Di desa kakek saya, ada tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun.

In my grandfather’s village, there is a tradition of eating together with all the neighbors at the end of every year.

Breakdown of Di desa kakek saya, ada tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun.

• makan: to eat
• di: in
• setiap: every
• bersama: together
• saya: my
• desa: the village
• tetangga: the neighbor
• ada: there is
• kakek: the grandfather
• tradisi: the tradition
• seluruh: all
• akhir tahun: the end of the year

Questions & Answers about Di desa kakek saya, ada tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun.

What does di mean in Di desa kakek saya, and why is that phrase placed at the beginning of the sentence?

Di is a preposition meaning in/at.

Di desa kakek saya = In my grandfather’s village (literally: at village grandfather my).

Putting this location phrase at the beginning is very natural in Indonesian. It sets the scene first:

• Di desa kakek saya, ada tradisi…
  = In my grandfather’s village, there is a tradition…

You can also put it at the end:

• Ada tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun di desa kakek saya.

This is still correct, but starting with Di desa kakek saya emphasizes the place more strongly, which is common in Indonesian storytelling and descriptions.

How exactly does desa kakek saya mean my grandfather’s village? Why is the order like that?

In Indonesian, possession is often shown by putting things in a Noun + possessor pattern.

Breakdown:

• desa = village
• kakek saya = my grandfather
  
  • kakek = grandfather
  • saya = I / my
  • kakek saya literally = grandfather my

Then:

• desa kakek saya literally = village (of) my grandfather
  → my grandfather’s village

So the structure is:

[owned thing] + [owner]

Other examples:

• rumah saya = my house
• buku guru itu = that teacher’s book
• anak tetangga kami = our neighbor’s child

You cannot say desa saya kakek; that breaks up kakek saya, which must stay together to mean my grandfather. Possible variations include:

• desa kakekku (more informal; -ku = my)
• desa kakek saya itu (that village of my grandfather)

What is the role of ada in this sentence? Is it always necessary?

Ada here functions like English there is/there are.

• Ada tradisi…
  ≈ There is a tradition…

It indicates existence or presence of something.

You could remove ada and say:

• Di desa kakek saya, tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun.

This is grammatically possible, but it sounds incomplete or more like a headline. In natural spoken and written Indonesian, ada is usually kept in sentences like this to clearly state that something exists.

So in most everyday sentences like this, keep ada:

• Di kampung ini, ada banyak anjing.
• Di kelas itu, ada dua murid baru.

In tradisi makan bersama, is makan being used as a verb or as a noun, like “eating”?

Grammatically, makan is a verb (“to eat”), but after certain nouns it can function a bit like an “-ing” form in English.

tradisi makan bersama literally:

• tradisi = tradition
• makan = to eat
• bersama = together

So it is like saying:

• a tradition [to eat together]
  or
• a tradition of eating together

Indonesian often uses Noun + verb to express “a [noun] of doing [verb]”:

• kebiasaan tidur siang = the habit of taking an afternoon nap
• hobi membaca = the hobby of reading
• rencana pergi ke Bali = a plan to go to Bali

You could also say:

• tradisi untuk makan bersama (tradition to eat together)

But tradisi makan bersama is shorter and very natural.

What does bersama mean here? How is it different from dengan?

Bersama means together (with).

• makan bersama seluruh tetangga
  ≈ eat together with all the neighbors
  (have a shared meal)

Dengan means with, and can be more neutral:

• makan dengan tetangga
  = eat with a neighbor / with neighbors
  (they are present; less emphasis on the “togetherness” as a joint activity)

Nuance:

• bersama emphasizes doing something jointly, as a group.
• dengan is simply with, and is used much more broadly.

In this sentence, makan bersama seluruh tetangga nicely highlights the idea of a community meal.

What is the difference between seluruh tetangga and semua tetangga?

Both can often be translated as all the neighbors, but there is a nuance:

• seluruh tetangga

  • seluruh = the whole / the entire
  • Focus on the group as a complete whole.
  • the entire set of neighbors

• semua tetangga

  • semua = all
  • Focus more on the individual members of the group.
  • all the (individual) neighbors

In everyday speech, they are often interchangeable:

• makan bersama seluruh tetangga
• makan bersama semua tetangga

Both are natural. Seluruh can sound slightly more cohesive (the whole community together), which fits well with a tradition involving the entire village.

Why isn’t tetangga marked as plural? How do I know it means “neighbors,” not “neighbor”?

Indonesian usually does not mark plural with a separate word ending. Nouns are typically unmarked for number.

So tetangga can mean:

• neighbor
• neighbors

The context tells you which is intended. Here, seluruh already shows we are talking about more than one:

• seluruh tetangga = all the neighbors

Other ways to show plural, if needed:

• para tetangga = (all) the neighbors (more formal)
• tetangga-tetangga = neighbors (reduplication; can sound literary or emphatic)

But in most everyday sentences, just tetangga is enough, and words like seluruh, banyak, beberapa, or the context indicate singular vs plural.

Can I say tetangga seluruh instead of seluruh tetangga?

No. The normal word order is:

[quantifier] + [noun]

So you say:

• seluruh tetangga (correct)
• semua tetangga (correct)
• banyak tetangga (many neighbors)
• beberapa tetangga (several neighbors)

Putting seluruh after the noun (tetangga seluruh) is not natural and is considered incorrect in standard Indonesian.

How should I understand the phrase setiap akhir tahun?

Breakdown:

• setiap = every / each
• akhir = end
• tahun = year

akhir tahun = end of the year / year-end
setiap akhir tahun = every year-end (every end of the year)

So it describes something that happens repeatedly, once at the end of each year. It’s similar to saying:

• setiap tahun pada akhir tahun (every year at the end of the year)

But Indonesian naturally compresses this as setiap akhir tahun.

Why is there no preposition like pada before setiap akhir tahun? Can I say pada setiap akhir tahun?

You can say:

• pada setiap akhir tahun

This is grammatically correct, and slightly more formal or explicit.

However, when you use setiap (“every/each”), it very often does not need a preposition in front of it, especially in simple time expressions:

• setiap hari = every day
• setiap minggu = every week
• setiap bulan = every month
• setiap akhir tahun = every year-end

So the shorter version (without pada) is more common and sounds very natural here.

How is tense shown in this sentence? It talks about something that happens every year, but I don’t see any tense markers.

Indonesian does not have tense in the same way English does. Verbs do not change form for past, present, or future.

Time and aspect are shown by:

• time expressions: setiap akhir tahun, kemarin, besok, tadi, nanti, etc.
• sometimes auxiliary words: sudah, akan, sedang, baru saja, etc.

In this sentence:

• setiap akhir tahun already tells us it is a repeated, habitual event.

So:

• Di desa kakek saya, ada tradisi makan bersama seluruh tetangga setiap akhir tahun.

can be understood as:

• In my grandfather’s village, there is (a custom that they) eat together with all the neighbors every year-end.

No extra tense marking is needed; the time expression itself is enough.

Could I drop saya and just say Di desa kakek, ada tradisi…?

You could say:

• Di desa kakek, ada tradisi…

but the meaning may change or become less clear.

Without saya, kakek could be interpreted as:

• “grandfather” in general, or
• “the grandfather” already known in the conversation.

With kakek saya, it is clearly my grandfather.

So:

• Di desa kakek saya… = In my grandfather’s village…
• Di desa kakek… = In grandfather’s village… (whose grandfather? depends on context)

If you want it clearly personal and natural, keep saya (or use kakekku in more informal style).