Indonesian/Print version

Contoh Percakapan (Dialogue Example)

Budi: Selamat pagi, Bu!
Wati: Selamat pagi, Pak!
Budi: Apa kabar?
Wati: Baik. Anda?
Budi: Baik-baik juga.
Wati: Kamu sedang apa?
Budi: Aku sedang membaca novel.
Wati: Novel apa yang kamu baca?
Budi: Aku sedang membaca novel semua tentang Islam!
Wati: Boleh aku meminjamnya?
Budi: Tentu saja.
Wati: Sudah waktunya aku harus pulang. Sampai berjumpa, dan jangan lupa besok aku akan meminjam novelmu
Budi: Tentu aku tidak akan lupa. Sampai jumpa kembali.
Wati: Selamat jalan.

Terjemahannya (The Translation):

Budi: Good morning, Ma'am!
Wati: Good morning, Sir!
Budi: How are you?
Wati: Good. You?
Budi: Also good.
Wati: What are you doing?
Budi: I am reading a novel.
Wati: What novel are you reading?
Budi: I am reading a novel all about Islam!
Wati: May I borrow it?
Budi: Of course.
Wati: I already have to go. Goodbye and don't forget I'll borrow your book tomorrow
Budi: Of course I won't forget, goodbye too.
Wati: Good bye.

Kata-Kata Baru (New Vocabulary)

Selamat pagi – good morning
Selamat tinggal – goodbye (when leaving)
Bu – ma'am. Literally means mother.
Pak – sir. Literally means father.
Apa kabar – how are you? what's up?
Baik – good, well
Anda – you (
Kamu – you (informal)
Juga – also
Dan – and
Jika- if
Apa – what

Selamat

The word selamat means safe. So, selamat pagi literally means safe morning. The greetings in Indonesian is not quite the same as that of English. Below is the table of words with their meaning and the time you may want to use it:

Kata (Word)	Arti (Meaning)	Waktu / Kondisi (Time / Condition)
Pagi	morning	Sun is already risen, but before 10am.
Siang	noon	Around noon. Usually 10am-2pm.
Sore	afternoon	Sun is still up, but after 2pm.
Malam	night	Sun must have set.
Tinggal	bye	When parting, said to the person staying
Jalan	bye	When parting, said to the person leaving

Unlike English, it is all right to greet people with "selamat malam" when meeting at night. To say "good bye", we can use "selamat tinggal".

The word "selamat" also means congratulations. Therefore, it is also used to congratulate other people. So, you can use the word "selamat" with the following words:

Kata (Word)	Arti (Meaning)
Ulang tahun	Birthday (literally: ulang = repeat; tahun = year)
Tahun baru	New year (literally: baru = new)
Natal	Christmas
Paskah	Easter
Jalan	voyage (i.e. bon voyage)

So, "selamat ulang tahun" means happy birthday. And so forth. Note that the word "jalan" means street or to go, but when used in "selamat jalan", it means "bon voyage".

Apa Kabar (How Are You?)

The phrase "apa kabar" literally means "what (your) news". The word "apa" means "what" and the word "kabar" means "news". When translated, it means "how are you".

To answer "apa kabar", we usually use "baik" or "baik-baik" to indicate that it's good. We can answer "biasa saja" (= "so so") or "kurang baik" (= "not good", literally = "less good").

In Malay, they use the spelling of "khabar" instead of "kabar", and thus the pronunciation is slightly different.

Sapaan (Salutations)

Notice that the dialog above uses "pak" and "bu", which mean "sir" and "ma'am" respectively. In Indonesian, you'll need to specify proper salutations in most cases when greeting people. This is because Indonesian people tend to be very polite. In formal situations or the work place, adults usually greet using "pak" or "bu".

The word Anda (usually capitalised to show respect) is the general, relatively polite form of you; note that bapak and ibu could also be used, as well as casual forms such as kamu.

The article "pak" is shorthand for "bapak" (= mister or father), while "bu" is an abbreviation of "ibu" (= madam or mother).

Arti Umum (General Meaning)

The word "ini" means "this" or "these".
The word "itu" means "that" or "those".

