Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus. - Studying in the library makes me focus more easily.

Why does the sentence start with Belajar without a subject like saya? In English we say Studying at the library makes it easier for me to focus, where studying is like a noun. Is Belajar working like that here?

Yes. Belajar at the start of the sentence is a verb being used like a noun phrase, similar to English studying.

Belajar di perpustakaan = Studying at the library
That whole phrase functions as the subject of the sentence.
Indonesian often uses a bare verb as a kind of verbal noun without adding anything.

So structurally it’s like:

Belajar di perpustakaan (subject)
membuat (verb)
saya lebih mudah fokus (object + complement)

You could loosely map it to English as:
Studying at the library makes me able to focus more easily.

Could I say Saya belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus instead? It feels more natural to put saya first.

No, that version is ungrammatical or at least very awkward.

Saya belajar di perpustakaan is already a complete clause: I study at the library.
If you then add membuat saya lebih mudah fokus right after it, you end up with two main verbs (belajar and membuat) competing in one clause without a clear structure.

To keep saya as a more explicit subject of the studying, you could say:

Ketika saya belajar di perpustakaan, saya lebih mudah fokus.
When I study at the library, it’s easier for me to focus.

But if you keep the original pattern with membuat, it’s more natural to nominalize the activity by starting with Belajar di perpustakaan.

Why is it di perpustakaan and not ke perpustakaan?

Because:

di = at / in (location, where something happens)
ke = to (direction, movement toward somewhere)

Here you're talking about where the studying happens, not going there:

Belajar di perpustakaan = Studying at the library
Pergi ke perpustakaan = Going to the library

So di perpustakaan is correct, because the focus is on the location of the activity, not the movement to that place.

How should I understand membuat here? Literally it means to make, but in English we say makes it easier for me to focus with a dummy it. Why is there no itu in Indonesian?

In Indonesian:

membuat = to make / to cause
The pattern is: [cause] + membuat + [person/thing affected] + [result]

In the sentence:

Belajar di perpustakaan (cause)
membuat (makes)
saya (me)
lebih mudah fokus (more easily focused / easier to focus)

Indonesian doesn’t need a dummy it like English:

English: Studying at the library makes it easier for me to focus.
Indonesian: Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus.

There is no slot for it here; saya directly receives the effect of membuat.

What exactly is the structure of lebih mudah fokus? Is fokus a verb or an adjective here?

You can think of lebih mudah fokus as:

lebih = more
mudah = easy
fokus = to focus / focused

So the rough meaning is more easily focused / easier [for me] to focus.

About fokus:

It’s a loanword from English, and in Indonesian it behaves flexibly:
- As a verb: Saya sulit fokus. = I find it hard to focus.
- As an adjective/state: Saya harus lebih fokus. = I have to be more focused.

In lebih mudah fokus, it’s like saying:

lebih mudah (untuk) fokus = easier (to) focus

The untuk is often omitted in casual or neutral style.

Could I say lebih mudah untuk fokus instead of lebih mudah fokus? Is there any difference?

Yes, you can say:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah untuk fokus.

This is also natural.

Differences:

lebih mudah fokus
- Slightly shorter, more conversational.
- Very common in speech and writing.
lebih mudah untuk fokus
- A bit more explicit and sometimes a little more formal in tone.
- Emphasizes the purpose/result: easier in order to focus.

Both are correct. In everyday Indonesian, dropping untuk is very common in this kind of pattern.

Why is it lebih mudah fokus and not lebih fokus dengan mudah or fokus lebih mudah?

The usual, natural pattern in Indonesian is:

lebih + adjective + [verb / state]
or lebih + adjective where the verb/state is implied.

Here:

lebih mudah fokus = more easy to focus / focus more easily

Alternatives:

lebih fokus dengan mudah
- Grammatically possible, but sounds unnatural and overcomplicated.
fokus lebih mudah
- Sounds off; word order is not idiomatic for expressing easier to focus.

So, for easier to + verb, Indonesian normally says:

lebih mudah + verb
e.g. lebih mudah mengerti, lebih mudah tidur, lebih mudah fokus.

What exactly does lebih do here? There’s no than in the sentence. Is something implied?

Lebih marks a comparative: more or -er.

mudah = easy
lebih mudah = easier / more easy

The comparison is often implicit in Indonesian; context supplies the than part.

In this sentence, it implies:

easier than if I studied elsewhere, or
easier than usual, or
easier than without studying at the library.

Indonesian doesn’t need to say the than part unless you want to be explicit:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus daripada di rumah.
Studying at the library makes it easier for me to focus than at home.

Is fokus really Indonesian, or just English stuck into Indonesian? Are there more “Indonesian” alternatives?

Fokus is fully accepted and very common in Indonesian. It is a loanword, but it’s now part of normal vocabulary.

Common alternatives, depending on nuance:

konsentrasi
- noun or verb-like: Saya sulit konsentrasi.
berkonsentrasi
- clearly verbal: Sulit bagi saya untuk berkonsentrasi.

You could say:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah berkonsentrasi.
Studying at the library makes it easier for me to concentrate.

All of these (with fokus, konsentrasi, berkonsentrasi) are natural.

Why is saya used instead of aku? Would Belajar di perpustakaan membuat aku lebih mudah fokus be wrong?

The choice is about formality and style, not grammar.

saya = neutral / polite / standard; safe in almost all situations.
aku = more informal, intimate, or regional; common among friends, in songs, etc.

So:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus.
Neutral, polite, standard.
Belajar di perpustakaan membuat aku lebih mudah fokus.
Grammatically okay, but feels more casual or personal. Whether it’s appropriate depends on who you’re talking to and the context.

Can I add itu after perpustakaan, like Belajar di perpustakaan itu membuat saya lebih mudah fokus? What changes?

Yes, that’s a very natural variant:

Belajar di perpustakaan itu membuat saya lebih mudah fokus.

Here, itu works like a topic marker / emphasis:

It gives the feeling of: Studying at the library, that (in particular) makes it easier for me to focus.

Nuance:

Without itu: more neutral, straightforward statement.
With itu: sounds a bit more like you’re contrasting it with other places or emphasizing that specific activity.

Both are correct; itu just adds a bit of focus or contrast.

Could I say Belajar di perpustakaan yang membuat saya lebih mudah fokus? I often see yang in relative clauses and feel like it should be there.

Belajar di perpustakaan yang membuat saya lebih mudah fokus is incomplete as a sentence; it sounds like the start of a longer phrase, e.g.:

Belajar di perpustakaan yang membuat saya lebih mudah fokus adalah kebiasaan saya setiap hari.
Studying at the library, which makes it easier for me to focus, is my daily habit.

Yang usually introduces a relative clause modifying a noun. In the original sentence:

Belajar di perpustakaan is already functioning as the subject.
membuat saya lebih mudah fokus is the predicate (what it does).

So you don’t put yang in the original sentence. With membuat, you keep it as:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat saya lebih mudah fokus.

If I want to make a more general statement like Studying at the library makes it easier for people to focus, how would I change the sentence?

You can generalize saya to words like orang (people) or kita (we):

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat orang lebih mudah fokus.
Studying at the library makes it easier for people to focus.
Belajar di perpustakaan membuat kita lebih mudah fokus.
Studying at the library makes it easier for us to focus.

Or even:

Belajar di perpustakaan membuat siapa saja lebih mudah fokus.
Studying at the library makes it easier for anyone to focus.

The structure stays the same; you just swap saya for a more general noun or pronoun.