Kami menemukan tikus kecil di dekat lemari dapur.

Because kami means we, but not including the person being spoken to.

• kami = we excluding the listener
• kita = we including the listener

So if the speaker is telling someone else about what happened, kami menemukan... means we found..., but you were not part of the we.

Menemukan means to find or to discover.

It comes from the root temu, which is related to meeting/finding, plus:

• the prefix meN-
• the suffix -kan

So:

• temu → root
• menemukan → to find

This is a very common formal/standard verb form. In casual speech, Indonesians may also use ketemu, but that is less formal and works differently in a sentence.

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

So:

• tikus kecil = small mouse/rat
• literally: mouse/rat small

This is normal Indonesian word order:

• rumah besar = big house
• anak kecil = small child / little child
• buku baru = new book

So tikus kecil is exactly what you should expect.

Di dekat means near or close to.

Here, di is a preposition, so it is written as a separate word:

• di dekat = near
• di rumah = at home
• di dapur = in the kitchen

This is different from the prefix di- used for passive verbs, which is written attached:

• ditemukan = found
• dibeli = bought

So in this sentence, di dekat is correct because it is a location phrase, not a passive verb.

In Indonesian, the main noun usually comes first, and the modifying noun comes after it.

So:

• lemari dapur = kitchen cabinet / kitchen cupboard
• literally: cabinet of kitchen or kitchen cabinet

The pattern is very common:

• meja makan = dining table
• kamar tidur = bedroom
• pintu depan = front door

So lemari is the main thing, and dapur tells you what kind of cabinet it is.

Tikus often refers to a rat in everyday usage, but in some contexts English speakers may translate it as mouse.

Indonesian does not always force the same mouse/rat distinction that English does. Context matters.

So:

• in many real-life situations, tikus will be understood as rat
• in some translations, especially if size is unclear, it may be rendered as mouse

Because the sentence has tikus kecil, someone might choose small mouse or small rat depending on context.

You usually know from context, because Indonesian often does not mark singular vs. plural unless it needs to.

So tikus kecil could mean:

• a small rat/mouse
• small rats/mice

But in this sentence, many learners would naturally read it as one small rat/mouse, because nothing suggests plurality.

If you want to make plural clear, Indonesian can use:

• tikus-tikus kecil = small rats/mice
• beberapa tikus kecil = several small rats/mice

Indonesian does not normally use articles like English a/an/the.

So:

• tikus kecil can mean a small rat, the small rat, or just small rat
• the exact meaning depends on context

If you want to be more specific, Indonesian can add words such as:

• seekor tikus kecil = a small rat/mouse
• tikus kecil itu = that small rat / the small rat

But in normal Indonesian, leaving articles out is completely natural.

Yes, absolutely.

Seekor is a classifier used for animals. So:

• Kami menemukan tikus kecil...
• Kami menemukan seekor tikus kecil...

Both are correct.

The version with seekor makes it clearer that you mean one animal. Indonesian often omits classifiers unless the speaker wants to be more explicit.

The basic word order here is very natural:

• Kami = subject
• menemukan = verb
• tikus kecil = object
• di dekat lemari dapur = place phrase

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Object + Location

That is a very common Indonesian sentence structure.

You can move the location phrase for emphasis:

• Di dekat lemari dapur, kami menemukan tikus kecil.

But the original order is the most neutral and straightforward.

They are very similar, and both can be used.

• di dekat lemari dapur = near the kitchen cabinet
• dekat lemari dapur = near the kitchen cabinet

The version with di sounds a little more explicitly locational and often feels slightly more complete in careful standard Indonesian. But in everyday speech, Indonesians often say simply dekat as well.

So both are natural, though di dekat is very standard in written Indonesian.