Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan video latihan pernapasan dan merekomendasikan satu podcast kesehatan untuk saya. - My personal trainer finds a breathing-exercise video and recommends a health podcast for me.

pelatih pribadi saya = my personal trainer
- pelatih = trainer/coach
- pribadi = personal/private
- saya = my / I (as a possessive pronoun here)

The pattern is: noun + description + possessor.

So:

pelatih pribadi saya literally = trainer personal my → “my personal trainer”

Saya pelatih pribadi is a complete sentence and means:

saya pelatih pribadi = I am a personal trainer, not my personal trainer.

What is the difference between mencari and mencarikan here?

Both come from the root cari (to look for):

mencari = to look for / to search for something
- Pelatih pribadi saya mencari video…
  = My personal trainer looks for videos… (no built‑in idea of “for someone”)
mencarikan = to look for something for someone’s benefit
- Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan video… (untuk saya)
  = My personal trainer finds/looks for videos for me.

-kan in mencarikan adds a benefactive idea: the action is done for someone else. So mencarikan fits well when you want to stress “he looked for these videos for me (to help me)”.

If mencarikan already means “to look for something for someone”, why do we still add “untuk saya”?

You’re right that:

mencarikan video latihan pernapasan by itself already suggests “look for breathing-exercise videos for (someone)”.

Adding untuk saya:

makes the benefactive explicit: we clearly know it’s for me
adds a bit of emphasis: for me specifically
is very natural in everyday Indonesian

So:

Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan video latihan pernapasan.
→ My personal trainer looked for breathing-exercise videos (for me). (the “for me” is implied)
Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan video latihan pernapasan untuk saya.
→ …looked for breathing-exercise videos for me. (the “for me” is spelled out)

It’s not wrong or redundant in a bad way; it’s just clearer and more natural.

What does the suffix -kan do in mencarikan and merekomendasikan? Is it the same function?

The suffix -kan can do several jobs in Indonesian, depending on the root.

mencarikan (from cari):
- cari = to look for
- mencari = to look for something
- mencarikan = to look for something for someone (benefactive)
Here -kan adds a benefactive sense: do X for someone.
merekomendasikan (from rekomendasi, “recommendation”):
- rekomendasi = a recommendation (noun)
- merekomendasikan = to recommend (verb)
Here -kan mainly turns the noun rekomendasi into a verb (“to recommend”) and can also carry a “cause/make” nuance (to cause a recommendation to be made).

So:

in mencarikan, -kan = for (someone)
in merekomendasikan, -kan = verb-forming / “to recommend”, not really “for someone”

What exactly does “video latihan pernapasan” mean, and how is it structured?

video latihan pernapasan is a noun phrase built like this:

video = video
latihan = exercise / practice
pernapasan = breathing / respiration

So:

latihan pernapasan = breathing exercises
video latihan pernapasan = videos of breathing exercises or breathing-exercise videos

Structurally:

[video] [latihan pernapasan]
head noun + modifying noun phrase

If you said just video pernapasan, it would sound more like “breathing videos” or “videos of breathing (itself)” and is less natural for “exercise videos”.

What’s the difference between napas, pernapasan, and bernapas?

All three share the root napas (breath):

napas
- part of speech: noun
- meaning: breath
- example: Tarik napas dalam-dalam. = Take a deep breath.
pernapasan
- part of speech: noun
- meaning: breathing / respiration (the process)
- example: latihan pernapasan = breathing exercises
bernapas
- part of speech: verb
- meaning: to breathe
- example: Dia bernapas dengan pelan. = He/She breathes slowly.

In the sentence, latihan pernapasan = breathing exercises, not “breath exercise” or “to breathe”.

Why does the sentence say “satu podcast kesehatan”? Could we leave out “satu” or use “sebuah” instead?

Indonesian doesn’t have articles like “a” or “the”, so you often just say the noun alone:

podcast kesehatan = a health podcast / health podcasts (context decides)

Using satu:

satu podcast kesehatan = one health podcast / a single health podcast
This emphasizes the number one.

You could also say:

sebuah podcast kesehatan
- sebuah is a general classifier often used like “a/an” with objects.

All three are possible:

podcast kesehatan (neutral, number not stressed)
satu podcast kesehatan (stresses “one/single”)
sebuah podcast kesehatan (a single podcast, somewhat neutral/formal)

In your sentence, satu highlights that the trainer recommended one specific podcast, not several.

What does “podcast kesehatan” literally mean, and how is it different from “podcast tentang kesehatan”?

Literally:

podcast kesehatan = health podcast
- kesehatan (health) directly modifies podcast as a describing noun.
podcast tentang kesehatan = podcast about health
- tentang = about
- more explicit: “a podcast about the topic of health”

In practice:

podcast kesehatan and podcast tentang kesehatan are very close in meaning.
podcast kesehatan is shorter and sounds natural as a set phrase, like English “health podcast”.
podcast tentang kesehatan slightly emphasizes the topic more clearly.

Both are acceptable here.

Could we say “Pelatih pribadi saya mencari video…” instead of “mencarikan video…”? Would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Pelatih pribadi saya mencari video latihan pernapasan untuk saya.

Grammatically, it’s fine and still means:

My personal trainer looked for breathing-exercise videos for me.

The difference:

mencari … untuk saya
- neutral: he searched for videos, and the reason/purpose is “for me”.
mencarikan … (untuk saya)
- slightly stronger idea that he did this on my behalf, as a service for me.

So mencarikan adds a more “helpful / doing a favor” nuance. Both are correct; the original just feels a bit more naturally benefactive.

Why is it “merekomendasikan satu podcast kesehatan untuk saya” and not “merekomendasikan saya satu podcast kesehatan”?

Verb patterns are different in Indonesian and English.

merekomendasikan satu podcast kesehatan untuk saya
- podcast = thing being recommended (object)
- untuk saya = for me (beneficiary / target)

This matches English “recommend a health podcast for me”.

If you say:

merekomendasikan saya satu podcast kesehatan

it sounds like:

to recommend me (as a person) for one health podcast → like recommending you for something, not recommending something to you. This is not what you mean here.

If you want “to me” instead of “for me”, you could say:

merekomendasikan satu podcast kesehatan kepada saya

But:

untuk saya = for me (for my benefit, suitable for me)
kepada saya = to me (I am the recipient of the recommendation)

In this context, untuk saya is natural because the trainer is picking something suitable for you.

Why don’t we repeat the subject before “merekomendasikan”? Should it be “Pelatih pribadi saya … dan dia merekomendasikan…”?

Indonesian normally drops the repeated subject when it’s clearly the same:

Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan … dan merekomendasikan …

Here, it’s understood that the same subject (Pelatih pribadi saya) does both actions:

looked for videos
recommended a podcast

Adding dia is possible but usually unnecessary:

Pelatih pribadi saya mencarikan video latihan pernapasan dan dia merekomendasikan satu podcast kesehatan untuk saya.

This sounds more emphatic or narrative, like you are slowing the sentence down to highlight the second action. The original, shorter version is more natural in everyday speech and writing.