Saya mengambil sekop kecil, lalu kakak perempuan saya membawa cangkul ke kebun.

I take a small shovel, then my older sister brings a hoe to the garden.

Breakdown of Saya mengambil sekop kecil, lalu kakak perempuan saya membawa cangkul ke kebun.

• sebuah: a
• saya: I
• ke: to
• kecil: small

Questions & Answers about Saya mengambil sekop kecil, lalu kakak perempuan saya membawa cangkul ke kebun.

Why is kecil placed after sekop instead of before it?

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

So:

• sekop kecil = small shovel
• literally: shovel small

This is the normal word order in Indonesian. The same pattern appears in many other phrases too:

• rumah besar = big house
• anak kecil = small child / little child

What is the difference between mengambil and membawa in this sentence?

These two verbs are related but not the same:

• mengambil = to take / pick up / fetch
• membawa = to carry / bring

So in the sentence:

• Saya mengambil sekop kecil = I took/picked up a small shovel
• kakak perempuan saya membawa cangkul ke kebun = my older sister carried/brought a hoe to the garden

A simple way to remember it:

• mengambil focuses on getting something
• membawa focuses on carrying or bringing something somewhere

Why does the sentence use saya twice?