I make it clearly singular or plural?

By itself, monyet lucu is number-neutral; it can mean:

a cute monkey
the cute monkey
cute monkeys
the cute monkeys

To make it explicitly singular, you can use a classifier such as seekor (used for animals):

seekor monyet lucu = a / one cute monkey

To make it clearly plural, you can:

Use reduplication:
- monyet-monyet lucu = cute monkeys
Or use a plural word:
- beberapa monyet lucu = several cute monkeys
- banyak monyet lucu = many cute monkeys

So, if you really want “a cute monkey” and avoid ambiguity, say:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat seekor monyet lucu di kebun binatang.

Why is it di kebun binatang and not ke kebun binatang?

The difference is in the meaning of the prepositions:

di = at / in / on (location, where something is)
ke = to / toward (direction, movement)

In the sentence:

di kebun binatang = at the zoo, describing where they saw the monkey.

If you said:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika pergi ke kebun binatang.
= The children laughed when they went to the zoo.

Here ke is correct because it describes movement towards the zoo. In the original, we want location, not movement, so di is the right choice.

Can we say tertawa melihat monyet lucu instead of tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say:

Anak-anak tertawa melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.

This is very natural. The differences:

tertawa ketika melihat
literally: laughed when (they) saw
– more explicit about time sequence (first see, then laugh, or at that moment).
tertawa melihat
literally: laughed seeing
– slightly more compact and can feel a bit more cause–effect: they laughed upon seeing / because they saw.

In everyday conversation, Anak-anak tertawa melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang is probably more common.

What is the difference between tertawa and ketawa?

Both mean “to laugh”, but differ in formality:

tertawa
- more standard / neutral / formal
- common in writing, news, and polite speech.
ketawa
- more informal / colloquial
- very common in everyday conversation, especially among friends.

Examples:

Formal/neutral: Mereka tertawa mendengar cerita itu.
Informal: Mereka ketawa dengar cerita itu.

Your sentence with ketawa:

Anak-anak ketawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.
Sounds like normal, casual spoken Indonesian.

Could we say anak-anak itu tertawa? What does itu do after anak-anak?

Yes, you can say:

Anak-anak itu tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.

Here, itu works like “the / those”, pointing to specific children:

anak-anak = children (in general)
anak-anak itu = those children / the children (we’re talking about)

Some patterns:

buku = a book / books (general)
buku itu = that book / the book
orang itu = that person / the person

Adding itu often corresponds to “the” or “that/those” in English and makes the noun more definite.

Is kebun binatang one word or two, and what does it literally mean?

It is written as two words: kebun binatang.

Literally:

kebun = garden
binatang = animal

So kebun binatang = “animal garden”, the Indonesian term for zoo.

A few notes:

As a fixed expression, Indonesians understand kebun binatang directly as zoo, not as an actual “garden with animals”.
Historically and conceptually it’s similar to how English uses “zoo” from “zoological garden.”

What is the base form of melihat, and why do we use melihat instead of just lihat?

The base form (root) is lihat = see.

melihat is formed by adding the me- prefix:

me- + lihat → melihat

General idea:

lihat (root) – used as a bare verb, command, or in some casual structures.
- Lihat! = Look!
- Saya bisa lihat. (colloquial) = I can see.
melihat – the standard active verb form in most sentences:
- Saya melihat monyet. = I see / saw a monkey.

In your sentence, melihat is the normal, grammatically complete form:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu…

You could hear ketika lihat in very casual spoken Indonesian, but it’s less standard; melihat is safer and more correct in neutral Indonesian.

Should there be a comma before ketika in this sentence?

In Indonesian, a comma is not required here, and it’s usually not used:

Anak-anak tertawa ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang.

General guidelines:

If the subordinate clause comes first, a comma is common:
- Ketika melihat monyet lucu di kebun binatang, anak-anak tertawa.
If the main clause comes first (as in your sentence), a comma is usually omitted.

So your original punctuation is standard and natural.