Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing di rumah.

In keluarga kami, the speaker is just stating that it is our family, without automatically including the listener inside that family. That is the normal assumption, so kami is used.

If you used keluarga kita, it would suggest that the listener is also part of that family:

keluarga kita ≈ our family (yours and mine)

Could I say keluargaku instead of keluarga kami? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say keluargaku, but the nuance changes slightly.

keluargaku = my family
(keluarga
- -ku = my)
keluarga kami = our family
(sounds a bit more collective, emphasizing the group)

Use:

keluargaku when you focus on yourself as the possessor.
keluarga kami when you talk about the family as a group and its relation to others (for example, contrasting your family with another family).

Both are grammatically correct; context decides which feels more natural.

What exactly does memelihara mean here? Is it the same as “to have” or “to own”?

Memelihara literally means to look after / to care for / to keep (alive and well).

In this sentence:

Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing di rumah.
= Our family keeps / looks after two cats at home.

It implies care and responsibility, not just ownership.

Other options:

punya dua kucing = have two cats (very common, informal)
memiliki dua kucing = own two cats (more formal, about legal ownership)

So:

memelihara dua kucing → the family is raising / taking care of two cats.
punya / memiliki dua kucing → the family has / owns two cats (without necessarily emphasizing care).

Is memelihara only used for animals?

No, memelihara is not only for animals, although that is a common use.

Typical uses:

Animals:
memelihara kucing / anjing / kambing
= keep / raise cats / dogs / goats
Children / dependents:
memelihara anak yatim
= look after / care for orphans
Abstract things:
memelihara hubungan baik
= maintain a good relationship
memelihara kesehatan
= maintain health

So the core idea is to maintain / care for / keep in good condition.

Why is it dua kucing and not something like a plural form, for example kucings?

Indonesian does not add an ending like -s to mark plural.

Plural is usually understood from:

context, or
numbers, or
duplication of the noun (reduplication)

In this sentence:

dua already shows that the noun is plural, so kucing stays in its base form.
dua kucing = two cat (literally) → understood as two cats.

You do not say dua kucings in Indonesian.

I often see dua ekor kucing for “two cats”. Why is there no ekor here? Is it wrong?

Indonesian often uses classifiers (called kata penggolong) when counting things.

For animals, the usual classifier is ekor (literally: tail):

dua ekor kucing = two (tail) cats → two cats

In daily conversation:

With classifier: dua ekor kucing → slightly clearer / more complete.
Without classifier: dua kucing → very common and still correct, especially in informal speech.

So dua kucing in your sentence is not wrong. It is natural, especially in casual Indonesian. Adding ekor just makes it slightly more “textbook correct” or careful.

Why is there no word for “at” before rumah other than di? How does di rumah work?

In Indonesian, di is the basic preposition for location, roughly equivalent to at / in / on depending on context.

di rumah = at home / in the house

You must keep di for a location phrase like this; rumah alone would just mean house.

Examples:

di sekolah = at school
di Jakarta = in Jakarta
di meja = on the table

So in your sentence:

di rumah = the place where the family keeps the cats.

Could I say di rumah kami instead of just di rumah? What would change?

Yes, you can say:

Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing di rumah kami.

This means:

Our family keeps two cats at our house.

The difference:

di rumah = at home / in (our) house → who owns the house is understood from context (probably the family’s home).
di rumah kami = explicitly at our house, not anywhere else.

Often di rumah is enough because it is obvious you mean the family’s home.

Why is the word order memelihara dua kucing di rumah and not memelihara di rumah dua kucing?

The most common word order in Indonesian is S – V – O – (place/time):

Subject: Keluarga kami
Verb: memelihara
Object: dua kucing
Place: di rumah

So:

Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing di rumah.

You can move the place phrase to the front for emphasis:

Di rumah, keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing.
(At home, our family keeps two cats.)

But memelihara di rumah dua kucing sounds awkward, because it separates the verb from its object in an unusual way. memelihara [what?] should be followed quite directly by dua kucing.

Who is the grammatical subject here: is keluarga kami treated as singular or plural in Indonesian?

In Indonesian, verbs do not change form for singular or plural subjects.

Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing.
→ The verb memelihara looks the same whether the subject is one person or many.

Conceptually:

keluarga kami is one unit (one family), even though it consists of several people.
You do not need to choose between “is” and “are”; there is only memelihara.

So you do not have to worry about subject–verb agreement in Indonesian.

Could I drop kami and just say Keluarga memelihara dua kucing di rumah?

You can, but the meaning shifts:

Keluarga kami memelihara dua kucing di rumah.
= Our family keeps two cats at home. (specific: my/our family)
Keluarga memelihara dua kucing di rumah.
Sounds like: The family keeps two cats at home.
→ This feels like a general statement about “the family” (maybe a family mentioned earlier, or families in general), not clearly your family.

So dropping kami removes the clear possessive meaning. It is grammatical, but not equivalent in meaning.