Penggunaan Pertama: Ini buku (First Usage: This [is a] book)

Contoh (Example):

Ini buku. ("This is a book" or "These are books")
Ini pensil. ("This is a pencil" or "These are pencils")
Itu apel. ("That is an apple" or "Those are apples")
Itu jeruk. ("That is an orange" or "Those are oranges")

From the examples above, you can see that there is no explicit word for "to be" as in English. It is already implied by the structure or the vocabulary used in the sentence.

In addition, when using a noun, the meaning can be either singular or plural. It depends on the context. When the context does not make it clear, the noun is assumed to be singular.

The reader might ask: If ini buku means this is a book while when naively translated sounds like "This book." Then how to say "this book" in Indonesian? Answer: buku ini. When learning Indonesian, or when Indonesian learning English, people usually realized that the order of words, especially adjective and noun, are usually swapped.

Penggunaan Kedua: Buku ini merah (Second Usage: This book [is] red)

Contoh (Example):

Buku ini merah. ("This book is red" or "These books are red")
Apel ini hijau. ("This apple is green" or "These apples are green")
Pensil itu hitam. ("That pencil is black" or "Those pencils are black")
Jeruk itu jingga. ("That orange is orange" or "Those oranges are orange")

Notice the difference between the first pattern and the second one:

The first pattern is '(Ini/Itu) + Noun', which means 'This/That is/are Noun'.
The second pattern is 'Noun + (Ini/Itu) + Adjective', which means 'This/That Noun is/are Adjective'

Bentuk Negatif (Negative Form)

There are two words in Indonesian used to indicate negatives:

Bukan → Not, referring to nouns, pronouns, or states (it may be easiest to remember the meaning of bukan as "not a", since only nouns would follow "a" in English)
Tidak → Not, referring to adjectives or verbs

In some cases, we can use either bukan or tidak, but we'll discuss this later.

Contoh (Example):

Ini bukan buku. ("This is not a book" or "These are not books")
Ini bukan pensil. ("This is not a pencil" or "These are not pencils")
Itu bukan apel. ("That is not an apple" or "Those are not apples")
Itu bukan jeruk. ("That is not an orange" or "Those are not oranges")

Here, we use bukan, because we're negating the nouns. However, look at the following example:

Ini tidak benar. ("This is not right")

This time, we are negating the adjective "right". (Benar = right / correct)

Likewise, look at the following examples: Contoh (Example):

Buku ini tidak merah. ("This book is not red" or "These books are not red")
Apel ini tidak hijau. ("This apple is not green" or "These apples are not green")
Pensil itu tidak hitam. ("That pencil is not black" or "Those pencils not are black")
Jeruk itu tidak jingga. ("That orange is not orange" or "Those oranges are not orange")

In these examples, we use tidak because this time we're negating the adjectives.

Bentuk Interogatif (Interrogative Form)

The word "apa" (= "what") can be used to form questions using "ini" or "itu".

Apa ini? ("What is/are this/these?")
Apa itu? ("What is/are that/those?")

Contoh (Example):

Q: Apa ini?
A: Ini buku.

You can use "apa ini" or "apa itu" to ask what something is called in Indonesian (by pointing to the object).

General Pronoun

In Indonesian, both subjective and objective pronouns are the same. Possessive pronouns are slightly different in informal situations only. Below is the table:

English	Formal	Informal	Informal Possesive
I	Saya	Aku	-ku
You	Anda	Kamu	-mu
He/She/It	Beliau	Dia	-nya
We (inclusive)	Kita	Kita	Kita
We (exclusive)	Kami	Kami	Kami
You (Plural)	Kalian	Kalian	Kalian
They	Mereka	Mereka	Mereka

Note that there are two notions of "we" in Indonesian. If the opposite party is included, then we use "kita". Otherwise, we use "kami".

Contoh (Example):

Budi: "Wati, ini buku kita." (= Wati, this is our book.)

Here, Budi speaks to Wati that this book is both Budi's and Wati's book. However, if Budi said, "Wati, ini buku kami."; it means that this book is Budi's (and probably his other friend's), but not Wati's.

To refer a third person that has already died, He/She/It, when person we are speaking about already passed away and we want to refer to those people with respect, we use another word almarhum meaning "he" when the he is already died and "he" happens to be a respectable person. For female we use the word almarhumah. This is a rare instance when Bahasa Indonesia is gender specific. This is a loan word from Arabic which literally means: "who was blessed by God." In this sense, this is actually a euphemism. So we can conclude that words 'almarhum' and 'almarhumah' are purposed to Muslims. The non-Muslim people usually change it with 'mendiang', which is simpler and can be used by both genders.

