Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.

Children like to play ball on the field behind the school.

Breakdown of Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.

• suka: to like
• sekolah: the school
• di: on
• anak: the child
• lapangan: the field
• bola: the ball
• belakang: behind
• main: to play

Questions & Answers about Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.

What does the repetition in anak-anak do? Is it always used for plurals?

The repetition in anak-anak is called reduplication, and here it marks the plural:

• anak = child
• anak-anak = children / kids

Reduplication is a common way to show plurality in Indonesian, especially for people or everyday nouns.

However, it is not the only way to express plural, and it is not mandatory.
Depending on context:

• anak can mean child or children (singular or plural) if it’s already clear from context.
• anak-anak makes the plurality explicit and often sounds more natural when you want to clearly say children.

So: reduplication is a way to mark plural, but not the only way, and it isn’t used on every plural noun all the time. Context is very important in Indonesian.

Does anak-anak mean children or the children? How do you say the in Indonesian?

anak-anak by itself can mean either:

• children (in general)
• the children (specific group)

Indonesian usually does not use articles like a/an/the. Definite vs. indefinite is often understood from:

• Context:
  
  • In a story about students at a school, anak-anak would naturally be understood as the children (there).
• Pointing words (demonstratives):
  
  • anak-anak itu = those/the children (that specific group)
  • anak-anak ini = these children

In your sentence, Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah, it can be translated as:

• Children like to play ball in the field behind the school, or
• The children like to play ball in the field behind the school

Both are acceptable; English forces you to choose, but Indonesian doesn’t.

What exactly does suka mean here? Is it like like or love?

suka means to like, to be fond of, or to enjoy something.

In order of strength (very roughly):

• suka = like / enjoy
• sayang = to care about / to be fond of (often emotional, for people or pets)
• cinta = love (strong, romantic or very deep love)

For activities and hobbies, suka is the normal, neutral word:

• Anak-anak suka main bola = The children like playing ball.

So here suka is best translated as like, not as love.

Why is it suka main bola and not suka untuk bermain bola?

In Indonesian, when one verb follows another verb that shows liking, ability, necessity, etc., the second verb is usually in its basic form, without extra words:

• suka main = like to play
• bisa main = can play
• mau main = want to play
• harus belajar = must study

So:

• Anak-anak suka main bola = The children like to play ball.

You can say suka bermain bola, which is correct and sounds more formal or more written.
But suka untuk bermain bola is grammatical, yet it sounds unnecessarily long and less natural in this simple sentence. The most natural patterns are:

• suka main bola (colloquial / neutral)
• suka bermain bola (more formal / careful speech)

What is the difference between main and bermain?

Both relate to playing, but they differ in formality and style:

• main

  • More colloquial / everyday.
  • Very common in spoken Indonesian.
  • Often used with an object:
    
    • main bola = play ball
    • main game = play games

• bermain

  • More formal or neutral-written.
  • Often used more on its own or with a prepositional phrase:
    
    • bermain di luar = play outside
    • bermain bersama teman-teman = play with friends
    • But bermain bola is also perfectly fine.

In your sentence:

• Anak-anak suka main bola... sounds very natural in speech / casual writing.
• Anak-anak suka bermain bola... sounds a bit more formal or book-like, but still normal.

Could you also say Anak-anak suka bermain bola di lapangan belakang sekolah? Does the meaning change?

Yes, that sentence is correct and the meaning is the same:

• Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
• Anak-anak suka bermain bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.

Both mean: The children like to play ball in the field behind the school.

The only real difference is register (style):

• main bola → more casual / conversational
• bermain bola → more formal / neutral, often seen in texts, essays, news

Does bola here refer specifically to soccer, or any ball game?

Literally, bola means ball.

Depending on context, main bola can mean:

• play soccer/football (very common, especially among kids)
• play with a ball in general (throwing, catching, etc.)

If you want to be more specific, you can say:

• sepak bola = soccer / football
• bola basket = basketball
• bola voli = volleyball

So:

• Anak-anak suka main bola could very often be understood as The kids like playing soccer, but strictly speaking it just says play ball.

How is the phrase di lapangan belakang sekolah structured? Which word modifies which?

Break it down:

• di = in / at / on (location preposition)
• lapangan = field / court / open ground
• belakang = back / rear
• sekolah = school

The structure is:

• di [lapangan belakang sekolah]

Inside the bracket:

• lapangan = the main noun (field)
• belakang modifies lapangan (back/rear field)
• sekolah modifies belakang (of the school)

So lapangan belakang sekolah is like:

• the back field of the school
  or
• the field at the back of the school

In English we usually say the field behind the school, but Indonesian stacks the nouns and modifiers together in that order.

What is the difference between di lapangan belakang sekolah and di lapangan di belakang sekolah?

Both are understandable, but the nuance differs slightly.

1. di lapangan belakang sekolah

   • More like the school’s back field.
   • Sounds like a fixed area that belongs to the school (the rear field on school grounds).

