Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Laboratorium di mana kami melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil sangat bersih dan terang. - The laboratory where we do small chemistry experiments is very clean and bright.

You can say:
- Laboratorium … adalah laboratorium yang sangat bersih dan terang.
  but in everyday Indonesian, people usually just say:
- Laboratorium … sangat bersih dan terang.

So “adalah” is not wrong, but it’s normally used before nouns, not plain adjectives, and is often omitted in simple descriptive sentences.

What exactly does “di mana” mean here, and is it the best choice?

Literally, “di mana” means “in where / at where”, but in this sentence it acts as a relative word similar to English “where”:

Laboratorium di mana kami melakukan eksperimen…
The laboratory where we do experiments…

This construction is very common in spoken and informal Indonesian, and most people will understand it without any problem.

However, many style guides and teachers prefer, for careful or formal Indonesian, to use:

tempat (place) instead of di mana:
- Laboratorium tempat kami melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil…
or restructure with yang:
- Laboratorium yang kami gunakan untuk melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil…

So:

Everyday speech: di mana is fine.
Very formal / written Indonesian: tempat or yang is often recommended instead.

Is there supposed to be a comma before “di mana”?

In Indonesian, commas around relative clauses (like “di mana kami melakukan…”) are less rigidly required than in English.

You may see:

Laboratorium, di mana kami melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil, sangat bersih dan terang.

but it’s also very common to write it without commas:

Laboratorium di mana kami melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil sangat bersih dan terang.

Both are acceptable; omitting the comma is completely normal in everyday writing.

Does “kami” mean the same as “we” in English? Why not “kita”?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of “we”:

kami = we (not including you, the listener)
kita = we (including you, the listener)

In “kami melakukan eksperimen…”, kami suggests:

“we (some group that does experiments), not including you.”

If the speaker wanted to include the listener as part of that group, they would say:

Laboratorium di mana kita melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil…
= “The laboratory where we (you and I) do small chemistry experiments…”

Is “laboratorium” definite, like “the lab”, even though there is no “the”?

Yes, Indonesian doesn’t use articles like “a / an / the”.

The word “laboratorium” by itself can mean:

a laboratory
the laboratory
just “laboratory” in a general sense

The exact nuance comes from context, not from a separate word.

If you really want to emphasize “that specific lab” or “our lab”, you might see:

laboratorium itu = that laboratory / the laboratory
laboratorium tersebut = that (aforementioned) laboratory
laboratorium kami = our laboratory
laboratoriumnya = the laboratory (implied known or previously mentioned)

What does “eksperimen kimia kecil” literally mean, and what does “kecil” modify?

The phrase breaks down as:

eksperimen = experiment(s)
kimia = chemistry / chemical
kecil = small

The structure is:

eksperimen [kimia] [kecil]

So it’s basically:

“small chemistry experiments” or
“small chemical experiments”

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come last, after nouns and noun modifiers. So “kecil” is understood to describe the experimen, not the kimia.

You can think of it as:

eksperimen (kimia) yang kecil
= experiments (of chemistry) that are small.

So “kecil” modifies “eksperimen” (the whole experiment phrase), not just “kimia” by itself.

Could you say “eksperimen kecil kimia” instead?

No, “eksperimen kecil kimia” sounds unnatural or confusing in Indonesian.

Normal order is:

Head noun
Noun modifiers
Adjectives

So:

✅ eksperimen kimia kecil (head: eksperimen → field: kimia → size: kecil)
❌ eksperimen kecil kimia (adjective stuck in the middle; doesn’t fit usual patterns)

If you want to emphasize “small experiment” more clearly, you could also say:

eksperimen kecil dalam bidang kimia
= small experiment in the field of chemistry.

Does “eksperimen” here mean “experiment” or “experiments”? There is no plural ending.

Indonesian does not usually mark plural with -s like English.

So “eksperimen” can mean:

one experiment
multiple experiments

Context decides.

If you want to make the plurality explicit, you can add a word:

beberapa eksperimen kimia kecil = several small chemistry experiments
banyak eksperimen kimia kecil = many small chemistry experiments

But in many cases, just “eksperimen kimia kecil” is enough, and the listener figures out singular or plural from context.

Why “melakukan eksperimen” and not just “eksperimen” by itself?

In English you “do experiments” or “conduct experiments”.
In Indonesian, a very common pattern is “melakukan + noun”:

melakukan eksperimen = to do / carry out an experiment
melakukan penelitian = to do research
melakukan tes = to do a test

You could also see:

mengadakan eksperimen = to hold / conduct an experiment
bereksperimen = to experiment

For example:

Kami bereksperimen dengan bahan kimia.
= We experiment with chemicals.

In your sentence, “melakukan eksperimen” is a standard and natural wording.

What’s the function of “sangat” here? Could we use “sekali” instead?

“sangat” is an adverb meaning “very”, placed before the adjective:

sangat bersih = very clean
sangat terang = very bright

“sekali” also means “very / extremely”, but it is placed after the adjective:

bersih sekali = very clean
terang sekali = very bright

So these are both natural:

Laboratorium … sangat bersih dan terang.
Laboratorium … bersih dan terang sekali.

“sangat” sounds a bit more neutral or formal; “sekali” is very common in spoken Indonesian.

Are “bersih” and “terang” both adjectives? What’s the nuance of “terang” here?

Yes, both are adjectives:

bersih = clean
terang = bright / well-lit / clear

In this context:

terang describes that the laboratory is well-lit (lots of light; not dark or dim).

Other common uses of terang:

ruangan yang terang = a bright room
warna yang terang = a bright color
jelas dan terang = clear and explicit

There is also “cerah”, which can mean bright / sunny / cheerful (more often for weather, colors, or mood), but “terang” is very standard for a well-lit room.

Could we say “laboratorium tempat kami melakukan eksperimen” instead of “di mana”?

Yes, and many people (especially in formal or written Indonesian) would prefer it:

Laboratorium tempat kami melakukan eksperimen kimia kecil sangat bersih dan terang.

Here:

tempat = place
so literally: “The laboratory (the place where) we do small chemistry experiments…”

This is often considered more idiomatic and more formally correct than “laboratorium di mana kami…”, even though both are widely understood in practice.