Kata Kepunyaan (Possessive Pronoun)

As you probably have noted in the previous example, the position of possessive pronoun is reversed in Indonesian.

Contoh (Example):

Buku kami. (= our book(s))
Apel mereka. (= their apple(s))
Jerukku. (= my orange(s))
Gelasnya. (= his/her/its glass(es))
Bolpoinmu. (= your pen(s))
Coklat saya. (= my chocolate(s))
Mobil beliau. (= his/her/its car)

In these examples, notice that when using informal possessive of singular person, the suffix is put together with the noun.

Although in spoken Indonesian it is acceptable to say "gelas dia" instead of "gelasnya" and "bolpen kamu" instead of "bolpenmu", it is incorrect to say "jeruk aku" to mean "my orange".

Kata Kepunyaan #2 (Possessive Pronoun Part 2)

In most languages there is the possibility of both adjective-like possessives "this is my book" and noun like adjectives "this book is mine" or "this is mine." Indonesian doesn't do this exactly like this but does have an equivalent:

Buku ini punyaku. (This book is mine)
Buku ini punyamu. (This book is yours)
Buku ini punyanya. (This book is his/hers/its)
Buku ini punya aku. (This book is mine)
Buku ini punya kami. (This book is ours) (exclusive)
Buku ini punya kita. (This book is ours) (inclusive)
Buku ini punya mereka. (This book is theirs)
Buku ini punya Budi. (This book is Budi's)
Ini punyaku. (This is mine)

Notice that this kind of structure is "bridged" by the word "punya", which means "to have". You can then put the appropriate suffix or word to indicate the ownership.

A synonym of "punya" is "milik". Hence you can change "punya" with "milik".

Example:

Buku ini milikku
Buku ini milikmu
Buku ini miliknya

Contoh (Examples)

Below are some examples that summarise what we've learnt:

Saya punya buku kuning. (= I have a yellow book)
Buku saya kuning. (= My book is yellow).
Kamu punya bolpen biru, bukan bolpen hitam. (= You have a blue pen, not a black pen)
Dia tidak punya pensil hijau. (= He/she/it doesn't have a green pencil)
Budi punya apel merah. (= Budi has a red apple/red apples)
Apel merah ini punya Budi. (= This red apple is Budi's)

Note that at the third example we use "bukan" to deny the noun (i.e. the pen). At the fourth example, we use "tidak" to deny the ownership, which is considered as a verb (i.e. "doesn't have"). Note also how we can put names in ownership at example five and six with the word "punya".

Tenses

Basic Indonesian word order is similar to English. Generally, sentences begin with a subject, followed by a verb (also called a predicate), and then an object.

It's good news that Indonesian verbs don't change depending on tense. Indicating the past or future tense only requires inserting words that indicate the time, in a very regular system.

Contoh (Example):

Saya makan nasi (= I eat rice)
Saya telah makan nasi (= I ate or have eaten rice)
Saya sudah makan nasi (= I ate or have eaten rice)
Saya akan makan nasi (= I will eat rice)
Saya sedang makan nasi (= I am eating rice)
Saya makan nasi kemarin (= I ate rice yesterday)
Kemarin, saya makan nasi (= Yesterday, I ate rice)

As you noticed in the examples above, the word "telah" or "sudah" indicate completed actions, the word "akan" indicate future actions, and the word "sedang" indicate actions in progress. The main verb (i.e. "makan" = to eat) is left unchanged.

Side note: In English, both cooked and uncooked rice are referred as rice alone. In Indonesian, uncooked rice is called beras while cooked rice is called nasi.

Note also that Indonesian has no notions of imperfect tense. Instead, Indonesian uses duration words, such as "selama" (literally means during or as long as):

Contoh (Example):

Saya sudah belajar Bahasa Indonesia selama dua tahun. (= I have studied Indonesian (language) for two years)
Selama ini, saya belajar dengan baik. (= Until now, I've studied well)
Selama dua tahun ini, saya belajar dengan baik. (= For the last two years, I've studied well)
Selama kamu di sini, saya tidak akan pergi. (=As long as you are here, I will not go))

Don't worry about these "tenses" yet. We'll study it in greater detail later.

