Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek setelah beliau pensiun. - My older brother finds a new caregiver for Grandfather after he retires.

So kakak laki-laki saya makes it clear that it’s your older brother, not just an older sibling. In casual speech, some regions also use words like abang or mas for “older brother”, but kakak laki-laki is clear and standard.

Why is it kakak laki-laki saya instead of saya kakak laki-laki or kakak saya laki-laki?

The normal order for “my older brother” is:

kakak laki-laki saya
[noun + describing words + possessor]

Breakdown:

kakak = older sibling (head noun)
laki-laki = male (describes kakak: which kakak? the male one)
saya = my (possessor, usually comes last)

So the pattern is similar to: rumah baru saya = my new house
You don’t say saya rumah baru.

kakak saya laki-laki is grammatical, but it changes the focus slightly:

kakak saya laki-laki ≈ my sibling is male (like a statement of fact)
kakak laki-laki saya ≈ my older brother (as a fixed noun phrase)

In this sentence you’re using kakak laki-laki saya as a clear subject noun phrase, so that’s the natural form.

What’s the difference between mencari and mencarikan here?

mencari = to look for / search for
mencarikan = to look for something for someone else (benefactive)

The suffix -kan here adds the idea of doing it for someone’s benefit.

So:

Kakak laki-laki saya mencari pengasuh baru.
= My older brother looked for a new caregiver. (neutral: just describing the action)
Kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek.
= My older brother looked for a new caregiver for grandpa (emphasizing that the action is done for grandpa’s benefit).

You could say mencari … untuk kakek, but mencarikan … untuk kakek sounds more natural and clearly benefactive.

If we already have mencarikan, do we still need untuk kakek?

mencarikan already implies doing something for someone, but it doesn’t say for whom. You still need to mention the beneficiary:

Kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru.
→ for whom? Not clear.
Kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek.
→ clearly for grandpa.

So mencarikan X untuk Y is a very common and natural pattern:

mencarikan kerja untuk adik – look for a job for younger sibling
mencarikan rumah untuk orang tua – look for a house for the parents

What exactly does pengasuh mean? Is it like “babysitter”?

pengasuh comes from the root asuh (to care for, to look after) plus the prefix pe-, which often forms a person who does X.

So pengasuh means:

carer / caregiver
someone who looks after another person (a child, an elderly person, etc.)

It’s broader than “babysitter”:

pengasuh anak – nanny / child carer
pengasuh lansia – elderly caregiver
If the context is clear (like with kakek), pengasuh by itself can mean a caregiver for that person.

A more specific word for someone giving medical care is perawat (nurse), which is different from pengasuh.

Why is it untuk kakek, not untuk kakek saya?

In context, kakek is usually understood as “my grandpa” when you’re talking about your own family, especially if:

you already said kakak laki-laki saya (my older brother), and
you’re speaking from your own perspective.

So:

kakek can mean “(my) grandpa” in a family-context sentence.
kakek saya explicitly says “my grandpa”, and is also correct.

The sentence:

… pengasuh baru untuk kakek …

is naturally understood as “a new caregiver for my grandpa”. Saying kakek saya would just make the possession extra-clear; both are acceptable.

Who does beliau refer to here: the older brother or the grandpa? How do we know?

In:

… untuk kakek setelah beliau pensiun.

beliau refers to kakek (grandpa), not to kakak laki-laki saya.

We know this from:

Context and world knowledge:
- It’s far more common that a grandfather retires and then needs a caregiver.
- An older brother retiring and then needing a caregiver is possible but much less typical.
Proximity in the sentence:
- The last mentioned person before beliau is kakek.
- By default, Indonesian pronouns usually refer to the nearest suitable previous noun.

So, native speakers would quite naturally understand beliau as referring to kakek.

What is the nuance of beliau compared to dia or ia?

All of these are 3rd person singular pronouns:

dia / ia = he / she (neutral, everyday)
beliau = he / she (polite, respectful, for older or respected people)

beliau is used for:

older people (like grandparents)
teachers, leaders, bosses
people you want to show respect to

So here:

… setelah beliau pensiun.

shows respect toward the grandfather. Using dia instead:

… setelah dia pensiun.

is grammatically fine but less respectful, and in this context would feel a bit too casual for talking about your grandpa.

Is pensiun a verb or a noun in setelah beliau pensiun?

In this sentence, pensiun functions as a verb:

beliau pensiun ≈ “he retired”

It’s like saying “to retire”.

However, pensiun can also be a noun in other contexts:

setelah masa pensiun – after retirement (as a period)
uang pensiun – pension money

So pensiun is flexible, and Indonesian often uses the same form as both verb and noun, depending on context.

There’s no past tense word like “did” or “was”. How do we know this sentence is in the past?

Indonesian doesn’t change the verb form for past/present/future. Instead, it relies on context and time expressions.

Here, pensiun (retired) plus setelah (after) gives a clear past time frame:

Grandpa retired
After that, the older brother looked for a caregiver

If you want to make the past even clearer, you can add sudah (already):

Kakak laki-laki saya sudah mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek setelah beliau pensiun.
Setelah beliau pensiun, kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek.

But even without sudah, native speakers normally understand this as a past event.

Can we move setelah beliau pensiun to the front of the sentence?

Yes. Both orders are natural:

Original:
> Kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek setelah beliau pensiun.
Fronted time clause:
> Setelah beliau pensiun, kakak laki-laki saya mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek.

Differences:

Meaning is essentially the same.
Putting Setelah beliau pensiun at the start slightly emphasizes the time (the fact of retirement) as the background for the main action.

Both are very common patterns in Indonesian.

Is it necessary to say saya in kakak laki-laki saya? Could we just say kakak laki-laki?

You can drop saya in casual conversation if it’s already clear whose family you’re talking about. Then it would be:

Kakak laki-laki mencarikan pengasuh baru untuk kakek setelah beliau pensiun.

In real spoken Indonesian, people often rely on context like that. However:

With saya, it’s explicit: my older brother.
Without saya, it could also be understood as “the older brother” (of some contextually understood person).

In a textbook or a sentence given without context, keeping saya is better for clarity.

Why is the subject Kakak laki-laki saya, not Saya? Could I say Saya dicarikan pengasuh baru oleh kakak laki-laki saya?

The original sentence uses an active construction:

Kakak laki-laki saya (subject, doer)
mencarikan (verb)
pengasuh baru (object, thing being looked for)
untuk kakek (beneficiary)

Your alternative:

Saya dicarikan pengasuh baru oleh kakak laki-laki saya.

is a passive construction with saya as the grammatical subject. It means:

I was found a new caregiver by my older brother.

This changes the meaning:

In the original, the beneficiary is kakek (grandpa).
In your version, the beneficiary becomes saya (me).

If you wanted to keep kakek as the beneficiary in a passive:

Kakek dicarikan pengasuh baru oleh kakak laki-laki saya setelah beliau pensiun.
= Grandpa was found a new caregiver by my older brother after he retired.

Both active and passive are grammatical; they just put the focus on different participants.

Could we replace pengasuh with perawat or suster here?

You can, but it slightly changes the nuance:

pengasuh – caregiver, someone who looks after another person. Focus: general care and supervision.
perawat – nurse (often with some medical context, e.g., in hospital or medical care).
suster – colloquial for nurse (from “sister”), more informal, often female.

In the sentence about kakek retiring, if you say:

pengasuh baru → a general caregiver (could be at home, daily care).
perawat baru → suggests someone with a nursing role, possibly more medical.
suster baru → like perawat, but more informal and often understood as a woman.

So pengasuh is the broad, safe choice for “caregiver” without emphasizing medical care.