Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pagi ini petani padi memanen padi di sawah. - This morning the rice farmers harvest rice in the rice field.

pagi ini is more common and sounds more natural in everyday speech.
pada pagi ini sounds more formal or written, for example in speeches, news reports, or essays.

In meaning, both are basically the same (this morning). The preposition pada is often optional with time expressions:

pagi ini / pada pagi ini
kemarin / pada kemarin (though adding pada here is rare)
hari Senin / pada hari Senin

In this sentence, pagi ini petani padi memanen padi di sawah is perfectly natural and better than adding pada.

Does petani padi mean "a rice farmer" or "the rice farmer"? How do I know?

Indonesian usually does not mark definiteness (a vs the) with articles like English does. So:

petani padi can mean a rice farmer, the rice farmer, or even rice farmers (in general), depending on context.

To make it more clearly definite or specific, Indonesians might add other words:

seorang petani padi = a rice farmer (one rice farmer)
para petani padi = the rice farmers (group, plural)
petani padi itu = that / the rice farmer
petani padi ini = this rice farmer

In your sentence without extra context, petani padi is most naturally understood as the rice farmer (a specific one the speaker has in mind), but grammatically it is neutral.

Why do we say petani padi memanen padi? Isn’t it strange to repeat padi? Could I remove one of them?

Each padi has a different function:

petani padi = rice farmer (farmer of rice; padi specifies what kind of farmer)
memanen padi = harvest rice (padi is the thing being harvested)

You can change the sentence, but the nuance changes:

Pagi ini petani padi memanen padi di sawah.
- Emphasis that the subject is a rice farmer, and he is harvesting rice.
Pagi ini petani memanen padi di sawah.
- Subject is just a farmer (type not specified), and he happens to be harvesting rice.
Pagi ini petani padi memanen di sawah.
- Subject is specifically a rice farmer, but you don’t explicitly say what he’s harvesting (it’s implied from context).

So the repetition is not redundant; it’s adding clarity. It just looks repetitive to English speakers.

What exactly is the difference between padi, beras, and nasi?

They all relate to rice but at different stages or forms:

padi: rice as a plant in the field, still with husk; also used for rice as a crop before milling.
- Used in sawah (rice fields).
- Your sentence: memanen padi (harvest rice plants / unhusked rice).
beras: uncooked rice grains after the husk has been removed (what you buy in a bag to cook).
- Example: Saya membeli beras di pasar (I bought rice at the market).
nasi: cooked rice, ready to eat.
- Example: Saya makan nasi dengan ayam (I eat rice with chicken).

So in the field, padi is the correct word, not beras or nasi.

What is the base form of memanen, and why do we add me-?

The base form is panen.

panen can be a noun (harvest) or a verb (to harvest) depending on context:
- Musim panen = harvest season (noun)
- Mereka panen hari ini = they are harvesting today (verb, more informal/short).

Adding the meN- prefix (here me- + panen → memanen) creates a standard active transitive verb:

memanen padi = to harvest rice

Some notes:

panen (as a verb) is more informal, often used in speech and headlines.
memanen is more explicitly verbal and often feels slightly more formal or complete.

Both are grammatical, but memanen padi fits well in a neutral or slightly formal sentence like this one.

How do we know the action is past (harvested) if there’s no past tense marker in Indonesian?

Indonesian does not have verb changes for tense like English does (no harvest / harvested / will harvest forms). Time is usually shown by:

Time expressions: pagi ini, kemarin, besok, tadi malam, etc.
Aspect words: sudah (already), sedang (in the middle of), akan (will), baru saja (just now), and so on.

Your sentence without extra markers is neutral for time except for pagi ini:

Pagi ini petani padi memanen padi di sawah.
→ Literally: This morning the rice farmer harvest(s) rice in the rice field.

Depending on context, it can be understood as:

A description of what is happening this morning (now or generally).
A narrative about what happened earlier this morning.

To make it clearly past and completed, you could say:

Pagi ini petani padi sudah memanen padi di sawah.
(This morning the rice farmer has already harvested rice in the rice field.)

To show it is happening right now:

Pagi ini petani padi sedang memanen padi di sawah.
(This morning the rice farmer is harvesting rice in the rice field.)

Where can the time phrase pagi ini go in the sentence? Must it be at the beginning?

Time expressions in Indonesian are quite flexible. All of these are grammatical:

Pagi ini petani padi memanen padi di sawah.
Petani padi pagi ini memanen padi di sawah.
Petani padi memanen padi di sawah pagi ini.

Differences are minor and mostly about emphasis:

At the beginning (Pagi ini …):
Emphasizes the time (this morning) as the setting.
In the middle (petani padi pagi ini memanen …):
Focus is still on the farmer; pagi ini is extra information.
At the end (… di sawah pagi ini):
Sounds like you first describe the action and then add when it happens.

The sentence you have, with pagi ini at the beginning, is very natural.

Why do we use di before sawah? Could we use pada sawah or ke sawah instead?

di indicates location (in, at, on).
- di sawah = in the rice field / at the rice field (location of the action).
ke indicates movement towards a place.
- ke sawah = to the rice field (direction, not where the action happens).
pada can also mean at/on/in, but is mostly used:
- with abstract nouns (e.g. pada kesempatan ini = on this occasion)
- with people/pronouns (e.g. pada mereka = to them)

So for a physical place where something happens, di sawah is the natural choice.
pada sawah sounds unnatural here; ke sawah would mean the farmer is going to the field, not harvesting there.

Is sawah specific (the rice field) or general (a rice field)? Why no article?

Again, Indonesian doesn’t use articles like a or the, so sawah by itself is neutral.

di sawah can be:
- in a rice field
- in the rice field (that both speaker and listener know about)
- in rice fields (general idea)

To make it more specific or definite:

di sawah itu = in that rice field / in the rice field
di sawah ini = in this rice field
di sawahnya = in his/her/their rice field (or a particular one previously known)

In your sentence, di sawah is usually understood as in the rice field, but grammar-wise it’s bare and context decides the exact nuance.

Why don’t we say sedang memanen if the harvesting is happening right now?

You can say sedang memanen, but sedang is optional.

sedang marks an action in progress (similar to English “be … -ing”).
- Petani padi sedang memanen padi di sawah.
  = The rice farmer is harvesting rice in the rice field (right now / in progress).

However, Indonesian often leaves sedang out when the context already makes it clear the action is in progress, especially in narration or simple descriptions. So:

memanen padi di sawah can mean:
- harvests rice
- is harvesting rice

Native speakers don’t always feel the need to mark continuous aspect explicitly.

Is petani padi a noun plus adjective, or something else? How is it structured?

petani padi is a noun + noun combination, forming a kind of compound noun.

petani = farmer
padi = rice (as a plant/crop)

Together: petani padi = rice farmer (a farmer of rice).

This follows a common pattern in Indonesian:

petani kopi = coffee farmer
petani sayur = vegetable farmer
guru matematika = math teacher
tukang kayu = carpenter (literally: wood worker)

The second noun specifies or classifies the first. It functions similarly to things like “rice farmer” or “coffee farmer” in English, but the order is N1 N2, not always obviously “adjective-like.”