Anak itu menangis.

Here, itu works like that in that child, but in natural English the whole phrase is often translated as the child if the child is already identifiable from context.

A useful pattern is:

• anak itu = that child / the child
• rumah itu = that house / the house
• buku itu = that book / the book

In Indonesian, itu usually comes after the noun, unlike English.

Because in Indonesian, demonstratives like ini and itu usually come after the noun when they mean this/that.

So:

• anak itu = that child
• anak ini = this child

If you say itu anak, that usually has a different function in a sentence, more like That is a child or That is the child, depending on context. So for a noun phrase meaning that child, anak itu is the normal order.

No. Indonesian verbs do not conjugate for person or number the way English verbs do.

So menangis stays the same with different subjects:

• Saya menangis = I cry / I am crying
• Dia menangis = He/she cries / is crying
• Mereka menangis = They cry / are crying

You do not need to change the verb the way English changes cry to cries.

By itself, menangis does not mark tense. Indonesian often leaves time reference to context.

So Anak itu menangis can mean:

• The child cries
• The child is crying
• The child cried

depending on the situation.

If you want to make time clearer, Indonesian can add time words or aspect markers, for example:

• Anak itu sedang menangis = The child is crying
• Anak itu tadi menangis = The child cried earlier
• Anak itu akan menangis = The child will cry

The verb menangis contains the prefix meN-, which is a very common Indonesian verb-forming prefix. In many cases, it creates an active verb.

With tangis related to crying/cry, you get:

• tangis = cry, crying, sob
• menangis = to cry

For a beginner, the most important thing is simply to learn menangis as the normal verb meaning to cry.

This happens because the meN- prefix changes shape depending on the first sound of the base word. This is a normal sound pattern in Indonesian.

With bases beginning with t, the t often disappears and the prefix becomes men-:

• tulis → menulis
• tangis → menangis

So tangis becomes menangis, not metangis.

By itself, anak can refer to a child or children, depending on context, but in Anak itu menangis, it is normally understood as singular: that child / the child.

If you want to clearly show plural, Indonesian often uses reduplication:

• anak-anak itu menangis = Those children / the children are crying

So:

• anak itu = that child / the child
• anak-anak itu = those children / the children

Anak is a broad word. It can mean:

• child
• kid
• son
• daughter

The exact meaning depends on context.

For example:

• anak itu = that child
• anak saya = my child / my son / my daughter

In your sentence, without more context, child is the safest translation.

No, not in this sentence. Indonesian does not require a verb like is before another verb the way English sometimes does.

So English says:

• The child is crying

But Indonesian simply says:

• Anak itu menangis

There is no separate word for is here.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

• Anak ≈ AH-nak
• itu ≈ EE-too
• menangis ≈ muh-NAHNG-ees

A few helpful points:

• a is usually like the a in father
• i is usually like ee in see
• u is usually like oo in food
• ng is like the sound in English sing

So menangis has the ng sound, not a hard g sound.

Yes. Anak itu sedang menangis is very natural if you want to emphasize that the action is happening right now.

Compare:

• Anak itu menangis = The child cries / is crying / cried
• Anak itu sedang menangis = The child is crying

So the version without sedang is more neutral, while the version with sedang makes the ongoing action clearer.