Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Anak kecil itu hampir terpeleset di lantai licin, tapi ibunya memegang tangannya. - That little child almost slipped on the slippery floor, but his/her mother held his/her hand.

itu is a demonstrative that usually comes after the noun phrase and can mean “that” or function like “the” when referring to something specific/known.

anak kecil = a small child (not specific)
anak kecil itu = that small child / the small child (a specific one already known in the context)

So anak kecil itu refers to a particular child the speakers have in mind, not just any small child.

You could also say:

itu anak kecil – still possible, but this is more like pointing: that child over there. The post‑noun itu (anak kecil itu) is the default pattern in narratives.

Where should hampir go? Could I say anak kecil itu terpeleset hampir?

hampir means “almost” and it normally goes before the verb or adjective it modifies.

Correct patterns:

anak kecil itu hampir terpeleset = the little child almost slipped
dia hampir jatuh = he/she almost fell
mereka hampir terlambat = they were almost late

Putting it at the end like terpeleset hampir sounds wrong in standard Indonesian.

You might also see:

hampir saja terpeleset – adds a bit of emphasis, like “almost did slip”.
nyaris terpeleset – nyaris is a near-synonym of hampir; same position.

What exactly is terpeleset? Is ter- a past tense marker? How is it different from kepleset or peleset?

terpeleset is a verb formed with the prefix ter-. It does not mark past tense. Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense.

Root: peleset (not usually used by itself in everyday speech)
terpeleset ≈ to slip (accidentally)

The prefix ter- often indicates:

an unintentional / accidental action:
- terjatuh = to fall (not on purpose)
- terbakar = to catch fire / be burned (by accident)

So hampir terpeleset = almost slipped (by accident).

Variants:

kepleset – colloquial, very common in speech; same basic meaning as terpeleset.
tergelincir – a bit more formal; also means to slip / to skid.

There is no separate past form; context tells you whether it’s past, present, or hypothetical.

In di lantai licin, does di mean “on”, “at”, or “in”? How do I know which English preposition to use?

di is a general location preposition. It just means “at / in / on a place”; the exact English preposition depends on what sounds natural with that noun in English.

di lantai → literally at the floor, but in English we say on the floor
di meja → on the table
di sekolah → at school
di rumah → at home / in the house
di kantin → at the canteen

So di lantai licin is best translated as on the slippery floor, even though di itself doesn’t encode “on” specifically; it just marks a location.

Why is there no yang in lantai licin? Could I say lantai yang licin instead?

Both are possible, but the nuance is slightly different.

lantai licin
- literally slippery floor
- a simple noun + adjective phrase
- neutral, describing the floor’s quality
lantai yang licin
- literally the floor that is slippery
- sounds a bit more like you’re specifying or emphasizing that particular property, or distinguishing it from other floors.

In your sentence, di lantai licin is perfectly natural and probably more common. di lantai yang licin would also be correct, just slightly heavier and more explicit.

What’s the difference between tapi and tetapi in tapi ibunya memegang tangannya?

Both mean “but”.

tapi
- more informal / conversational
- very common in speech
tetapi
- more formal or neutral written style
- also used in careful speech, presentations, etc.

You could replace tapi with tetapi here without changing the basic meaning:

… di lantai licin, tetapi ibunya memegang tangannya.

The comma before tapi / tetapi is normal in writing, just like in English with but.

What exactly does ibunya mean here: “his mother”, “her mother”, or “the mother”?

ibunya consists of:

ibu = mother
-nya = a clitic that can mark third-person possession (his / her / their) or definiteness (the).

In this context, ibunya most naturally means “his/her mother”, i.e. the mother of anak kecil itu.

Important points:

-nya does not show gender.
ibunya can mean his mother or her mother; Indonesian 3rd-person forms are gender‑neutral.
In some contexts, ibunya can also mean the mother (a specific mother known from context), but with anak kecil itu just before, the possessive reading is the natural one: that little child’s mother.

Why is it tangannya instead of tangan dia? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatically possible, but tangannya is more natural here.

tangannya
- tangan (hand) + -nya (his/her/their/the)
- compact and very common
- usually the default way to express possession in such a sentence
tangan dia
- dia is the pronoun he/she
- sounds a bit more emphatic or contrastive, like “his hand (not someone else’s)”
- used if you want to stress the possessor

So:

ibunya memegang tangannya = the mother held his/her hand (natural, neutral)
ibunya memegang tangan dia = the mother held his/her hand (but with a bit more emphasis on his/her)

Could -nya in ibunya and tangannya refer to someone else, not the child?

Yes, in principle -nya is ambiguous: it can refer to any third person (he / she / it / they) or just mark “the …” for something already known.

In your specific sentence, we interpret -nya as referring back to anak kecil itu because:

that’s the only clear third-person human referent introduced so far, and
the situation described (a small child nearly slipping, their mother holding their hand) is highly typical.

In a longer passage with more people, you might need extra clarification, for example:

ibunya anak kecil itu memegang tangannya
(the small child’s mother held his/her hand)

But usually, context and world knowledge are enough to resolve -nya.

Why is the structure ibunya memegang tangannya (active) and not something like tangannya dipegang ibunya (passive)?

Indonesian allows both active and passive constructions, but they differ in focus.

Active: ibunya memegang tangannya
- Subject: ibunya (the mother)
- Verb: memegang
- Object: tangannya
- Focus on what the mother did.
Passive: tangannya dipegang ibunya
- Subject (grammatical): tangannya (his/her hand)
- Verb: dipegang
- Agent: ibunya
- Focus on what happened to the hand.

In a narrative where we’re following the actions of the mother and child, the active version ibunya memegang tangannya is the most natural choice.

There’s no past tense marking in hampir terpeleset or memegang. How do we know this is talking about the past?

Indonesian verbs generally do not change form for tense. The same verb form can describe past, present, or future; you rely on:

time expressions:
- kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), besok (tomorrow), etc.
context and common sense:
a specific event that is being narrated is usually understood as past.

In your sentence:

Anak kecil itu hampir terpeleset …, tapi ibunya memegang tangannya.

In English, we naturally put this in the past (almost slipped, held), because it’s a single completed incident. Indonesian just uses the base forms terpeleset and memegang; the past meaning is inferred from the narrative context, not from the verb endings.