Ayah memindahkan buku-buku lama supaya rayap tidak merusaknya lagi.

Memindahkan means to move something or to transfer something.

It comes from the root pindah = move / move away / relocate.

The pattern matters:

• pindah = to move, to relocate
• memindahkan = to move something

So:

• Ayah pindah = Dad moved
• Ayah memindahkan buku = Dad moved the book/books

In this sentence, the father is doing the action to the books, so memindahkan is the correct form.

Buku-buku is a reduplicated form of buku.

Reduplication often shows:

• plurality: books
• variety or a collection of items
• sometimes a more general repeated/group sense

So:

• buku = book / books, depending on context
• buku-buku = books, clearly plural

Indonesian often does not have to mark plural, but reduplication is a common and natural way to do it when the speaker wants to make plurality clear.

Yes—English usually puts adjectives before the noun, but Indonesian usually puts them after the noun.

So:

• buku lama = old book
• buku-buku lama = old books

This is a very common Indonesian word order:

• rumah besar = big house
• mobil baru = new car
• buku lama = old book

Here, lama clearly describes the books, so it means old.

So buku-buku lama = old books.

The word lama can also mean long (in time) in other contexts, for example:

• sudah lama = for a long time / it’s been a long time

But in this sentence, because lama comes right after buku-buku, it functions as an adjective modifying the noun.

Supaya means so that or in order that.

It introduces a purpose clause:

• Ayah memindahkan buku-buku lama supaya rayap tidak merusaknya lagi.
• Dad moved the old books so that termites would not damage them anymore.

Other similar words are:

• agar = so that, in order that
• biar = so that, let, in order to (more informal / broader use depending on context)

In many cases, supaya and agar are very similar.

Rayap means termite or termites, depending on context.

Indonesian often leaves nouns unmarked for singular/plural unless it needs to be made explicit. Here, the meaning is naturally understood as termites in general.

So:

• rayap = termite / termites
• rayap-rayap could be used, but it is less necessary here
• para is generally used for people, not insects

So rayap tidak merusaknya lagi is naturally understood as termites won’t damage it/them anymore.

Merusaknya can be broken down like this:

• rusak = damaged / broken
• merusak = to damage
• merusaknya = to damage it/them

So the -nya here is acting like an object pronoun meaning it or them, referring back to buku-buku lama.

Even though the books are plural, -nya can still refer to them. Indonesian does not always force a singular/plural distinction in pronouns the way English does.

It refers to buku-buku lama.

So:

• rayap tidak merusaknya lagi = the termites won’t damage them anymore

This is very common in Indonesian: once a noun has already been mentioned, -nya can refer back to it without repeating the noun.

Compare:

• Ayah membeli buku itu. Ayah membacanya.
• Dad bought the book. Dad read it.

Here, -nya = it.

In your sentence, it refers back to the books.

Use tidak to negate verbs and adjectives.

Use bukan mainly to negate nouns or noun phrases.

Here, merusaknya is a verb phrase (damage it/them), so the correct negation is:

• tidak merusaknya = not damage it/them

Compare:

• Dia tidak datang. = He/She did not come.
• Itu bukan buku saya. = That is not my book.

So tidak is correct because what is being negated is the action of damaging.

Here, lagi means again / anymore.

In this sentence, because it appears with a negative:

• tidak merusaknya lagi

it means:

• not damage it/them anymore
• literally, not damage it/them again

This is a very common pattern:

• tidak ... lagi = no longer / not anymore

Examples:

• Saya tidak tinggal di sana lagi. = I don’t live there anymore.
• Dia tidak bekerja di sini lagi. = He/She doesn’t work here anymore.

So in your sentence, the idea is that termites had been damaging the books before, and the father moved them so that this would stop.

In Indonesian, lagi often comes after the verb phrase it modifies.

So:

• tidak merusaknya lagi = not damage it/them anymore

This word order is very natural. Think of lagi as coming after the action phrase.

A similar pattern:

• tidak makan lagi = not eat anymore
• tidak tinggal di sana lagi = not live there anymore

Ayah literally means father / dad.

In Indonesian, family terms are often used directly as subjects, almost like names in everyday speech. So Ayah memindahkan... is very natural and means something like:

• Dad moved...
• Father moved...

It does not need a possessive like my father unless the speaker wants to make that explicit.

So:

• Ayah = Dad / Father
• Ayah saya = my father

Indonesian does not have articles like the or a/an.

Whether something is definite or indefinite is usually understood from context.

So:

• buku can mean a book, the book, or just book/books
• rayap can mean a termite, the termite(s), or termites

In your sentence, the context makes it clear that we are talking about some specific old books and termites as the threat to them, so English naturally uses the in translation.

Yes. In this sentence, agar would work very well:

• Ayah memindahkan buku-buku lama agar rayap tidak merusaknya lagi.

This would have essentially the same meaning: Dad moved the old books so that termites would not damage them anymore.

Very roughly:

• supaya = common, natural, everyday
• agar = also common, sometimes felt slightly more formal or careful

But in many contexts, they are interchangeable.

The given order is very natural:

• Ayah memindahkan buku-buku lama supaya rayap tidak merusaknya lagi.

You could also put the purpose clause first for emphasis, though it is less neutral:

• Supaya rayap tidak merusaknya lagi, Ayah memindahkan buku-buku lama.

That means the same thing, but the original version is the more straightforward everyday order: main action first, reason/purpose after.

It can mean either damage it or damage them, depending on what -nya refers to.

Here, it refers back to buku-buku lama, which is plural, so in English we translate it as damage them.

This is normal in Indonesian because -nya does not always distinguish singular from plural. Context tells you what it means.