Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Anak kecil itu meniru suara hewan dari buku cerita. - That small child imitates animal sounds from a storybook.

anak kecil itu ≈ that little child / the little child (a specific child already known from context)
Word order in Indonesian is noun + itu, not itu + noun. So:
- anak itu = that/the child
- buku itu = that/the book

Putting itu after the noun is the normal pattern for pointing to a specific thing or person.

Why is there no separate word for the or a in Anak kecil itu meniru suara hewan dari buku cerita?

Indonesian does not have mandatory articles like a/an/the. The specificity is shown by context and words like:

itu = that / the (specific)
ini = this
seorang / sebuah / seekor, etc. = a / one (for people, things, animals) when you want to emphasize “one”

In this sentence:

Anak kecil itu = the little child / that little child (specific because of itu)
suara hewan can mean animal sounds or the animal sounds, depending on context.
buku cerita can mean a storybook or the storybook.

Indonesian usually leaves the article idea implicit; English has to choose a or the when translating.

Why is it anak kecil, not kecil anak like little child in English?

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

anak kecil = little child / small child
buku tebal = thick book
rumah besar = big house

So the pattern is:

noun + adjective

English is often adjective + noun, but Indonesian reverses that order in most cases.

Does anak kecil mean small child physically, or does it mean young child in age?

Anak kecil can mean both, but in everyday usage it usually means a young child (roughly toddler to early elementary age), not just physically small.

Some nuances:

anak kecil = young child / little kid (age is the main idea)
anak yang kecil (with yang) could more clearly emphasize the one who is small among several children, though context is important.
To focus strongly on age, you can also say anak yang masih kecil = a child who is still small/young.

In this sentence, Anak kecil itu is most naturally understood as the little kid / the young child.

Is hewan in suara hewan singular or plural? Does it mean animal sound or animal sounds?

By itself, hewan is number-neutral. It can mean animal or animals, depending on context.

So:

suara hewan can be translated as:
- an animal sound
- animal sounds
- the sound of animals
- the animals’ sounds

If you really want to show plural, you can:

Reduplicate: hewan-hewan = animals
Reduplicate the noun suara: suara-suara hewan = animal sounds / various animal sounds

Examples:

meniru suara hewan = imitate animal sounds (most natural English)
meniru suara-suara hewan = imitate various animal sounds (emphasizes variety)
meniru suara hewan-hewan = imitate the sounds of the animals

Why is it suara hewan and not something like suara hewan-hewan itu if the child is imitating specific animals from the storybook?

Suara hewan is a neutral, general phrase: animal sounds. It doesn’t specify which animals or whether they are specific ones from the book.

If you want to make it clear you mean those specific animals in the story, you can say:

meniru suara hewan-hewan di buku cerita itu
= imitate the sounds of the animals in that storybook
meniru suara hewan-hewan dalam buku cerita itu
(same meaning; dalam emphasizes “inside” the book)

So the original sentence is natural and understandable, but slightly more general. The more specific versions just make the connection to the particular animals in that storybook clearer.

What is the difference between meniru and menirukan? Could the sentence use menirukan instead?

Both come from the root tiru (to imitate), but there is a nuance:

meniru = to imitate / to copy (more general, very common)
menirukan = to imitate something/someone in a more active or deliberate way, often with an object that is a person, style, sound, etc.

In many everyday situations they overlap and either can sound fine:

Anak kecil itu meniru suara hewan...
Anak kecil itu menirukan suara hewan...

Both are understandable as The little child imitated animal sounds....
Native speakers often choose menirukan suara when they want to stress the act of “doing” that sound, but meniru suara is also widely used and not wrong.

So yes, menirukan can replace meniru here without sounding strange.

Why is it dari buku cerita and not di buku cerita? What is the difference?

dari = from (origin, source)
di = in / at / on (location)

In this sentence, we are talking about the source of the sounds the child is imitating:

dari buku cerita = from the storybook (the sounds come from the book / are based on the book’s content)

If you said di buku cerita, it would mean in the storybook as a location, which would sound like the child is imitating animal sounds inside a physical book, which is not the intended meaning.

So dari is correct because it expresses “from (as a source).”

Could you say anak itu meniru suara-suara hewan instead? How does that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Anak itu meniru suara-suara hewan dari buku cerita.

Differences:

suara hewan = animal sounds (neutral; can be singular or plural from context)
suara-suara hewan = various animal sounds / multiple animal sounds (plural is emphasized)

Using the reduplication (suara-suara) highlights that there are many different sounds being imitated (e.g., cow, cat, dog, etc.).
The meaning is basically the same, but suara-suara makes the plurality and variety more explicit.

If I say meniru hewan instead of meniru suara hewan, what does it mean?

meniru suara hewan = imitate the sounds of animals
meniru hewan = imitate the animals themselves

So:

Anak kecil itu meniru suara hewan
= The little child imitated animal sounds.
Anak kecil itu meniru hewan
= The little child imitated animals (e.g., copying their movements, behavior, or acting like them).

The original sentence focuses on sounds, so suara hewan is important to keep that idea clear.