Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.

Lebih suka is the normal Indonesian way to say prefer.

• suka = to like
• lebih = more

So literally, lebih suka means like more. Indonesian often expresses ideas this way instead of using a single verb like English prefer.

So:

• Saya suka kue. = I like cake/cakes.
• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri... = I prefer homemade cakes...

Daripada means than in comparisons.

The pattern here is:

X lebih ... daripada Y
= X is more ... than Y
or
= I prefer X to Y

In your sentence:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.
• Literally: I more like homemade cakes than cakes from a store.

So daripada connects the two things being compared:

• kue buatan sendiri
• kue dari toko

Buatan sendiri means home-made, self-made, or made by oneself.

Breakdown:

• buatan = something made; made product/result of making
• sendiri = self / oneself / own

So kue buatan sendiri is literally cake made by oneself, which in natural English is homemade cake.

This is a very common Indonesian expression. You can use it with other nouns too:

• makanan buatan sendiri = homemade food
• roti buatan sendiri = homemade bread

Not in this sentence.

Sendiri can mean different things depending on context:

• alone
  
  • Saya makan sendiri. = I eat alone.
• myself/yourself/himself or one’s own
  
  • Saya buat sendiri. = I made it myself.
• as part of buatan sendiri
  
  • kue buatan sendiri = homemade cake

So here, sendiri does not mean the cake is lonely or alone. It means it was made by oneself.

Yes, you often can leave it out if the meaning is clear.

The full sentence:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.

This is clear and balanced because both things being compared are stated fully.

A shorter version is also natural:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada dari toko.

However, many learners find the full version easier to understand and safer to produce. Repeating kue avoids ambiguity and sounds perfectly natural.

So:

• with repetition = very clear
• without repetition = also possible in context

Good question. These mean different things:

• dari toko = from a store
• di toko = in/at a store

In this sentence, the idea is that the cake comes from a store, so dari toko is the right choice.

Compare:

• kue dari toko = cake from the store / store-bought cake
• kue di toko = cake in the store

So di toko would describe location, while dari toko describes source.

Yes, that is a very good natural translation.

Literally, kue dari toko means cake from a store, but in natural English it often corresponds to store-bought cake.

So the contrast is:

• kue buatan sendiri = homemade cake
• kue dari toko = store-bought cake

In Indonesian, modifiers usually come after the noun.

So:

• kue = cake
• buatan sendiri = homemade / made by oneself

Together:

• kue buatan sendiri = homemade cake

This is normal Indonesian noun phrase order:

• noun first
• descriptive phrase after it

Other examples:

• rumah besar = big house
• makanan enak = delicious food
• baju baru = new clothes/shirt

Yes.

• Saya is more neutral or polite.
• Aku is more informal and personal.

So both are possible:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.
• Aku lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.

If you are speaking casually with friends, aku is very natural. In more formal situations, saya is safer.

It is basically neutral and natural.

Because it uses saya, it leans a bit more polite than very casual speech, but the rest of the sentence is completely normal everyday Indonesian.

Casual version:

• Aku lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.

A more conversational alternative could also be:

• Aku lebih suka kue homemade daripada kue toko.
  But this is less standard and more influenced by casual usage or borrowed wording.

Your original sentence is a very good standard version.

Sometimes, yes.

A common alternative in informal speech is ketimbang, which also means than / rather than.

Example:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri ketimbang kue dari toko.

But daripada is the most standard and widely useful choice for learners.

No, not in this structure.

The natural pattern is:

• lebih suka = prefer / like more

So you say:

• Saya lebih suka teh daripada kopi.

Not:

• Saya suka lebih teh...

In Indonesian, lebih normally comes before the word it modifies:

• lebih besar = bigger
• lebih cepat = faster
• lebih suka = prefer / like more

Indonesian does not use articles the way English does.

So kue can mean:

• cake
• a cake
• the cake
• cakes

The exact meaning depends on context.

That is why kue buatan sendiri could be understood as:

• homemade cake
• homemade cakes
• a homemade cake

And kue dari toko could be:

• cake from a store
• cakes from the store
• store-bought cake

English translation has to choose, but Indonesian usually does not mark this explicitly.

Yes, possibly.

Kue is broader than English cake in many contexts. Depending on the situation, it can refer to:

• cake
• cookies
• pastries
• sweets/snacks

So if the meaning shown to the learner is cake, that is fine, but in real life kue can be broader than that.

Yes, but the structure changes slightly.

You can say:

• kue buatan sendiri
• kue yang dibuat sendiri

Both can mean homemade cake.

Difference:

• buatan sendiri is compact and very natural as a noun modifier.
• yang dibuat sendiri is more explicit: that is made by oneself.

So:

• Saya lebih suka kue buatan sendiri... = concise, natural
• Saya lebih suka kue yang dibuat sendiri... = also correct, slightly more descriptive

Yes, depending on context, people may also say:

• kue bikinan sendiri
• kue bikin sendiri
• kue rumahan in some contexts

But these are not always exactly the same in tone.

• buatan sendiri = standard, clear, widely acceptable
• bikinan sendiri = more conversational
• rumahan = home-style / homemade-ish, but not always exactly made by oneself

For a learner, buatan sendiri is an excellent expression to remember.

You could add emphasis words such as:

• Saya jauh lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.
  = I much prefer homemade cake to store-bought cake.

• Saya lebih suka sekali kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.
  This is possible, though jauh lebih suka sounds more natural for strong comparison.

The most common emphatic version would be:

• Saya jauh lebih suka kue buatan sendiri daripada kue dari toko.

A rough guide:

• Saya ≈ SAH-yah
• lebih ≈ luh-BEEH (the final h is light)
• suka ≈ SOO-kah
• kue ≈ KOO-eh
• buatan ≈ boo-AH-tan
• sendiri ≈ sen-DEE-ree
• daripada ≈ dah-ree-PAH-dah
• toko ≈ TOH-koh

A useful thing to remember is that Indonesian spelling is fairly regular, so once you learn the sound system, pronunciation is usually more predictable than in English.