Adding Emphasis

The Indonesian language is very expressive. While basic Indonesian word order matches English, you can scramble up the sentence structure, and the sentence will still have the same underlying meaning. In this regard, Indonesian is somewhat like Latin or Japanese, but without the cases or the particles. Usually, when a word other than the subject is put at the beginning of a sentence, it becomes the emphasis of the sentence. This is broadly used in spoken Indonesian.

Contoh (Example):

Saya sedang makan nasi (= I am eating rice, neutral emphasis)
Sedang makan nasi saya (= emphasis on the progress of eating rice, "I am eating my rice")
Makan nasi sedang saya lakukan (= emphasis on eating rice, "Eating rice (is what) I am doing (now)")
Nasi sedang saya makan (= emphasis on rice, "Rice (is what) I am eating (now)")

Note also that this way of providing emphasis can occur with any "tense" using the same pattern.

Don't be intimidated by this variability in word order. You can always form simple sentences as: Subject + Verb + Object.

Angka Numerals (Numerals)

0 = nol
1 =satu	11 = sebelas	21 = dua puluh satu	101 = seratus satu
2 = dua	12 = dua belas	22 = dua puluh dua	200 = dua ratus
3 = tiga	13 = tiga belas	30 = tiga puluh	300 = tiga ratus
4 = empat	14 = empat belas	40 = empat puluh	400 = empat ratus
5 = lima	15 = lima belas	50 = lima puluh	500 = lima ratus
6 = enam	16 = enam belas	60 = enam puluh	600 = enam ratus
7 = tujuh	17 = tujuh belas	70 = tujuh puluh	700 = tujuh ratus
8 = delapan	18 = delapan belas	80 = delapan puluh	800 = delapan ratus
9 = sembilan	19 = sembilan belas	90 = sembilan puluh	900 = sembilan ratus
10 = sepuluh	20 = dua puluh	100 = seratus	1000 = seribu

Contoh (Examples):

67 = enam puluh tujuh
111 = seratus sebelas
2743 = dua ribu tujuh ratus empat puluh tiga
8015 = delapan ribu lima belas
17432 = tujuh belas ribu empat ratus tiga puluh dua
408305 = empat ratus delapan ribu tiga ratus lima

Urutan (Series)

1^st = pertama
2^nd = kedua (or ke-2)
3^rd = ketiga (or ke-3)
4^th = keempat (or ke-4)
5^th = kelima (or ke-5)
10^th = kesepuluh (or ke-10)
11^th = kesebelas (or ke-11)
21^st = kedua puluh satu (or ke-21)

As you see, in order to form ordinal numbers in series, you only need to attach the prefix "ke-", then the number itself. Except for pertama ("1st"), you can spell out the number or just write the digits (like the ones in parentheses).

Berapa (How much)

To ask about quantities, we use the word "berapa". For example: "Berapa harga X" is to ask "How much does X cost".

Contoh (Examples):

Q: Berapa harga buku ini? (= How much does this book cost?)
A: Lima dolar. (= Five dollars)
A (alternate): Harga buku ini lima dolar. (= This book costs five dollars)

The word "berapa" can directly replace the quantity in question. However, you must put a measure word right after it.

Contoh (Examples):

Q: Kamu punya berapa buah pensil? (= How many pencils do you have?)
A: Empat. (= Four)
A (alternate): Saya punya empat buah pensil. (= I have four pieces of pencil.)

The most common measure word is "buah", which indicates quantity. Coincidentally, this word can also mean fruit (i.e. apples, oranges, etc). Other common measure words are "ekor" (for animals; ekor = tail) and "orang" (for people, orang = person).

Interestingly, the word biji (lit= fruit) is also sometime use to replace buah.

The examples below illustrate using measure words:

Contoh (Examples):

Q: Berapa buah pensil kamu punya? (= How many pencils do you have?)
A: Empat. (= Four)

Q: Berapa buah apel kamu punya? (= How many apples do you have?)
A: Tiga. (= Three)

Contoh Lain (Other Examples)

Saya punya dua buah buku. (= I have two books)
Saya punya dua buah buku merah. (= I have two red books)
Saya tidak punya dua buah buku merah. (= I don't have two red books)

Angka Lebih Dari 999 (Numbers higher than 999)

In English, to make the number readable, we used to add a comma every three digits. For example, One million and two hundred and fifty-five thousands and three hundred and sixty-four can be written as 1,255,364. However in Indonesian, we insert a dot instead of comma. Hence the same number (Indonesia: Satu juta dua ratus lima puluh lima ribu tiga ratus enam puluh empat) should be written as 1.255.364 .

