Ibu mencampur kompos dengan tanah supaya tanah tetap gembur.

Ibu can mean mother, but it is also a very common respectful form of address for an adult woman, similar to ma’am or sometimes Mrs. in certain contexts.

In this sentence, Ibu most naturally means Mother/Mom if it is talking about someone’s mother doing the action. But without more context, it could also refer respectfully to a woman.

So:

• Ibu mencampur kompos... = Mother is mixing compost... / The lady is mixing compost...

Context tells you which meaning is intended.

Mencampur means to mix.

Its base word is campur = mix.
The prefix meN- often forms an active verb in Indonesian.

So:

• campur = mix
• mencampur = to mix / mixes / is mixing

In this sentence, mencampur shows that Ibu is actively doing the mixing.

A useful pattern:

• Saya mencampur gula dengan kopi. = I mix sugar with coffee.

Dengan usually means with.

In mencampur kompos dengan tanah, it links the two things being mixed:

• kompos = compost
• tanah = soil

So the phrase means:

• mix compost with soil

This is very similar to English.
A simple breakdown:

• mencampur = mix
• kompos = compost
• dengan tanah = with soil

Indonesian often repeats the noun instead of replacing it with a pronoun like it.

So:

• dengan tanah = with soil
• supaya tanah tetap gembur = so that the soil stays loose/soft/friable

Repeating tanah makes the sentence clear and natural. Indonesian does use pronouns, but very often it simply repeats the noun, especially when that sounds clearer.

In English, we might say:

• Mother mixes compost with soil so that it stays loose.

In Indonesian, repeating the noun is perfectly normal:

• ...supaya tanah tetap gembur.

Supaya means so that, in order that, or so.

It introduces a purpose:

• Ibu mencampur kompos dengan tanah supaya tanah tetap gembur.
• Mother mixes compost with soil so that the soil stays loose.

Yes, supaya and agar are very similar and are often interchangeable.

For example:

• supaya tanah tetap gembur
• agar tanah tetap gembur

Both mean so that the soil stays loose.

Very generally:

• supaya is extremely common in everyday speech
• agar can sound a little more formal in some contexts

Tetap means still, remain, or stay.

In this sentence:

• tanah tetap gembur = the soil stays loose

So tetap shows that the condition continues.

Examples:

• tetap sehat = stay healthy
• tetap tenang = remain calm
• tetap di sini = stay here

Here it does not mean fixed in the physical sense. It means remain in that state.

Gembur is often used for soil and means something like:

• loose
• soft
• crumbly
• well-aerated

So tanah gembur is soil that is not hard or compacted. It is good for plants because air and water can move through it more easily.

In gardening contexts, gembur is a very useful word.

Indonesian verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So mencampur by itself does not tell you whether it is:

• mixes
• is mixing
• mixed
• will mix

The time usually comes from context or from time words such as:

• kemarin = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• besok = tomorrow

Without a time marker, this sentence can be understood as a general statement or a present-time action, depending on context:

• Mother mixes compost with soil so that the soil stays loose.
• Mother is mixing compost with soil so that the soil stays loose.

Both are possible translations.

Indonesian does not normally use articles like a, an, or the.

So:

• kompos can mean compost / the compost
• tanah can mean soil / the soil

Whether it is definite or indefinite depends on context.

That is why tanah in the sentence can naturally be translated as the soil even though there is no separate word for the.

The basic structure is:

• Ibu = subject
• mencampur = verb
• kompos = object
• dengan tanah = prepositional phrase
• supaya tanah tetap gembur = purpose clause

So the full pattern is roughly:

Subject + Verb + Object + Prepositional phrase + Purpose clause

Breakdown:

• Ibu — Mother
• mencampur kompos dengan tanah — mixes compost with soil
• supaya tanah tetap gembur — so that the soil stays loose

This word order is very normal in Indonesian.

Yes, mencampurkan is possible, but it is slightly different in nuance.

• mencampur = to mix
• mencampurkan = to mix something into/with something, often sounding a bit more explicit or transitive in certain contexts

In many everyday situations, both can work, but mencampur is simple and natural here.

So:

• Ibu mencampur kompos dengan tanah = very natural
• Ibu mencampurkan kompos dengan tanah = also possible, but a bit heavier in form

For a learner, mencampur is the easier and most useful version to remember first.

It is mainly understood as a purpose:

• so that the soil stays loose

That means the mother mixes compost with soil in order to keep the soil loose.

In real life, purpose and expected result can feel close, but grammatically supaya usually introduces what someone wants to happen.

So the sentence is best understood as:

• She mixes compost with soil to keep the soil loose.

A few natural translations are:

• Mother mixes compost with soil so that the soil stays loose.
• Mom mixes compost into the soil to keep it loose.
• She mixes compost with the soil to keep it рых?

The best natural English version is probably:

• Mom mixes compost into the soil to keep it loose.

That said, the Indonesian sentence literally repeats tanah, so a closer translation is:

• Mother mixes compost with soil so that the soil stays loose.