Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.

Mother not only cooks dinner for me, but also buys vitamins when I have a cold.

Breakdown of Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.

• adalah: to be
• saya: I
• ketika: when
• ibu: the mother
• makan malam: the dinner
• saya: me
• pilek: having a cold
• vitamin: the vitamin
• tidak hanya ... tetapi juga: not only ... but also
• memasakkan: to cook (for someone)
• membelikan: to buy (for someone)

Questions & Answers about Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.

Why does the sentence use memasakkan instead of memasak?

Memasak = to cook (something).
Memasakkan = to cook (something) for someone.

The suffix -kan here makes the verb benefactive: it shows that the action is done for the benefit of someone.

• Ibu memasak makan malam.
  = Mom cooked dinner. (no clear mention of for whom)

• Ibu memasakkan saya makan malam.
  = Mom cooked me dinner / Mom cooked dinner for me.

So memasakkan emphasizes that the cooking is done for me. In English we express this with word order or “for”: cook me dinner, cook dinner for me; in Indonesian, adding -kan to the verb often takes that role.

Is “Ibu memasakkan saya makan malam” correct, or should it be “Ibu memasak makan malam untuk saya”?

Both are correct and natural, but the structure is slightly different.

1. Ibu memasakkan saya makan malam.

   • memasakkan = cook for (someone)
   • saya = the beneficiary (the person who benefits)
   • makan malam = the thing being cooked

   This is a double-object structure:
   [Subject] + [verb- -kan] + [beneficiary] + [thing]

2. Ibu memasak makan malam untuk saya.

   • memasak = to cook
   • untuk saya = for me (beneficiary indicated by a preposition phrase)

   Structure:
   [Subject] + [verb] + [object] + untuk [beneficiary]

Nuance:

• memasakkan saya makan malam feels a bit more compact and is very common in speech.
• memasak makan malam untuk saya is also very clear and maybe a bit more “book-like” or explicit.

You can use either; they mean the same thing here.

Why is membelikan used instead of just membeli?

Same idea as with memasakkan:

• membeli = to buy (something)
• membelikan = to buy (something) for someone

The suffix -kan again marks a benefactive meaning.

Compare:

• Ibu membeli vitamin.
  = Mom bought vitamins. (no explicit “for whom”)

• Ibu membelikan vitamin (ketika saya pilek).
  = Mom bought vitamins (for me) when I had a cold.

The sentence doesn’t say saya after membelikan, but we understand from context that the vitamins are for me, the same “me” as in the first clause. So membelikan hints at “bought (someone) vitamins” even without saying the person.

Why is there saya after memasakkan but no saya after membelikan vitamin?

Good observation. Grammatically, both verbs with -kan can take a beneficiary:

• Ibu memasakkan saya makan malam.
  saya = clearly stated beneficiary.

With membelikan:

• The sentence says: … tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.
  There is no direct object like saya, but we can still understand the implied meaning: bought vitamins for me.

These would all be acceptable and clear:

• Ibu … membelikan saya vitamin ketika saya pilek.
• Ibu … membelikan vitamin untuk saya ketika saya pilek.

The writer simply chose to state the beneficiary explicitly once (with memasakkan saya) and then rely on context for the second verb.

What is the difference between “tidak hanya … tetapi juga …” and “bukan hanya … tetapi juga …”?

Both patterns mean “not only … but also …”, and both are used in real life. But traditionally:

• tidak negates verbs and adjectives.
• bukan negates nouns and pronouns (and sometimes whole clauses for emphasis).

In your sentence:

• Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga…
  Here tidak is negating a verb phrase (memasakkan …), so tidak is logically fine.

You could also say:

• Ibu bukan hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin…

In everyday speech, bukan hanya … tetapi juga … is extremely common and sounds very natural, even when followed by a verb. So, for most Indonesians:

• tidak hanya here = perfectly okay
• bukan hanya = maybe even a bit more idiomatic/typical

Both are acceptable; this is mostly a nuance of style and habit, not a strict grammar error.

What is the difference between “tetapi” and “tapi”?

They mean the same thing: “but”.

• tetapi – more formal, used in writing, speeches, formal conversation.
• tapi – informal/colloquial, common in everyday speech.

So your sentence in slightly more casual style could be:

• Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.

Grammatically it’s the same; the only difference is formality level.

Why is “juga” placed after “tetapi”: “tetapi juga membelikan …”?