For curious reader, Indonesians use comma (",") to indicate decimals.

Di (In/on/at [place])

To indicate a place, we use the particle di. It can mean in, on, or at.

Contoh (Examples):

Buku saya ada di meja. (My book is (in/on/at) [the] table)
Mobilmu ada di garasi. (Your car is (in/on/at) [the] garage)

Note the word "ada", which means "to exist". It is placed right before the di particle to indicate existence.

Note also that the particle di doesn't convey any further detail on how the object is being placed, whether it's in front, inside, etc. To put additional detail, we put a location word after the particle di.

Contoh (Examples):

Buku saya ada di atas meja. (My book is on [the] table)
Mobilmu ada di dalam garasi. (Your car is in [the] garage)

The word "atas" means "top" or "above" and "dalam" means "inside". Below is the list of location words you may use:

Atas = top/above
Bawah = under/below
Dalam = inside
Luar = outside
Depan = front
Belakang = behind/back
Sebelah/Samping = beside
Sebelah kiri = left side
Sebelah kanan = right side

In Indonesian, to change the position is quite easy. Like Buku saya ada di atas meja, if you want to change it becomes beside or behind, you just need to change them into Buku saya ada di sebelah/samping meja and Buku saya ada di belakang meja.

Be careful to differentiate between di as prefix (awalan) and di as showing the place (kata depan). Most Indonesian natives forget about this and mistakes are common. If the word di is followed by a verb, it is a prefix.

Example

Ia di luar ( he is outside)
Ia dipukul ( he was beaten -- pukul = beat)

Indonesian also commonly (and mistakenly) use di with time, for example "di waktu sedih" (during sad times). Pada is the correct proposition for time. Hence, it should be "pada waktu sedih".

Pada (at [person])

Although in spoken Indonesian it is acceptable to use di to indicate the existence of a noun at someone, this is unusual. For example, it is not correct to say: "Bukumu ada di Budi" to mean "Your book is at Budi". Rather, you should use the particle "pada":

"Bukumu ada pada Budi" (Your book is at Budi)

This sounds awkward to translate literally. Usually in English, people would say "Budi has your book".

This preposition is also used for time, for example "Pada pukul enam pagi." (At 6 am)

Ke (to [a place])

The particle ke is to indicate the notion of to a place. It is often coupled with the word "pergi", which means to go.

Contoh (Example):

Ibu pergi ke pasar. (Mother goes to [the] market)
Ayah pergi ke kantor. (Father goes to [the] office)
Saya pergi ke sekolah. (I go to [the] school)
Dia pergi ke rumahmu. (He/she/it goes to your house)

In spoken Indonesian, people often omit "pergi" when the context is clear. So, you'll often hear "Ibu ke pasar" to mean "Mother [goes] to [the] market".

Kepada (to [a person])

Some verbs in English like "to send", "to give" and so on need the particle "to", followed by a person. For example: "I give the book to you". In Indonesian, for this notion of "to", you cannot use the particle ke. Rather, you'll use the particle kepada.

Contoh (Example):

Saya memberikan buku ini kepadamu. (= I give this book to you)
Dia mengirimkan surat ini kepada saya. (= He/she sends this letter to me)

Memberikan = to give
Mengirimkan = to send
Surat = letter

Certainly, in spoken Indonesian, people may violate this rule and use "ke" instead of the proper "kepada".

Dari (From)

The particle "dari" is almost synonymous with "from" in English. It is to indicate the origin of something.

