Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas. - The field near my house is spacious.

You just put the subject (Lapangan dekat rumah saya) directly before the describing word (luas). The idea of “is” is understood from the structure, not from a specific word.

The linking word adalah is only used in specific cases (usually when what comes after is a noun phrase, not an adjective), like:

Lapangan dekat rumah saya adalah tempat bermain anak-anak.
“The field near my house is a place for children to play.”

What exactly does lapangan mean here?

Lapangan literally means an open area or field. Depending on context, it can be:

a sports field (soccer field, etc.)
a public square or open yard
an empty lot or open ground

In this sentence, it’s most naturally understood as “the field / open field near my house”.
Indonesian doesn’t use articles (a/the), so lapangan could correspond to “a field” or “the field” in English; context decides which is better.

How does dekat work here? Is it a preposition, an adjective, or something else?

In lapangan dekat rumah saya, the word dekat (“near”) is functioning like a preposition-like adjective modifying lapangan.

lapangan dekat rumah saya
literally: “field near my house”

You can think of it roughly as “the field [that is] near my house”.
More explicitly, you could say:

lapangan yang dekat dengan rumah saya
“the field that is near my house”

So:

dekat can be an adjective meaning “near” / “close”
it often works in a prepositional-like way, especially in phrases like dekat rumah, dekat sini, etc.

Could I also say “Lapangan di dekat rumah saya luas”? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Lapangan di dekat rumah saya luas.

This is also correct and natural. The nuance:

Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas.
Sounds a bit more compact and can feel slightly more colloquial or direct.
Lapangan di dekat rumah saya luas.
Uses di dekat as a explicit prepositional phrase (“at/located near”) and can sound slightly more explicit, sometimes a bit more careful or neutral.

In everyday speech, both are fine and the meaning is effectively the same:
“The field near my house is spacious/large.”

Why is it “rumah saya” and not “saya rumah”?

In Indonesian, possession is usually shown with a possessor after the noun:

rumah saya = “my house” (literally: house my)
buku kamu = “your book” (literally: book your)
mobil mereka = “their car” (literally: car their)

So the pattern is:

[Thing] + [Possessor]

Saya rumah would be wrong and confusing; it would look like two separate nouns (“I house”) with no clear relationship.

What does luas mean exactly, and how is it different from besar?

Both luas and besar relate to “bigness,” but they focus on different aspects:

luas = spacious, wide, having a large area / surface
- lapangan luas = a field with a lot of space / wide area
- kamar ini luas = “this room is spacious”
besar = big, large in a more general sense (size, volume, importance)
- rumah besar = a big house
- perusahaan besar = a big company (important/large)

For a field, luas is especially natural because you’re talking about the extent of the space, not just a vague sense of “big.”
So:
Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas = the field has a large area / is spacious.

Why is the adjective luas placed after lapangan dekat rumah saya, not before?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe:

rumah besar = big house
baju baru = new shirt
lapangan luas = spacious field

In this sentence, the whole phrase lapangan dekat rumah saya acts as the noun phrase, and luas comes after it, describing that entire phrase:

[lapangan dekat rumah saya] luas
“The field near my house is spacious.”

So both the noun and its modifier(s) come first, then the descriptive adjective.

Is “lapangan dekat rumah saya luas” a complete sentence, or just a phrase?

It is a complete sentence in Indonesian. The structure is:

Subject: Lapangan dekat rumah saya
Predicate (adjective): luas

Even though there’s no word for “is”, the subject + adjective pattern forms a full statement, meaning:

“The field near my house is spacious/large.”

Could I say “Rumah saya dekat lapangan yang luas” instead? Does that keep the same meaning?

You can say:

Rumah saya dekat lapangan yang luas.
“My house is near a spacious field.”

This sentence is grammatically correct, but the focus is different:

Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas.
Emphasis: the field (and its size)
→ You’re describing the field near your house.
Rumah saya dekat lapangan yang luas.
Emphasis: your house’s location relative to a large field
→ You’re describing where your house is.

So they are related in meaning but not identical in focus.

Why is there no word like “the” or “a” before lapangan?

Indonesian does not have articles like English “a/an” or “the”.

lapangan by itself can mean “a field” or “the field”, depending on context.
If the listener already knows which field you’re talking about, English will usually use “the field”, so that’s the natural translation here.

The language relies on context (and sometimes other words) to show whether you mean “a” or “the”; it doesn’t mark this with a separate word.

Could I add “yang”: “Lapangan yang dekat rumah saya luas”? Is that correct?

Yes, Lapangan yang dekat rumah saya luas is grammatically correct, but it sounds:

more formal, or
slightly more bookish / written than everyday speech.

yang introduces a relative clause:

lapangan yang dekat rumah saya
= “the field that is near my house”

So:

Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas.
Natural, concise, very common.
Lapangan yang dekat rumah saya luas.
More explicit structure: “The field that is near my house is spacious.”
Fine, but longer than needed in casual conversation.

Is this sentence talking about one field or possibly more than one?

The Indonesian sentence by itself does not clearly mark singular vs plural:

lapangan can be “field” or “fields” depending on context.

To make it clearly plural, you might say:

Lapangan-lapangan dekat rumah saya luas.
“The fields near my house are spacious.”

But in normal conversation, if people know there is only one relevant field, lapangan dekat rumah saya luas will naturally be understood as “the (one) field near my house is spacious.”

Are there more informal ways to say “my house” than “rumah saya” here?

Yes. Possession can be marked in a few common ways:

rumah saya – neutral, polite, standard
rumahku – informal, a bit more intimate / casual
rumah gue / rumah gua – very informal, Jakarta slang

In your sentence, you could say:

Lapangan dekat rumahku luas. (very natural in casual speech)
Lapangan dekat rumah gue luas. (Jakarta / urban informal)

For learners, rumah saya is a good default—polite and widely acceptable.

Is dekat always followed by dengan or di when talking about locations?

Not always. There are several common patterns:

dekat + noun
- dekat rumah saya = near my house
  (like in your sentence)
dekat dengan + noun (slightly more explicit/formal)
- dekat dengan rumah saya = near my house
di dekat + noun
- di dekat rumah saya = at/located near my house

So you can have:

Lapangan dekat rumah saya luas.
Lapangan dekat dengan rumah saya luas.
Lapangan di dekat rumah saya luas.

All are grammatical; they differ slightly in style and explicitness, but the core meaning is the same.