Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pelatih pribadi saya memberi resep sehat sederhana untuk sarapan. - My personal trainer gives me a simple healthy recipe for breakfast.

So pelatih pribadi literally means personal trainer/coach, and yes, this is a very common, natural way to say personal trainer in Indonesian.

You could also hear people say personal trainer in English (as a loan phrase), especially in gyms, but pelatih pribadi is fully standard Indonesian.

Why is it pelatih pribadi saya and not saya pelatih pribadi for "my personal trainer"?

In Indonesian, possession is usually shown as:

possessed thing + possessor pronoun

So:

pelatih pribadi saya = my personal trainer
rumah saya = my house
teman saya = my friend

Saya pelatih pribadi would instead mean "I am a personal trainer", which is a completely different sentence (subject + predicate). The pronoun at the end (saya) marks possession; at the beginning, it marks "I" as the subject.

There’s no word for "a" in resep sehat sederhana. How do Indonesians express "a simple healthy recipe"?

Indonesian normally does not use separate words for "a" or "an". Nouns are often bare:

resep sehat sederhana = a simple healthy recipe / simple healthy recipes (depending on context)
buku baru = a new book / new books

If you really want to emphasize "one" recipe, you can add satu (one) or sebuah (a classifier):

satu resep sehat sederhana
sebuah resep sehat sederhana

But most of the time, context is enough, so speakers just say resep sehat sederhana.

What does memberi do in this sentence? Is it the same as "give"?

Yes, memberi is the standard, relatively formal verb for "to give".

memberi resep = to give a recipe
memberi nasihat = to give advice

In everyday spoken Indonesian, people often use kasih (or ngasih in very informal speech):

Pelatih pribadi saya kasih resep sehat sederhana untuk sarapan.

So:

memberi = neutral–formal, standard
kasih/ngasih = informal, conversational

Both can work; the choice mainly depends on how formal you want to sound.

There’s no "me" in the sentence. Can I say memberi saya resep to mean "give me a recipe"?

Yes, you can explicitly add the indirect object (the person who receives something):

Pelatih pribadi saya memberi saya resep sehat sederhana untuk sarapan.
= My personal trainer gives me a simple healthy recipe for breakfast.

Basic pattern:

Subject + memberi + indirect object (person) + direct object (thing)

Examples:

Dokter itu memberi saya obat. = The doctor gave me medicine.
Dia memberi kami hadiah. = He/She gave us a present.

In your original sentence, the "me" is just understood from context, so it can be left out. That’s very common in Indonesian.

Does resep here mean "recipe" or "prescription"? How do Indonesians tell the difference?

Resep can mean both:

recipe (for cooking)
prescription (from a doctor)

The meaning is decided by context:

With food / cooking context: usually recipe
- resep kue, resep masakan, resep untuk sarapan
With doctor / medicine context: usually prescription
- resep dokter, resep obat

In your sentence, you have untuk sarapan and a personal trainer, so the natural reading is "recipe". If we meant a medical prescription, we would expect a doctor or medicine-related words.

Why do the adjectives come after the noun in resep sehat sederhana? Can I put them before?

In Indonesian, descriptive adjectives normally come after the noun:

resep sehat = healthy recipe
rumah besar = big house
baju merah = red shirt

With more than one adjective, they all still follow the noun:

resep sehat sederhana = simple healthy recipe
rumah besar baru = big new house

Putting adjectives before the noun is not the usual Indonesian pattern and generally sounds wrong or very marked. So:

❌ sehat sederhana resep
✅ resep sehat sederhana

Is sehat sederhana the only correct order, or can I say sederhana sehat?

The typical order is:

resep sehat sederhana

Swapping them:

resep sederhana sehat is technically possible but sounds a bit odd or at least less natural.
Native speakers often add dan to avoid awkwardness:
- resep yang sehat dan sederhana

To sound very natural, you might say:

resep sarapan yang sehat dan sederhana
resep sehat dan sederhana untuk sarapan

So the original is understandable, but sehat dan sederhana or yang sehat dan sederhana is more idiomatic.

What is the role of untuk in untuk sarapan? Could I use buat instead?

Untuk means for / in order to / for the purpose of.

untuk sarapan = for breakfast
resep untuk kue cokelat = recipe for chocolate cake

In everyday spoken Indonesian, buat is commonly used instead of untuk:

resep sehat sederhana buat sarapan

Both are correct.

Untuk sounds more neutral or slightly formal/written.
Buat is more casual and conversational.

How do we know whether memberi is present or past tense here? There’s no tense marking.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense. Memberi can mean:

gives (present)
gave (past)
even will give (future), depending on context

To make time clear, Indonesians add time words or aspect markers, for example:

kemarin = yesterday
tadi pagi = earlier this morning
sudah = already
akan = will

Examples:

Kemarin pelatih pribadi saya memberi resep sehat sederhana untuk sarapan.
= Yesterday my personal trainer gave a simple healthy recipe for breakfast.
Besok dia akan memberi resep baru.
= Tomorrow he/she will give a new recipe.

Without such markers, context decides whether you interpret it as present or past.

Is the original sentence natural, or would a native speaker usually say it differently?

The original sentence is understandable, but a native speaker might phrase it a bit more smoothly, for example:

Pelatih pribadi saya memberi saya resep sarapan yang sehat dan sederhana.
Pelatih pribadi saya memberi saya resep yang sehat dan sederhana untuk sarapan.
Pelatih pribadi saya memberi resep sarapan yang sehat dan sederhana.

Changes you’ll often see:

adding saya after memberi to show "give me" explicitly
using yang sehat dan sederhana instead of sehat sederhana
moving sarapan next to resep → resep sarapan (breakfast recipe)

Your sentence is fine for learning; these are just more natural refinements.