Contoh (Example):

Saya datang dari rumah. (I come from [the] house)
Dia datang dari Amerika. (He/she comes from [the] US)

Not only that "dari" explains the place origin, but also explains the origin of things. For example:

Cincin ini terbuat dari emas. (This ring is made of gold)

Cincin = ring
Terbuat = is made
Emas = gold

Untuk (For)

The particle "untuk" is almost synonymous with "for". For example:

Buku ini untukmu. (This book is for you)
Pensil ini untuknya. (This pencil is for him/her/it)

It is also used to explain the usage of a thing:

Pensil ini untuk menulis. (This pencil is for writing [things])

(menulis = write)

Dialog Pertama (1st Dialog)

Dialog (Dialogue)

KERRY: Hai! Nama saya KERRY. Siapa namamu?
AUDRIE: Hai KERRY! Nama saya AUDRIE. Salam kenal.
KERRY: Salam kenal juga.
AUDRIE: Apa kabar KERRY?
KERRY: Baik-baik, Anda?
AUDRIE: Baik-baik juga.
KERRY: Anda tinggal di mana?
AUDRIE: Di London. Anda?
KERRY: Saya juga!
AUDRIE: Permisi, saya harus pulang ke rumah.
KERRY: Baik, baik, hati-hati AUDRIE!
AUDRIE: Haha terima kasih KERRY.
KERRY: Selamat tinggal!
AUDRIE: Selamat tinggal!

Terjemahannya (translation):

KERRY: Hi! My name is KERRY. What's your name?
AUDRIE: Hi, KERRY! My name is AUDRIE. Nice to meet you.
KERRY: Nice to meet you too.
AUDRIE: How are you KERRY?
KERRY: Good, and you?
AUDRIE: Also Good.
KERRY: Where do you live?
AUDRIE: In London, you?
KERRY: Me too!
AUDRIE: Sorry, I've got to go home.
KERRY: "Okay", be careful AUDRIE!
AUDRIE: Haha thank you KERRY.
KERRY: Goodbye!
AUDRIE: Goodbye!

Catatan (Note)

This dialogue illustrates typical informal introductions. Note here that the dialog use "nama saya" to mean to "my name" and "namamu" to mean to "your name". You can use the phrase "namaku" as well to mean "my name".

To refresh our memory, note that the informal possessive pronouns are -ku, -mu, and -nya, for first, second, and third singular person. For more review, you can click here. The noun "nama" is the root of "namaku" and "namamu"; and the suffixes -ku and -mu adding the possessive information.

Certainly, you can substitute "namamu" with "nama anda" for more formal situations.

The phrase "salam kenal" roughly means "nice to meet you". Note that unlike English, normally Indonesians don't say anything after the introduction and then carry on with the conversation. So, this phrase is not often used in introductions. It's up to you.

The word "juga" means too.

The word "pergi" and "pulang" both can be translated as "to go" in English. Only "pulang" is strongly associated with home. "pulang" means "to go home". "pergi" has always been used to point out where would you go to, anywhere else but your own house.

Dialog Kedua (2nd Dialogue)

Dialog (Dialogue)

KERRY: Selamat pagi, Pak! Perkenalkan, nama saya KERRY.
Pak WAKI: Oh! Selamat pagi, KERRY! Nama saya WAKI. Apa kabar?
KERRY: Baik-baik. Terima kasih.

Terjemahannya (translation):

KERRY: Good morning, Sir! Let me introduce myself, my name is KERRY.
Mr. WAKI: Oh! Good morning, KERRY! My name is WAKI. How are you?
KERRY: Good. Thank you.

Catatan (Note)

This is a formal introduction, in casual situation.

The word "kenal" means "to know someone". In this dialog, we use the inflected form "perkenalkan", which in this dialog context means "let me introduce myself". It is actually the command form of "memperkenalkan", which means "to introduce". Don't worry about how the words are composed. This time, you can just consider it as a single word.

The phrase "apa kabar" means "how are you". As we've already read from lesson 1, it literally means "what news".

The phrase "terima kasih" means "thank you". Actually, it literally means "receive love".

Dialog Ketiga (3rd Dialogue)

Dialog (Dialogue)

KERRY: AUDRIE, perkenalkan, ini Pak WAKI.
AUDRIE: Pak WAKI, nama saya AUDRIE.
Pak WAKI: Halo, AUDRIE! Salam kenal.

Terjemahannya (translation):

KERRY: AUDRIE, let me introduce you, this is Mr. WAKI.
AUDRIE: Mr. WAKI, my name is AUDRIE.
Mr. WAKI: Hello, AUDRIE! Nice to meet you.

