Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Ibu cukup menuliskan daftar belanja di kertas kecil dan menempelnya di kulkas. - Mother just writes the shopping list on a small piece of paper and sticks it on the fridge.

Ibu with a capital I can be:
- a way to say “Mom” (like a proper name in the family), or
- a polite title for an adult woman, similar to “Ma’am / Mrs.”

If this is from a story about “Mom,” it’s probably referring to the speaker’s mother.
For a clearly general/polite “ma’am,” you’d usually see it used with a name or in address, e.g. Ibu Sari, Permisi, Bu (“Excuse me, ma’am”).
For “my mother,” people often say ibu saya or ibuku, but in context, just Ibu is enough if everyone knows which mother is meant.

How is cukup being used here? Does it mean “enough” or “just / simply”?

In this sentence cukup means “just / simply / all she needs to do is.”

With adjectives, cukup often means “quite / fairly / enough”:
- cukup besar = quite big / big enough
With verbs, as here, it often means “just / simply / only (needs to)”:
- Ibu cukup menuliskan daftar belanja…
  → Mom just has to write the shopping list…

So it emphasizes that this one action is sufficient; she doesn’t need to do more than that.

What’s the difference between menuliskan and menulis? Why use -kan?

Both come from tulis (“write”):

menulis = to write
menuliskan = to write something (down), with more focus on the object

The suffix -kan often makes the verb more clearly “do X to Y / for Y.” In many everyday cases, menulis and menuliskan are interchangeable, but:

Dia menulis. = He/She writes. (general)
Dia menuliskan namanya. = He/She writes (down) his/her name. (focus on what is written)

In menuliskan daftar belanja, the -kan helps focus on the shopping list as the thing being written down. In casual speech, many people would also just say menulis daftar belanja with the same meaning.

Why is daftar belanja “shopping list” when it literally looks like “list shopping”?

Indonesian noun phrases usually put the main noun first, then its modifier:

daftar = list
belanja = shopping

So daftar belanja literally = “list (of) shopping”, which matches English “shopping list.”

Other examples:

tiket pesawat = plane ticket (ticket of plane)
kartu kredit = credit card (card of credit)

So “list shopping” is just how the structure works out word-by-word, but the natural English equivalent is “shopping list.”

Why is it di kertas kecil? How does di work here—does it mean “in,” “on,” or “at”?

di is a very general location preposition that can correspond to “in / on / at”, depending on the noun:

di rumah = at home
di meja = on the table
di kota = in the city

In di kertas kecil, context tells us it’s “on a small piece of paper.” We imagine writing on the paper’s surface, but Indonesian still just uses di.

A more explicit version could be di selembar kertas kecil = on a small sheet of paper, but di kertas kecil is natural and clear.

Why does kecil come after kertas in kertas kecil?

In Indonesian, adjectives usually come after the noun they describe:

kertas kecil = small paper
rumah besar = big house
mobil merah = red car

So you don’t say kecil kertas; the normal order is noun + adjective.
If you add more detail, the basic order is still:

noun + adjective + other modifiers
kertas kecil itu = that small paper

What does menempelnya mean exactly, and what is the -nya doing?

menempelnya can be broken down as:

menempel = to stick / to attach
-nya = “it / the …” (3rd person pronoun or “the”/“that” marker)

So menempelnya here means “stick it (onto something)”.
The -nya refers back to daftar belanja (the shopping list):

…menempelnya di kulkas.
→ “…and stick it on the fridge.”

Attaching -nya directly to the verb is a very common way to say “do X to it”.

Could we also say menempelkan daftar belanja di kulkas? What’s the difference between menempel and menempelkan?

Yes, you could say:

Ibu menempelkan daftar belanja di kulkas.

Differences:

menempel = to stick / to be stuck (can behave more intransitively)
- Kertas itu menempel di kulkas. = The paper is stuck on the fridge.
menempelkan = to stick something onto something
- Dia menempelkan poster di dinding. = He/She sticks a poster on the wall.

In the sentence you gave, menempelnya (menempel + -nya) is a very natural, slightly shorter way to say “stick it on [the fridge]”. Using menempelkan daftar belanja di kulkas is also correct and maybe a bit more explicit.

What does kulkas mean, and is it informal? Are there other words for “fridge”?

kulkas means “fridge / refrigerator.”

It’s widely used in everyday Indonesian and is neutral and common, not slang.
A more formal or descriptive term is lemari es or lemari pendingin (literally “ice cupboard / cooling cupboard”).

In normal conversation and most writing, kulkas is perfectly fine and very common.

There’s no word for “the” in the Indonesian sentence. How do we know it’s “the shopping list” and not “a shopping list”?

Indonesian does not have mandatory articles like “a / an / the.” One phrase like daftar belanja can mean:

a shopping list
the shopping list

You figure out definiteness from context, not from an article. If you really want to mark it as specifically that list, you can add itu:

daftar belanja itu = that / the shopping list

In your sentence, context (it’s “Mom’s list she uses for the shopping”) naturally makes it the shopping list in English, even though Indonesian just says daftar belanja.

How does Indonesian show past tense here? There’s no word like “did” or a past tense ending.

Indonesian verbs don’t change form for tense. The same form can be past, present, or future, depending on context.

Past, present, or future can be made clearer with time words or particles:

tadi = a little while ago
kemarin = yesterday
sudah = already
akan = will

Examples:

Ibu menuliskan daftar belanja.
→ Mom writes / wrote a shopping list. (depends on context)
Tadi Ibu menuliskan daftar belanja.
→ Mom wrote a shopping list a little while ago.

In your sentence, we infer the time (e.g. a habitual action or something she does before going shopping) from the broader context, not from verb changes.

Why is cukup placed before the verb menuliskan? Could it appear elsewhere?

As an adverb meaning “just / simply / enough,” cukup normally comes before the verb or adjective it modifies:

cukup tidur = sleep enough
cukup jelas = clear enough
cukup menuliskan = just (needs to) write

Putting cukup right before menuliskan tells us the act of writing is sufficient.
You can’t move it to a random position like menuliskan cukup daftar belanja; that would sound wrong or change the meaning.

Do we have to repeat Ibu before menempelnya, or is one subject for two verbs normal?

It’s normal to use one subject for two verbs joined by dan:

Ibu menuliskan daftar belanja dan menempelnya di kulkas.

Both menuliskan and menempelnya share the same subject (Ibu). Repeating Ibu:

Ibu menuliskan… dan Ibu menempelnya…

is grammatically fine but sounds a bit heavy or overly explicit in Indonesian. The sentence as given is the most natural style.

Could we say di kulkas, ke kulkas, or pada kulkas? What’s the difference among di, ke, and pada here?

In this sentence, di kulkas is the natural choice:

di = in / on / at (location)
- menempelnya di kulkas = stick it on the fridge (resulting location)

Comparisons:

ke = to / toward (movement to a place)
- Saya pergi ke kulkas. = I go to the fridge.
- Not used for “stuck on (the surface of) the fridge.”
pada = on / to / at (more formal, often abstract or written)
- berdasarkan data pada tabel berikut = based on the data in the following table.

For physically attaching something on the fridge, standard everyday Indonesian uses di kulkas, not ke kulkas or pada kulkas.