Learn Hardcore Malay: Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung. - Inside that art gallery, there are many paintings of the sea and mountains.

di dalam – emphasizes being inside something enclosed.
- Di dalam galeri seni itu = inside that art gallery (as opposed to outside it)
di – just indicates a location, without the “inside” nuance.
- Di galeri seni itu = at that art gallery (could be in, at, around the gallery)
dalam (without di) – can mean inside, but is also used as a preposition like “in (terms of) / in the field of”.
- dalam beg = inside the bag
- dalam seni moden = in modern art

In many contexts, di galeri seni itu and di dalam galeri seni itu would both be understood as “in/at that art gallery”; di dalam just feels a bit more explicitly “inside” or slightly more formal.

What does itu mean in galeri seni itu, and can it be left out?

Itu means that or the (a specific one already known in context).

galeri seni = an art gallery (in general)
galeri seni itu = that art gallery / the art gallery (the one we’re talking about)

So:

Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan…
Inside that art gallery, there are many paintings…

If you remove itu:

Di dalam galeri seni, ada banyak lukisan…

This feels more like:

“In an art gallery, there are many paintings…” (general statement)
or “In the art gallery (unspecified)” if context makes it clear.

So yes, you can leave it out grammatically, but you change the meaning from a specific gallery to a more general or less-specific one.

What is the function of ada here, and why not adalah?

In this sentence, ada works as an existential verb, meaning “there is / there are”.

Ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung.
= There are many paintings of the sea and mountains.

Key points:

ada = there is / there are / to exist / to have (possess), depending on context.
- Ada orang di luar. = There is someone outside.
- Saya ada buku. = I have a book.
adalah is usually used like “is/are” to link a subject to a complement (often in more formal or written Malay).
- Dia adalah guru. = He/She is a teacher.
- Tujuan saya adalah untuk belajar. = My goal is to study.

In existential sentences like “There are many paintings…”, Malay uses ada, not adalah.

So:

✔ Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan…
✘ Di dalam galeri seni itu, adalah banyak lukisan… (unnatural/wrong)

How is banyak working here, and how do plurals work in Malay? Why isn’t lukisan changed for plural?

Banyak means “many / a lot of” and it makes the noun implicitly plural:

banyak lukisan = many paintings

In Malay:

Nouns usually do not change form for plural.
- lukisan can mean painting or paintings, depending on context.
- gunung can mean mountain or mountains.

Plurality is indicated by:

Quantifiers like:
- banyak (many, a lot of)
- beberapa (several)
- dua / tiga / empat… (two, three, four…)
- semua (all)
Context.
Sometimes reduplication (repeating the word) for emphasis or variety:
- lukisan-lukisan = paintings (emphasis that there are several)
- gunung-gunung = mountains

So banyak lukisan already clearly means “many paintings”, and there is no need to change the form of lukisan.

Should there be a classifier or measure word, like buah, with banyak lukisan?

Malay often uses classifiers (kata penggolong), but they are not always required in everyday speech.

The sentence:

ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung

is perfectly natural and common.

You could add a classifier:

ada banyak buah lukisan laut dan gunung
ada banyak keping lukisan laut dan gunung

Notes:

buah – very general classifier; can be used for many inanimate objects.
keping – flat, sheet-like objects (photos, pieces of paper, sometimes used for paintings).

However, with banyak + a common countable noun, it’s very normal to omit the classifier in casual Malay, especially when it doesn’t cause confusion. So the original form is fine and natural.

Does lukisan laut dan gunung mean “paintings of the sea and the mountain” or something like “seascapes and landscapes”?

Literally:

lukisan = paintings
laut = sea
gunung = mountain

lukisan laut dan gunung can be understood as:

paintings of the sea and (of) mountains, i.e. two types of subject matter:
- lukisan laut = seascape paintings
- lukisan gunung = mountain/landscape paintings

Malay often only mentions lukisan once, and then lists multiple things it relates to:

lukisan laut dan gunung
≈ paintings of seas and mountains

If you want to be more explicitly parallel, you can say:

lukisan laut dan lukisan gunung

but in natural speech, the shorter version lukisan laut dan gunung is very common and normally understood as referring to two categories of paintings, not “one painting that somehow combines sea and mountain” (though context could allow that reading too).

What’s the difference between lukisan and gambar?

Both can be translated as “picture”, but they have different usual uses:

lukisan
- From the verb lukis = to draw/paint.
- Refers to paintings or drawings – hand-made art.
- More “artistic” or specifically painted/drawn works.
- lukisan minyak = oil painting
- lukisan air = watercolor painting
gambar
- Very general: picture, image, photo, illustration.
- Includes photos taken with a camera.
- gambar foto / gambar (alone) = photo
- ambil gambar = to take a photo

In an art gallery context, lukisan is more precise, because we’re talking about paintings as artworks, not just any pictures or photos.

So:

banyak lukisan laut dan gunung
= many seascape and mountain paintings (artworks)

Can the word order be changed to Ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung di dalam galeri seni itu? Is that still correct?

Yes, that word order is also correct and natural:

Ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung di dalam galeri seni itu.

Both versions are fine:

Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung.
- Slight emphasis on the location (“In that art gallery…”).
Ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung di dalam galeri seni itu.
- Slight emphasis on the existence/quantity of the paintings (“There are many paintings…”), and then you say where.

Malay word order is quite flexible, especially with place phrases like di dalam galeri seni itu. Moving it to the front or back generally just changes what feels like the starting point or focus of the sentence, without changing the basic meaning.

Why are laut and gunung singular in form if the English translation uses “sea and mountains”?

In Malay, laut and gunung do not change form for plural. The same word can mean singular or plural, depending on context.

laut = sea / seas
gunung = mountain / mountains

In lukisan laut dan gunung, it’s natural to understand this as:

paintings of the sea and mountains (plural), because:
- lukisan is pluralized by banyak
- It’s typical in art contexts that multiple scenes of sea and mountains are shown.

If you want to emphasize plural mountains or seas, you can use reduplication:

gunung-gunung = mountains
laut-laut = seas (less common in everyday speech)

But in most cases, the non-repeated form plus context is enough. The English translation adds the plural “mountains” just to sound natural in English; Malay doesn’t need a visible plural marker here.

Why isn’t there a word like “is/are” in Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan…? How does Malay express “to be”?

Malay often does not use a separate verb like “is/are” in the way English does.

In this sentence:

Di dalam galeri seni itu, ada banyak lukisan laut dan gunung.

The structure is basically:

[location] + ada + [thing(s)]
“At/in that location, there exist many paintings…”

The function of “is/are” in “There are many paintings…” is covered by ada (“there exist / there are”).

In other kinds of sentences, Malay can:

Leave out any “to be” completely:
- Dia guru. = He/She is a teacher.
- Buku itu mahal. = That book is expensive.
Or use adalah in more formal/written contexts to link subject and complement:
- Masalah utama adalah kekurangan masa.
  = The main problem is lack of time.

So in existential sentences (“There is/are X”), ada is the normal verb; you don’t add another “is/are” word on top of it.