Catatan (Note)

This dialogue is to introduce someone to someone else. You should introduce the older person to the younger one as a rule of courtesy, as demonstrated in the dialogue. The dialogue assumes that Mr. Waki is older than Audrie. The younger person must then respond by addressing the older one also for courtesy. You can follow it by stating your name again, like the example above. Or, you can just say "Hai, Pak Waki!" instead.

If both people are roughly of the same age, you can choose either one.

Note the usage of the word "perkenalkan". It is appropriate for both introducing yourself and introducing someone else.

Bacaan (Reading Comprehension)

Nama saya Mira. Saya tinggal di bae bersama ayah dan ibu. Saya punya seorang kakak laki-laki. Namanya Anto. Saya juga punya adik perempuan. Namanya Wati. Kakak saya dan adik perempuan saya juga tinggal bersama kami.

Ayah kerja di kantor setiap hari. Ibu tinggal dirumah, memasak makanan untuk kami. Setiap hari, saya, kakak dan adik peremmpuan saya pergi ke sekolah

Terjemahan (Translation):

My name is Mira I live in bae with my father and mother. I have an older brother. His name is Anto. I also have a younger sister. Her name is Wati. My older brother and younger sister also live with us.

Father works at the office everyday. Mother stays at home, cooking food for us. Every day, myself, my older and younger siblings go to school.

Kosa Kata (Vocabulary)

adik = younger (brother/sister)
ayah = bapak = father
bersama = with
hari = day
ibu = mother
juga = also / too
kakak = older (brother/sister)
kerja = work
laki-laki = male
makanan = food
masak = cook
perempuan = female
pergi = go
punya = have
rumah = home / house
sekolah = school
seorang = one person
setiap = every
tinggal(*) = stay / live
untuk = for

Note: The word "tinggal" is a tricky word. If it is used alone (not conjugated), it means to live or to stay. However, if you conjugate it, it means to leave or to die. Many people got confused with this. Think of it from an Indonesian cultural perspective. Many indigenous Indonesians believe that when a person dies, the soul is here to stay.

Family Structure

Ayah is synonymous with bapak, which means father.You can use it interchangeably when referring to a father (or your father). Note that we call adult males as bapak for courtesy, but we never call them ayah. The word ayah is exclusively for the father-child relationship (whether by consanguinity or by law such as a stepfather).

Ibu means mother. Here, we don't make any distinction like bapak / ayah.

• Notice from the vocabulary list that Indonesian words for siblings are gender-free. The word "kakak" is used to describe an older sibling (older brother or older sister). The word "adik" is used to describe a younger sibling (younger brother or younger sister). In order to further distinguish the gender, we use gender words, e.g., "laki-laki" for male or "perempuan" for female. Other gender-free words are made distinct in a similar fashion.

Other family members:
- Suami = husband
- Istri = wife
- Anak = child / children
- Kakek = grandpa
- Nenek = grandma
- Paman = uncle
- Bibi = aunt
- Sepupu = cousin
- Keponakan = nephew / niece
- Saudara = brother / sister
- Saudara ipar = (brother/sister)-in-law
- Ayah mertua = father-in-law
- Merah mudini = mother & father-in-law
- Ibu mertua = mother-in-law

Grammar

Awalan Me- (Me- prefix)

In the passage, you'll notice the first prefix in Indonesian: me-. It's the most important and commonly used in Indonesian.

When it's combined with verbs like above (masak → memasak), it means the same as the infinitive form. The only thing is that we emphasize that now the verb is in active form.

Almost all verb can be conjugated using me-, but not all. Unfortunately, in order to know which verbs can go with me- , you must read a lot. The general rule of thumb is that if the verb is reflexive (i.e. doing it to ourself), it usually can't be conjugated with me-. Even more so, don't think that the sense of reflexivity is the same to that of your language. Below is some words that cannot be conjugated with me-, unless the meaning changes completely differently:

tinggal = stay (→ meninggal = to die)
tidur = sleep
duduk = sit
bangun = wake up (→ membangun = to build)
berdiri = get up
tawa = laugh

The prefix me- can also apply to other type of words, such as noun and adjectives. However, the rough goal is still the same: To make an active verb. So, you can verbize a noun or an adjective. Details on these will be covered later.

