Kakak perempuan saya membeli deodoran dan losion di minimarket karena kulitnya terasa kering.

In Indonesian, family words often make distinctions differently from English.

• kakak = older sibling
• perempuan = female

So kakak perempuan literally means older female sibling, or older sister.

Indonesian often cares about older vs. younger more than English does. Compare:

• kakak perempuan = older sister
• adik perempuan = younger sister

A single word exactly matching English sister without showing age is less natural in everyday speech.

That is the normal Indonesian possessive pattern:

• noun + possessor

So:

• kakak perempuan saya = my older sister
• rumah saya = my house
• buku saya = my book

Unlike English, Indonesian usually does not put the possessor first. So you do not say the equivalent of my older sister word-for-word; instead, you say older sister my.

Yes. Very often, Indonesians would simply say kakak saya if the gender is already clear or not important.

So:

• kakak saya membeli... = my older sibling / my older sister bought...

Adding perempuan makes it extra clear that the sibling is female.

Membeli is the standard active verb form of beli (to buy).

• beli = root word
• membeli = active verb, to buy / buys / bought, depending on context

The prefix meN- often appears on active verbs in standard Indonesian. Here it becomes mem- because of the sound at the start of beli.

So:

• Saya membeli deodoran. = standard, neutral
• Saya beli deodoran. = also common, but more casual/colloquial

Both are understandable, but membeli is the more textbook-style form.

By itself, membeli does not mark tense clearly the way English verbs do.

Depending on context, it could mean:

• buys
• is buying
• bought
• will buy

Indonesian usually relies on:

• context
• time words such as kemarin (yesterday), sekarang (now), besok (tomorrow)

So the tense comes from the situation, not from changing the verb form.

Di is a preposition meaning in, at, or sometimes on, depending on context.

So:

• di minimarket = at the minimarket / in the minimarket

This di is written separately because it is a preposition.

That is different from the passive prefix di-, which is written together with a verb:

• dibeli = bought (passive)
• di minimarket = at the minimarket (location)

This is an important spelling distinction in Indonesian.

In Indonesian, minimarket is a very common word for a small self-service convenience-type store.

It usually refers to places like:

• Indomaret
• Alfamart

So it often means something close to:

• convenience store
• small grocery store
• mini supermarket

Even though the word looks English, it functions as a normal Indonesian noun.

Yes. Both are loanwords adapted into Indonesian spelling.

• deodoran = deodorant
• losion = lotion

This is very common in Indonesian, especially for modern products, technology, and cosmetics.

A useful note:

• losion is common, but for moisturizer, Indonesian also often uses pelembap.

So depending on the product, you may hear either one.

Kulitnya = kulit + -nya

• kulit = skin
• -nya = his/her/its/their, depending on context

So kulitnya here means her skin.

The ending -nya is very common in Indonesian and can refer to:

• his
• her
• its
• sometimes their
• sometimes simply the

Indonesian pronouns usually do not show gender, so -nya itself does not mean specifically her. We understand it from context. Since the person is kakak perempuan saya, kulitnya is understood as her skin.

Both are possible, but they are slightly different.

• kulitnya kering = her skin is dry
• kulitnya terasa kering = her skin feels dry

So terasa adds the idea of sensation or perception. It sounds a bit softer and more descriptive.

It suggests that the dryness is being experienced or noticed, not just stated as a fact.

This is a very common learner question.

• terasa = feels / is felt
• merasa = to feel

With terasa, the thing itself is described as having a certain sensation:

• Kulitnya terasa kering. = Her skin feels dry.

With merasa, the person is the one doing the feeling:

• Dia merasa kulitnya kering. = She feels that her skin is dry.

So in this sentence, terasa is the more natural choice because skin is the grammatical subject.

Yes. Indonesian allows that.

You can say:

• Kakak perempuan saya membeli deodoran dan losion di minimarket karena kulitnya terasa kering.
• Karena kulitnya terasa kering, kakak perempuan saya membeli deodoran dan losion di minimarket.

Both are correct.

The difference is mainly emphasis:

• putting karena... at the end sounds natural and straightforward
• putting it at the beginning emphasizes the reason first

Indonesian does not use articles the way English does.

So there is no direct equivalent of:

• a
• an
• the

Also, nouns usually do not need plural marking unless the speaker wants to emphasize plurality.

So:

• deodoran dan losion is enough to mean deodorant and lotion
• no extra article is needed

Plural can be shown in some contexts, often by reduplication, but it is not necessary here.

Mostly yes, at the sentence level.

The structure is roughly:

• Subject: Kakak perempuan saya
• Verb: membeli
• Object: deodoran dan losion
• Place: di minimarket
• Reason: karena kulitnya terasa kering

So Indonesian and English are often similar in basic sentence order.

However, some internal phrase patterns are different, especially possession:

• kakak perempuan saya = literally older sister my
• kulitnya = her skin

So the overall order feels familiar, but the details inside noun phrases are often different from English.