Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Ibu sering memasakkan ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami. - Mother often cooks delicious fried chicken for our family.

Ibu can also be a respectful title like Ma’am / Mrs., but here, at the start of the sentence and with a family context, it is naturally understood as Mom / Mother.

Why do we use memasakkan instead of just memasak?

Both come from the root masak (to cook), but:

memasak = to cook (neutral)
memasakkan = to cook for someone / to prepare food for someone (benefactive)

memasak focuses on the action:

Ibu memasak ayam goreng.
Mom cooks fried chicken.

memasakkan adds the idea that someone benefits:

Ibu memasakkan ayam goreng untuk keluarga kami.
Mom cooks fried chicken for our family.

In your sentence, memasakkan … untuk keluarga kami highlights that the cooking is done for the family’s benefit.

Grammatically, what are the parts of this sentence (subject, verb, object, etc.)?

Breakdown:

Ibu = subject (Mom)
sering = adverb (often)
memasakkan = verb (cooks for / prepares for)
ayam goreng enak = direct object (delicious fried chicken)
untuk keluarga kami = prepositional phrase (for our family)

So the structure is:

[Subject] [adverb] [verb] [object] [prepositional phrase]
Ibu sering memasakkan ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami.

Could we also say Ibu sering memasak ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami? Is there any difference?

Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct and very natural.

Difference in nuance:

memasak: just “cook” – neutral
memasakkan: “cook (something) for (someone)” – slightly more emphasis on doing it for the family

In practice, many speakers would use memasak here:

Ibu sering memasak ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami.

The meaning in everyday conversation is almost the same. memasakkan just makes the “for our benefit” idea a bit clearer/stronger.

What does sering do, and where does it usually go in the sentence?

sering means often / frequently. It shows how frequently the action happens.

Typical position in this kind of sentence:

before the verb:
Ibu sering memasakkan ayam goreng enak …

Other possibilities:

At the very beginning for emphasis:
Sering Ibu memasakkan ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami. (more stylistic / literary)
You generally do not put sering at the very end by itself; that sounds unnatural.

So: subject + sering + verb is the most common and natural pattern.

Why is it ayam goreng enak and not something like goreng ayam enak? How does this noun phrase work?

Indonesian noun phrases go head noun first, then modifiers.

Here:

ayam = chicken
ayam goreng = chicken that is fried → fried chicken
ayam goreng enak = delicious fried chicken

Order:

ayam (head noun)
goreng (modifier = fried)
enak (modifier = delicious)

So it’s literally like chicken fried delicious, but in Indonesian the rule is: noun + (descriptive words). You cannot say goreng ayam to mean fried chicken; goreng ayam would sound like “fry chicken” (a verb phrase), not a noun.

Do we need yang before enak, like ayam goreng yang enak?

You can say ayam goreng yang enak, but it’s not required here.

ayam goreng enak = delicious fried chicken (short, natural, everyday)
ayam goreng yang enak = the fried chicken that is delicious / fried chicken which is delicious
→ slightly more explicit, sometimes more formal or used when contrasting with other chicken that isn’t delicious.

In simple noun phrases with just a single adjective, Indonesian often drops yang:

baju merah (red shirt), not necessarily baju yang merah
rumah besar (big house), not necessarily rumah yang besar

So ayam goreng enak is completely normal and natural.

What is the function of untuk here? Could we replace or omit it?

untuk means for and introduces the beneficiary (who the cooking is for):

… untuk keluarga kami = for our family

Alternatives:

bagi keluarga kami
Similar meaning (“for our family”), but bagi sounds a bit more formal / written.

Because the verb is memasakkan (cook for someone), you can also drop untuk/bagi and make keluarga kami a direct object:

Ibu sering memasakkan keluarga kami ayam goreng enak.
Mom often cooks (for) our family delicious fried chicken.

Both patterns are grammatical. Using untuk is slightly clearer for learners and very natural.

Why is it keluarga kami and not keluarga kita?

Indonesian distinguishes two kinds of we / our:

kami = we / our (excluding the listener)
kita = we / our (including the listener)

keluarga kami = our family (not including you)
This makes sense if the listener is not part of the speaker’s family.

You would use keluarga kita only if the speaker and listener share the same family (for example, two siblings talking about “our family”).

In most contexts where you describe your own family to someone outside, keluarga kami is correct.

Can we say Ibu sering memasakkan kami ayam goreng enak instead? Is that correct?

Yes, that is also correct and natural.

Ibu sering memasakkan kami ayam goreng enak.
Mom often cooks delicious fried chicken for us.

Here:

kami = indirect object (us / for us)
ayam goreng enak = direct object (the thing being cooked)

Because memasakkan already has the idea of “for someone,” we don’t need untuk anymore in this version.

Both are fine:

Ibu sering memasakkan ayam goreng enak untuk keluarga kami.
Ibu sering memasakkan kami ayam goreng enak.

The first one sounds a bit more explicit/clear to learners; the second is slightly more compact and colloquial.

Is this sentence formal, neutral, or informal?

The sentence is neutral and suitable in most situations.

Ibu for your own mother is standard and polite, used both in speech and writing.
The vocabulary (sering, memasakkan, ayam goreng enak, untuk keluarga kami) is everyday, neutral Indonesian.

You could easily use this:

in conversation with friends,
in a school essay,
or in a polite email, as part of a narrative.

To be more casual with close friends, some people might say Mama or Mami instead of Ibu, but Ibu itself is perfectly normal and not stiff.