Note also that when words are conjugated with me-, the spelling is changed a little bit. The spelling change is called inflection. The inflection depends solely on the first letter of the original word. The rule on how the spelling changes can be viewed here: Prefix me- chapter.

Akhiran -an (Suffix -an)

Suffix -an is to nominalize a verb. Note the example from the passage: makan → makanan. Analoguous to the prefix me-, you can virtually nominalize almost any verb you want using -an suffix, as long as it makes sense.

Note, however, that the nominalisation of the verb does not correspond with the gerundive form (-ing form) expressing the action or state of action like in case of Western languages (i.e. eating), but the target or object of said action (i.e. food). You can think of it as "things that do what the verb says".

Some of the verbs may also function as nouns already. For example: tidur (= sleep), which can be noun and verb at the same time. In this case, you cannot add -an suffix on it to make a noun out of it. (Note that the word tiduran does exist, but the meaning is "to lie down casually", not "sleep").

Note also that some words may have dual meanings, like bangun, which may mean to wake up or to build. Of course, if you add -an suffix, the second meaning is taken, i.e.:

Bangun (= build) → Bangunan (= "things that was built" → building)

TODO: Load the chapter on suffix -an.

Awalan Se- (Prefix se-)

Prefix se- combined with noun would mean "one of that noun". In the example above, orang means person. Therefore, seorang means one person. In English, se + noun usually translates into a / an.

The se + noun word compounds are often used as a measure word, akin to those in Chinese. The measure words can be pretty complex. However, as being mentioned in the previous chapters, sebuah should be fine for most of the things. You must use seorang to indicate that the noun is a person, and use seekor for animals.

TODO: Load the chapter on prefix se-.

Grammar Summary

A simplified grammar summary for this chapter:

Me + verb → active verb
Verb + an → noun
Se + noun → one of that noun

Time

Pukul berapa? -What time is it? (formal)

Jam berapa? – What time is it? (informal)

Tepat waktu – on time.

Indonesia uses 24-hour time format, so use pukul 20 instead of 8 pm. Because Indonesia is so large there are three time zones: West: Sumatra, Java and surroundings (Waktu Indonesia Barat <WIB>); Central: Bali and surroundings (Waktu Indonesia Tengah<WIT>); and East: Papua and surroundings (Waktu Indonesia Timur <WITA>). Each zone differs from the next by 1 hour. In spoken indonesian, 12 hour format is prefer to use and adding the time indicator after it.

Kata (Word)	Arti (Meaning)	Waktu / Kondisi (Time / Condition)
Pagi	morning	Sun is already risen, but before 10am.
Siang	noon	Around noon. Usually 10am-2pm.
Sore	afternoon	Sun is still up, but after 2pm.
Malam	night	Sun must have set.
Dini hari	Midnight	Rare to use, ussually occur in movie or TV schedule
Subuh	-	around 3-5 am. Rare, ussually to express "it is too early"

Examples:

6.00 am = 6:00 pagi

11.00 am = 11:00 siang

6.00 pm = 6:00 sore

11.00 pm = 11:00 malam

'"Jam" ('"lit. clock") or "at time", often added before the time (e.g "pukul 6 pagi" means at 6 am) in written indonesian 24-hours format is used.

Minutes

To say minute. first, you say "the hours" then "kurang/lebih" (lit. less/more) then "the minutes". examples:

6.11 = enam lebih sebelas (lit. six more eleven <minutes>)

11.54 = duabelas kurang enam (lit. twelve less six <minutes>)

use only if the minutes not more or less than 15 minutes, see below.

use the word "setengah" to say half-hour

examples:

6.30 = setengah tujuh (lit. half seven)

11.30 = setengah dua belas (lit. half twelve)

2.31 = setengah tiga lebih satu (lit. half three more one <minute>)

4.25 = setengah lima kurang lima (lit. half five less five <minutes>)

6.16 = setengah tujuh kurang empat belas (lit. half seven less fourteen <minutes>)

Days of the week

Sunday = Minggu
Monday = Senin
Tuesday = Selasa
Wednesday = Rabu
Thursday = Kamis
Friday = Jum'at
Saturday = Sabtu

Months

January = Januari
February = Februari
March = Maret
April = April
May = Mei
June = Juni
July = Juli
August = Agustus
September = September
October = Oktober
November = November
December = Desember