2. di lapangan di belakang sekolah

   • Literally: in the field behind the school.
   • Emphasizes that the field is located behind the school, but not necessarily part of the school grounds; it could be any field that happens to be behind the school.

In everyday conversation, people might use them somewhat loosely, but:

• For the school’s own back field, di lapangan belakang sekolah is more natural.
• For some field that happens to be behind the school, di lapangan di belakang sekolah is clearer.

Why is there no word for are in Anak-anak suka main bola?

Indonesian does not use a verb like to be (am/is/are) before verbs or adjectives in the same way English does.

In English you say:

• The children are happy.
• The children are playing.

In Indonesian you just say:

• Anak-anak senang. = The children are happy.
• Anak-anak main bola. = The children are playing ball.
• Anak-anak suka main bola. = The children like to play ball.

There is a word adalah, but it is mainly used:

• Between noun = noun:
  
  • Dia adalah guru. = He/She is a teacher.
• In more formal contexts.

You would not say Anak-anak adalah suka main bola; that is incorrect.

How would you change the sentence to mean The children liked to play ball (past) or will like to play ball (future)?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Instead, you add time words or markers if you need to be explicit.

1. Past (liked to play ball)

• Dulu anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  = In the past, the children liked to play ball in the field behind the school.

• Kemarin anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  = Yesterday, the children liked to play ball in the field behind the school.

Often, context alone shows that it is past, so the original sentence can be understood as past if the story is told in past time.

2. Future (will like to play ball)

To be very explicit:

• Nanti anak-anak akan suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  = Later, the children will like to play ball in the field behind the school.

• Besok anak-anak akan suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  = Tomorrow, the children will like to play ball in the field behind the school.

But suka normally describes a general preference, so talking about “will like” is not as common as just describing what they already like.

How would you say are playing ball instead of like to play ball?

To change from habit / preference to an action happening now, you replace suka with a marker for ongoing action (often sedang) and use main bola as the verb phrase.

Examples:

• Anak-anak sedang main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  = The children are playing ball in the field behind the school.

• More casual speech might drop sedang:

  • Anak-anak lagi main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
    (lagi is colloquial for “in the middle of” / “currently”)

So:

• suka main bola = like to play ball (habit / preference)
• sedang main bola / lagi main bola = are playing ball (right now)

Why is there no word like of or ’s to show school’s in lapangan belakang sekolah?

In Indonesian, possession or association is often shown by simply putting two nouns together, where the second noun modifies the first:

• buku saya = my book
• rumah nenek = grandmother’s house / house of grandmother
• guru bahasa Inggris = English teacher (teacher of English)
• lapangan sekolah = school field (field of the school)

In lapangan belakang sekolah:

• lapangan = field
• belakang sekolah = the back (part/area) of the school

So lapangan belakang sekolah can be interpreted as:

• the field in the back part of the school
  = the school’s back field

No extra word like of or ’s is required; the order of nouns shows the relationship.

Could you add para before anak-anak? What would Para anak-anak suka main bola... mean? Is it correct?

para is a word used to show a group of people (plural, usually more formal).

Correct patterns:

• para siswa = the students
• para guru = the teachers
• para tamu = the guests

With a reduplicated noun, you normally do not use para again, because both para and reduplication are ways to show plural. So:

• para anak (OK, formal)
• anak-anak (OK, normal)
• para anak-anak (sounds redundant / unnatural)

So instead of Para anak-anak suka main bola..., you would say either:

• Anak-anak suka main bola... (most natural), or
• Para anak suka bermain bola... (more formal style)

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? How would you make it more formal?

Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.

• Overall, it is neutral and very natural in everyday speech.
• The word main is slightly colloquial, but still very widely accepted.

To make it more formal, you could say:

• Anak-anak senang bermain bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  
  • senang = pleased / glad (often used formally for “like”)
  • bermain = more neutral/formal than main

Or, in even more formal written style:

• Para siswa senang bermain sepak bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
  (here you also switch anak-anak to para siswa and bola to sepak bola for specificity and formality)

Can you change the word order, like Anak-anak suka main bola belakang sekolah di lapangan?

No. That reordering would be unnatural and mostly incorrect.

Indonesian has a relatively fixed order:

1. Subject
2. Verb
3. Object
4. Place / time phrases (often after the verb phrase)

So:

• Anak-anak (subject)
• suka main bola (verb + object)
• di lapangan belakang sekolah (place phrase)

Within the noun phrase lapangan belakang sekolah, the order is:

• Main noun first (lapangan)
• Then modifiers (belakang sekolah)

You cannot freely move pieces like belakang sekolah out of that noun phrase or shuffle di lapangan to the end. So:

• ✅ Anak-anak suka main bola di lapangan belakang sekolah.
• ❌ Anak-anak suka main bola belakang sekolah di lapangan. (unnatural / wrong)

Keeping the standard order is crucial for clear meaning in Indonesian.