Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Ibu sering membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar dari peternak dekat rumah. - Mother often buys my younger brother fresh milk from a farmer near the house.

In Indonesian, when you use family terms (like ibu, ayah, adik, kakak) as proper names or as “Mom/Dad”, you usually capitalize them: Ibu, Ayah.
So Ibu here functions like “Mom” or “Mother” in English, and it’s the subject of the sentence.

If you wrote ibu with a lowercase i, it would more likely mean:

a generic “mother” or “woman”, or
a polite form of address for a woman you don’t know well (like “ma’am”), depending on context.

Why is it membelikan and not just membeli?

Both come from the root beli (“to buy”), but:

membeli = to buy (something)
- Focus: the act of buying an item.
- Pattern: [subject] membeli [thing]
- Example: Ibu membeli susu. – “Mother buys milk.”
membelikan = to buy (something) for (someone)
- Focus: doing the buying on behalf of / for another person.
- Pattern:
  - [subject] membelikan [someone] [something]
  - OR [subject] membelikan [something] untuk [someone]

In your sentence, Ibu sering membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar..., the structure is:

Ibu (subject)
sering (often)
membelikan (buys for)
adik laki-laki saya (my younger brother – the person who receives it)
susu segar (the thing being bought)

So membelikan makes it clear she is buying the milk for your younger brother, not for herself.

What is the function of the suffix -kan in membelikan?

The suffix -kan on membeli does several things:

Adds a beneficiary (someone who benefits from the action)
- membeli = buy
- membelikan (sesuatu) (untuk seseorang) = buy something for someone.
Often makes the verb causative or benefactive
- You cause something to happen for someone or to something.

So:

membeli susu = buy milk
membelikan adik susu = buy milk for younger sibling

Without -kan, the idea of “for someone” is weaker or missing; with -kan, it’s clear that someone else is the beneficiary.

Where does sering normally go, and could it be placed somewhere else?

Sering means “often”, and in this sentence it’s correctly placed before the verb phrase:

Ibu sering membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar...

This is the most natural position:
[subject] + sering + [verb] + ...

You might see other placements, but they change the emphasis:

Sering, Ibu membelikan...
- Puts extra emphasis on “often” (e.g. in contrast with other people or habits). Feels a bit more like written or formal/contrastive speech.
Ibu membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar itu sering.
- This is unusual and not natural; avoid this pattern.

So in normal sentences, place sering just in front of the main verb: sering membelikan.

What exactly does adik laki-laki saya mean, and why is the word order like that?

Adik laki-laki saya breaks down as:

adik – younger sibling (gender-neutral)
laki-laki – male, man
adik laki-laki – younger brother (literally “younger male sibling”)
saya – my

The order is:

Head noun: adik
Describing word (gender): laki-laki
Possessor: saya

So adik laki-laki saya = my younger brother.

In Indonesian, the possessor comes after the noun:

adik saya = my younger sibling
adik laki-laki saya = my younger brother

Could we say adik saya laki-laki instead of adik laki-laki saya?

You can say adik saya laki-laki, but the nuance is slightly different:

adik laki-laki saya
- Treats adik laki-laki as a fixed phrase: “younger brother”.
- Very natural, standard way to say my younger brother.
adik saya laki-laki
- Feels more like: “my younger sibling is male.”
- Grammatically: [adik saya] [laki-laki]
- Here, laki-laki behaves more like a predicate (“is male”) than part of a noun phrase.

So if you’re just naming the role (“my younger brother”), the usual choice is adik laki-laki saya.

Does adik always mean “younger brother”, or can it be “younger sister” too?

Adik by itself is gender-neutral and always means younger sibling:

adik = younger sibling (could be male or female)
adik laki-laki = younger brother
adik perempuan = younger sister

In your sentence, laki-laki specifies that this younger sibling is male, so adik laki-laki saya = my younger brother.

Why is there no word for “to” before adik laki-laki saya (like to my younger brother)?

In English you say “buy something for someone” or “give something to someone”.

In Indonesian, the verb membelikan already contains the “for someone” idea, so you don’t need kepada or untuk in this pattern:

Ibu membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar.
= Mother buys fresh milk for my younger brother.

The pattern is:

[subject] membelikan [recipient] [thing]

You can also say:

Ibu membelikan susu segar untuk adik laki-laki saya.