The pattern “tidak/bukan hanya … tetapi juga …” is a fixed and very common structure in Indonesian:

• tidak hanya A, tetapi juga B
  = not only A, but also B

Here:

• A = memasakkan saya makan malam
• B = membelikan vitamin

So we say:

• … tidak hanya [A], tetapi juga [B].

You’ll almost always see juga directly after tetapi (or tapi) in this construction:

• bukan hanya pintar, tetapi juga rajin
• tidak hanya murah, tetapi juga enak

What exactly does “pilek” mean? Is it a noun, an adjective, or what?

In “ketika saya pilek”, pilek is used like a predicate adjective or state:

• Literally: “when I was pilek”
• Natural English: “when I had a cold”

Meaning:

• pilek = having a runny/stuffy nose, typically a common cold, not something very serious.
• It’s often used like an adjective describing someone’s state of health.

More examples:

• Saya sedang pilek. = I have a cold.
• Dia tidak masuk sekolah karena pilek. = He/She didn’t go to school because of a cold.

So in “ketika saya pilek”, pilek functions like sick with a cold.

Could we replace “ketika” with “saat” or “waktu” here?

Yes, you can. All three are common time conjunctions:

• ketika = when (neutral, slightly formal; very common in writing and speech)
• saat = when/at the time (also very common; often slightly more “literary” or formal, but widely used in speech too)
• waktu = when/at the time (originally “time”, but often used as a casual conjunction in speech)

Your clause:

• … ketika saya pilek.

You could also say:

• … saat saya pilek.
• … waktu saya pilek. (sounds a bit more casual)

All three are fine here; the meaning is the same.

Why is it “ketika saya pilek” and not “ketika saya sedang pilek”?

Sedang marks an action or state as in progress (similar to English “be -ing” or “currently”).

• Saya pilek. = I have a cold.
• Saya sedang pilek. = I’m currently having a cold / I’m in the middle of having a cold.

In time clauses, Indonesians often omit sedang if it’s obvious from context that it’s a temporary state:

• ketika saya pilek
• waktu saya capek (when I was tired)
• saat dia sakit (when she was sick)

Adding sedang is possible:

• ketika saya sedang pilek

but not necessary. It just makes the “ongoing” aspect a bit more explicit, without changing the basic meaning.

Why is “Ibu” used without “saya”, instead of “Ibu saya” or “Mama”?

In Indonesian, Ibu can function like “Mom” or “Mother” as a proper noun, especially in families:

• Ibu memasak. = Mom is cooking.
• Ayah pergi kerja. = Dad went to work.

So:

• Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam…
  = Mom not only cooked me dinner…

Alternatives:

• Ibu saya tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam…
  = My mother not only cooked me dinner… (a bit more formal or explanatory)
• Mama tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam…
  (if your family uses Mama)

Capitalization:

• When you mean “my mother” specifically as a name, people often write Ibu (capital I).
• ibu (lowercase) can also mean lady / ma’am in general, depending on context.

In this sentence, Ibu is clearly “my mother,” so using it alone is natural.

Why is there no tense marker like “did” or “was”? How do we know this happened in the past?

Indonesian verbs usually do not change form for tense. Time is understood from:

• context
• time words (kemarin, tadi, nanti, sudah, akan, etc.)
• the situation

In:

• Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.

we understand it as past because of “ketika saya pilek” (when I had a cold) — that situation is understood as something that already happened.

If you want to make the past more explicit, you can add words:

• Dulu, Ibu tidak hanya memasakkan saya makan malam, tetapi juga membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.
  = In the past / Back then, Mom not only cooked me dinner…

For future:

• Nanti Ibu akan memasakkan saya makan malam dan membelikan vitamin.
  = Later Mom will cook me dinner and buy me vitamins.

Could I say “Ibu hanya memasakkan saya makan malam dan membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek” instead?

You can say it, but the meaning changes.

Original:

• tidak hanya … tetapi juga …
  = not only … but also … (adds, emphasizes that she did more than one good thing)

Your version:

• Ibu hanya memasakkan saya makan malam dan membelikan vitamin ketika saya pilek.
  = Mom only cooked me dinner and bought vitamins when I had a cold.

Here hanya = only, which actually limits what she did, instead of emphasizing the addition. So the emotional effect is different:

• tidak hanya … tetapi juga …: “She did this, and she even did that too!”
• hanya …: “She only did these things (and nothing more).”

So for the intended “not only … but also …” meaning, keep tidak/bukan hanya … tetapi juga ….