Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Di antara bunga, saya melihat banyak kupu-kupu dan beberapa lebah kecil. - Among the flowers, I see many butterflies and a few small bees.

When you say antara X dan Y, it means between X and Y:
- antara rumah dan sekolah = between the house and the school
When you say di antara + noun, it usually means among / in the midst of:
- di antara bunga = among the flowers / in the middle of the flowers

So:

di antara bunga = among the flowers
You normally wouldn’t say just antara bunga by itself in this context; it sounds incomplete, as if something is missing after antara (like antara A dan B).

Why is there a comma after bunga? Is it required?

The comma marks a pause after a fronted phrase.

Di antara bunga is an adverbial phrase of place (telling us where).
When such a phrase comes at the beginning of the sentence, Indonesian commonly uses a comma:
- Di sekolah, saya belajar.
- Di antara bunga, saya melihat ...

Is it absolutely required?
In real-life writing, some native speakers might omit it, but with the comma is the standard, more correct form, especially in formal writing or textbooks.

Why is saya used here and not aku? What’s the difference?

Both saya and aku mean I / me, but differ in formality and context:

saya
- More formal and neutral.
- Safe to use in almost all situations: with strangers, in writing, at work, etc.
aku
- More informal and intimate.
- Used with close friends, family, or in casual situations.
- Common in songs, poetry, and some informal writing.

In a textbook-style example sentence, saya is preferred because it’s polite and widely acceptable.

The structure is saya melihat banyak kupu-kupu. Could it also be banyak kupu-kupu saya lihat? What’s the difference?

Yes, both are possible, but they have different emphasis and style:

Saya melihat banyak kupu-kupu.
- Neutral word order: Subject (saya) – Verb (melihat) – Object (banyak kupu-kupu).
- Most common and straightforward.
Banyak kupu-kupu saya lihat.
- Literally: “Many butterflies I saw.”
- Puts emphasis on banyak kupu-kupu.
- Sounds more like storytelling, descriptive, or literary style.

For regular conversation and for learners, saya melihat banyak kupu-kupu is the best default.

What does banyak do in this sentence, and where does it usually go?

Banyak means many / a lot (of).

It comes before the noun it describes:
- banyak kupu-kupu = many butterflies
- banyak bunga = many flowers
- banyak orang = many people

In this sentence:

banyak kupu-kupu = many butterflies
It tells us the quantity of kupu-kupu.

Why is kupu-kupu repeated like that? Does the reduplication already mean “many butterflies”? Why still use banyak?

This is a common confusion.

The base word is kupu.
The standard word for butterfly is kupu-kupu.
In Indonesian, reduplication (repeating a word) can mark plurality (e.g., buku-buku = books), but not always. Sometimes, the reduplicated form is just the normal dictionary word:
- kupu-kupu = butterfly (singular or generic)
- mata-mata = spy
- laba-laba = spider

So:

kupu-kupu by itself does not necessarily mean “many butterflies”.
To clearly mean many butterflies, we add a quantifier:
- banyak kupu-kupu = many butterflies

That’s why you can and do say banyak kupu-kupu.
The banyak is what gives the clear plural/many meaning here.

Does kupu-kupu here mean one butterfly or many butterflies?

By itself, kupu-kupu is number-neutral in Indonesian. It can mean:

a butterfly
the butterfly/butterflies
butterfly / butterflies (in general)

The quantity is usually understood from context or from a quantifier:

satu kupu-kupu = one butterfly
banyak kupu-kupu = many butterflies

In this sentence, because of banyak, it clearly means many butterflies.

Is lebah kecil singular or plural? How do we know?

Indonesian nouns normally don’t change form for plural, so lebah kecil can mean:

a small bee
small bees
the small bee/bees

We know it’s plural here because of the word beberapa:

beberapa lebah kecil = some small bees / several small bees

So in this sentence, lebah kecil is understood as small bees.

Why is it lebah kecil and not kecil lebah? Where do adjectives go?

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

lebah kecil = small bee(s)
bunga merah = red flower(s)
rumah besar = big house

So:

lebah kecil is correct.
kecil lebah is wrong in normal Indonesian grammar.

What is the difference between banyak and beberapa?

Both relate to quantity, but they are different:

banyak = many, a lot (large number, not specific)
- banyak kupu-kupu = many butterflies
beberapa = some, several (more than two or three, but not a lot)
- beberapa lebah kecil = some/several small bees

So the sentence describes:

a lot of butterflies
only some small bees

Should there be a classifier like ekor for animals, as in beberapa ekor lebah kecil? Is it wrong without it?

Indonesian has classifiers (like ekor for animals), and the most complete form would be:

beberapa ekor lebah kecil = several (individual) small bees

However:

In everyday speech and in many texts, people often skip the classifier when the meaning is clear:
- beberapa lebah kecil is completely natural and accepted.

So:

beberapa ekor lebah kecil = more precise, slightly more formal / careful.
beberapa lebah kecil = natural, common, and not wrong at all.

Can we drop saya and just say Di antara bunga, melihat banyak kupu-kupu dan beberapa lebah kecil?

No, that would sound wrong and unnatural.

Indonesian can drop the subject pronoun if it’s absolutely clear from context and if the verb form makes sense without it.
But with melihat, there is no ending or marking that shows who is doing the seeing.

You need a subject:

Di antara bunga, saya melihat ... (I saw)
Di antara bunga, kami melihat ... (we saw)
Di antara bunga, dia melihat ... (he/she saw)

Without saya/dia/kami, the sentence feels incomplete.

Could we use di dalam bunga instead of di antara bunga? What is the nuance?

No, di dalam bunga would be strange here.

di antara bunga = among the flowers, in the area where the flowers are.
di dalam = inside (physically inside something):
- di dalam rumah = inside the house
- di dalam kotak = inside the box

Flowers aren’t containers, so saying inside the flowers doesn’t fit.
Di antara bunga is the natural way to say among the flowers.

Is bunga here singular (“flower”) or plural (“flowers”)? Why isn’t it bunga-bunga?

Again, Indonesian nouns are generally number-neutral:

bunga can mean flower or flowers, depending on context.
bunga-bunga more strongly emphasizes flowers (plural), but:
- bunga-bunga can sound slightly more literary or emphatic.
- For everyday use, bunga is enough if the context implies plural.

In di antara bunga, the idea of plural is clear because:

You wouldn’t normally be “among flowers” if there was only one flower.
So bunga here is understood as flowers, even without bunga-bunga.