But you normally don’t combine both patterns at once (like membelikan kepada someone) in a single clause; that would sound awkward.

What is the difference between peternak and peternakan?

Both come from the root ternak (livestock):

peternak
- Means the person who raises livestock: a farmer / livestock keeper.
- In your sentence: dari peternak dekat rumah = from the farmer near the house.
peternakan
- Means the place / farm where the animals are raised: a (livestock) farm.
- Example: susu segar dari peternakan = fresh milk from the dairy farm.

So:

dari peternak dekat rumah – from the farmer near our house (emphasis: the person).
dari peternakan dekat rumah – from the farm near our house (emphasis: the place/business).

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things.

What does dekat rumah mean exactly, and why isn’t it rumah dekat?

Dekat rumah literally means “near (the) house”.

Structure:

dekat – near
dekat rumah – near the house

In Indonesian, place expressions typically follow this pattern:

di dekat rumah – near the house
di belakang rumah – behind the house
di dalam rumah – inside the house

Rumah dekat would be interpreted more like “a near house” (a near-by house) or just sound odd/unfinished in this context. For “the farmer near our house”, the natural order is:

peternak dekat rumah
= the farmer (who is) near the house

Why is there no article like “the” or “a” in susu segar and peternak dekat rumah?

Indonesian doesn’t use articles “a/an” or “the” like English does. Noun phrases like susu segar or peternak dekat rumah are neutral for definiteness:

susu segar can mean:
- fresh milk
- some fresh milk
- the fresh milk
  Context tells you which is intended.
peternak dekat rumah can mean:
- a farmer near (our) house
- the farmer near (our) house

If you need extra clarity, you use other words (like seorang, itu, etc.), but usually context is enough.

Why is there no word for “usually” or “every day”? How is time expressed?

The sentence uses sering, which means “often”, not “usually” or “every day”. Indonesian generally uses adverbs to express frequency instead of changing the verb form:

Common frequency words:

selalu – always
sering – often
kadang-kadang – sometimes
jarang – rarely
tidak pernah – never
setiap hari – every day
biasanya – usually

So:

Ibu sering membelikan... – Mom often buys...
Ibu biasanya membelikan... – Mom usually buys...
Ibu setiap hari membelikan... – Mom buys ... every day

How do we know the tense (past, present, future) in this Indonesian sentence?

Indonesian verbs generally don’t change form for tense. Membelikan can refer to:

Present: Mom often buys (these days / in general).
Past: Mom often used to buy (in the past).
Future: Mom will often buy (in the future) – less common reading without extra words.

The time reference comes from:

context, and
optional time words like tadi, kemarin, besok, nanti, etc.

Examples:

Tadi pagi Ibu sering membelikan adik saya susu segar.
– This sounds odd (time clash), but shows how tadi pagi (“this morning”) would push it to past.

In your sentence as is, it most naturally refers to a general present habit: “Mom often buys my younger brother fresh milk from the farmer near our house.”

Could we say susu yang segar instead of susu segar? Is there any difference?

You can say susu yang segar, but the nuance is slightly different:

susu segar
- Simple noun + adjective: “fresh milk”.
- Neutral, the standard way to say it.
susu yang segar
- Literally: “milk that is fresh.”
- Adds a bit more emphasis or contrast, as if distinguishing this milk from other milk that might not be fresh.
- More like a full relative clause: susu yang segar (bukan yang basi) – milk that is fresh (not spoiled).

In normal, neutral description, susu segar is preferred and more natural.

Is the word order in the whole sentence flexible, or is this basically fixed?

The basic order is:

[Subject] [Adverb-of-frequency] [Verb] [Recipient] [Object] [Source phrase]
Ibu sering membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar dari peternak dekat rumah.

Some parts are slightly movable, but you must be careful:

You can move some adverbs for emphasis:
- Sering, Ibu membelikan adik laki-laki saya susu segar dari peternak dekat rumah.
  (emphasis on “often”)
You usually keep:
- Recipient (adik laki-laki saya) before the object (susu segar) in this membelikan pattern.
- dari peternak dekat rumah at the end, as a source or place phrase.

Patterns like:

Ibu sering membelikan susu segar adik laki-laki saya dari peternak dekat rumah.
sound unnatural or confusing, because the recipient and object positions are mixed.

So the original word order is very natural and is the best model to memorize.