Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu, saya sadar bahwa cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja. - Seeing all those wedding and worship events, I realize that love and gratitude do not belong only to our family.

Grammatically, it’s a verb in the base form with the prefix me-: melihat = to see.
In this position (at the very start, followed by a comma and then saya), it behaves like a non-finite clause, and the subject is understood to be saya.

So the full underlying idea is something like:

Ketika saya melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu, saya sadar…
= When I saw all those wedding ceremonies and religious services, I realized…

Indonesian often drops ketika (when) and uses the me- verb directly at the start like this.

Why is the subject saya placed after Melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu and not at the very beginning?

Indonesian word order is fairly flexible, and fronting a phrase for context is very common.

The initial phrase Melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu sets the situation or background: in the act of seeing all those wedding and worship events…
Then saya sadar… states the main action or result: I realized…

A more “straight” version with an explicit time word would be:

Ketika saya melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu, saya sadar…

But it’s natural and common to drop ketika and leave the verb phrase at the front. The listener still understands that saya is the subject of melihat as well as sadar.

What exactly does acara pernikahan dan ibadah mean? Is ibadah another kind of ceremony, and why is there no acara in front of ibadah?

Breakdown:

acara = event, program, ceremony
pernikahan = wedding / marriage (as an event or concept)
ibadah = worship, religious service, acts of devotion

So acara pernikahan dan ibadah can be read as:

acara pernikahan = wedding events/ceremonies
(acara) ibadah = (religious) worship services

The word acara is written only once, but it is understood to apply to both pernikahan and ibadah. So the meaning is like:

Melihat semua acara pernikahan dan (acara) ibadah itu…
= Seeing all those wedding events and worship services…

This “shared head noun” pattern is common in Indonesian.

What does itu refer to in semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu? Does it just mean “that”?

Itu here is a demonstrative, but in context it usually means “those” rather than “that,” because it refers to plural events:

semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu
= all those wedding ceremonies and religious services

In Indonesian, itu is used for both “that” (singular) and “those” (plural). The plural sense is shown by semua (all) and the noun itself being understood as many events.

What does sadar mean in this context, and is there a difference between sadar and menyadari?

In this sentence, saya sadar bahwa… means “I realized that…” or “I became aware that…”

sadar (adjective/verb) = aware, conscious, to realize
- saya sadar = I realize / I am aware
menyadari (verb) = to realize something, to be aware of something (takes a direct object)
- saya menyadari bahwa… = I realized that…

Both are correct here, but:

saya sadar bahwa… = “I realized that…” (more intransitive, “I became aware”)
saya menyadari bahwa… = “I realized that…” (more explicitly “I realized this fact”)

Your sentence uses the simpler, very common saya sadar bahwa….

How does bahwa work here? Is it necessary, or could we just say saya sadar cinta dan rasa syukur…?

Bahwa introduces a content clause, similar to English “that” in reported speech or thoughts:

saya sadar bahwa…
= I realized that…

Technically, you could drop bahwa and say:

saya sadar cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja

Native speakers might say this in casual speech, and the meaning is usually clear from context.
However, bahwa makes the structure clearer and more formal. In writing, and in careful speech, bahwa is very natural here and not redundant.

What exactly does milik mean in tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja? Is it like “belong to”?

Yes. Milik expresses possession / ownership / belonging.

milik (noun/verb-like) = property of, belonging to
milik keluarga kami = belonging to our family / our family’s

So the clause:

cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja

literally means:

love and gratitude are not only the property of our family (alone).

In natural English:

love and gratitude do not belong only to our family.

Why does the sentence use both tidak hanya and saja? Isn’t that redundant?

The combination tidak hanya … saja is a very common pattern that emphasizes “not only … (just)”.

tidak hanya = not only
saja = just / only

Together they give a stronger feeling of “not exclusively, not just, not merely.”

So:

cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja

is like saying:

“love and gratitude do not only belong to just our family”

The double marking (tidak hanya + saja) is natural in Indonesian and is not considered wrong or overly repetitive. It’s an emphasis pattern.

I usually learn tidak hanya X, tetapi juga Y for “not only X, but also Y.” Here we only get the “not only” part. Is that OK?

Yes, it’s fine and common in Indonesian (and in English, too).

Full pattern: tidak hanya X, tetapi juga Y = not only X, but also Y
Your sentence uses only the first half: tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja

The “other side” (Y) is understood from the wider context, for example:

Not only belonging to our family, but also to many other people / to everyone.

Indonesian doesn’t always state the tetapi juga part if it’s obvious. The focus here is on denying exclusivity, not on explicitly listing who else it belongs to.

What is the difference between cinta and rasa syukur here? Why not just cinta dan syukur?

Breakdown:

cinta = love
rasa syukur = feeling of gratitude

Syukur by itself is often used in set expressions like bersyukur (to be grateful) or syukurlah (thank goodness).

Rasa syukur emphasizes the feeling of gratitude:

rasa = feeling, sense, taste
rasa syukur = the feeling of being thankful / grateful

You could see cinta dan syukur in casual usage, but:

cinta dan rasa syukur sounds more natural/formal when talking about abstract emotional states.
It pairs two noun phrases cleanly: cinta (love) + rasa syukur (feeling of gratitude).

Why is it keluarga kami and not keluarga kita or keluarga saya? What’s the nuance?

Indonesian distinguishes between kami and kita:

kami = we / us (not including the listener)
kita = we / us (including the listener)

So:

keluarga kami = our family (but not including you, the person being spoken to)
keluarga kita = our family (including you as part of that family group)
keluarga saya = my family

In this sentence, keluarga kami suggests:

The speaker is talking to someone outside their family, saying
love and gratitude don’t belong only to *our (speaker’s) family.*

If the listener is understood to be part of that family, then keluarga kita would be used.

Could the sentence be reordered as Saya sadar bahwa cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja setelah melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu? Would that still be correct?

Yes, that reordering is grammatically correct and understandable:

Saya sadar bahwa cinta dan rasa syukur tidak hanya milik keluarga kami saja setelah melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu.

However, the nuance changes slightly:

Original: Melihat …, saya sadar bahwa…
- Emphasis on the experience of seeing as the background, then the realization.
Reordered: Saya sadar … setelah melihat …
- Emphasis on the realization, with setelah melihat… marked clearly as a time/condition (after seeing…).

Both are natural, but the original has a slightly more “narrative/storytelling” flow, starting with the scene: Seeing all those events, I realized that…

Is semua necessary in melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu? What would change if we removed it?

Semua means all.

With semua:
- melihat semua acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu
- seeing all those wedding ceremonies and religious services
- Suggests completeness: the speaker saw the whole series or all examples being referred to.
Without semua:
- melihat acara pernikahan dan ibadah itu
- seeing those wedding ceremonies and religious services
- More neutral; doesn’t emphasize all of them, just that the person saw them.

So semua adds the nuance that the realization came after seeing the whole range of such events, not just one or two.