Indonesian phrasebook
Grammar | The shorter the better | No means no | Pronunciation guide | Phrase list
Indonesian (Indonesian: Bahasa Indonesia) is the official language and lingua franca of Indonesia, and also widely spoken in East Timor. With over 230 million speakers, there are a lot of people to talk to in Indonesian.
Indonesian is closely related to Malay, but the main difference is the vocabulary: Indonesian has been heavily influenced by Dutch and Javanese (and also Sanskrit), while Malay has been heavily influenced by English and Arabic.
Grammar
The shorter the better | No means no | Pronunciation guide
Indonesian word order is subject-verb-object like English. There are no plurals, grammatical gender, or verb conjugation for person, number or tense, all of which are expressed with adverbs or tense indicators: saya makan, "I eat" (now), saya sudah makan, "I eat already" = "I ate".
A characteristic of Indonesian is that it is a so-called agglutinative language, which means that the suffixes are all attached to a base root. So a word can become very long. For example there is a base word hasil which means "result". But it can be extended as far as ketidakberhasilannya, which means his/her failure.
Colloquial Indonesian shortens commonly used words mercilessly.
tidak -> tak ->
nggak
no
tidak ada -> tiada
not have
sudah -> udah ->
dah
already
bapak -> pak
father; you (polite, for men)
ibu -> bu
mother; you (polite, for older women)
aku -> ku
I (informal)
kamu -> mu
you (informal)
-ku and -mu also act as suffixes: mobilku is short for mobil aku, "my car".
Indoabbr newspeak
One legacy of the Sukarno-Suharto era still affecting Indonesia is an inordinate fondness for vaguely Orwellian Newspeak-y abbreviations, chosen more for pronouncability than logic or comprehensibility. For example, the National Monument (Monumen Nasional) is universally known as Monas, the Jakarta-Bogor-Tangerang-Bekasi capital region is called Jabotabek and a police captain at the West Kalimantan HQ (kepala polisi resort Kalimantan Timur) would be known as Kapolres Kaltim. Even the socialistic exhortation to stand on your own feet (berdiri diatas kaki sendiri) can be snappily rendered as berdikari and the humble fried rice nasi goreng can be chopped up into nasgor!
Indonesian has a number of ways to say "no".
tidak (tak,
nggak)
"Not" — used to negate verbs.
Ada apel? (Do you) have an
apple?
Tidak ada. (No, I) don't
have.
bukan (kan)
"No" — used to negate nouns.
Ini apel? Is this an apple?
Bukan, ini jeruk. No, it's an
orange.
belum
"Not yet" — used when something has not happened (yet).
Sudah makan apel? (Did you) already eat
the apple?
Belum. No, not yet.
jangan
"Don't" — to tell somebody not to do something.
Jangan makan apel! Don't eat the
apple!
dilarang
"Forbidden" — used mostly on signs.
Dilarang makan apel. Eating apples is
forbidden.
Pronunciation guide
Vowels | Consonants | Common diphthongs
Indonesian is very easy to pronounce: it has one of the most phonetic writing systems in the world, with only a small number of simple consonants and relatively few vowel sounds. One peculiarity of the spelling is the lack for a separate sign to denote the schwa. It is written as an 'e', which can sometimes be confusing.
In Indonesia, spelling reforms in 1947 and 1972 have officially eliminated several vestiges of Dutch in the otherwise very phonetic spelling, and the writing system is now nearly identical to Malay. However, the older forms remain in use to some extent (especially in names) and have been noted in parenthesis below.
Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable, so in two-syllable words the first syllable is stressed.
Vowels
a
like 'a' in "father"
e
like 'e' in "vowel" (schwa)
é
like 'e' in "bed", usually the difference between a schwa and an e
is not indicated in writing
i (ie, j)
like 'i' in "thin"
o
like 'ow' in "low", in open positions or like 'o' in "top" in close
positions
u (oe)
like 'oo' in "hoop", in open positions or like 'o' in "hope" in
close positions
Consonants
b
like 'b' in "bed"
bh
like 'b' in "bed", only in Sanskrit borrowings
c (ch, tj)
like 'ch' in "China"
d
like 'd' in "dog"
dh
like 'd' in "dog", only in Sanskrit borrowings
f
like 'ph' in "phone"
g
like 'g' in "go"
h
like 'h' in "help"
j (dj)
like 'dg' in "edge"
k
like 'c' in "cat", often silent at the end of a word
kh (ch)
like 'ch' in "loch"
l
like 'l' in "love"
m
like 'm' in "mother"
n
like 'n' in "nice"
ng
like 'ng' in "sing" (no hard 'g' sound)
ngg
like 'ng' in "finger" ('ng' plus a hard 'g')
ny
like 'ny' in "canyon"
p
like 'p' in "pig"
q
like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always, only in Arabic
borrowings)
r
like 'rr' in Spanish "perro"
s
like 'ss' in "hiss"
sy (sj)
like 'sh' in "sheep"
t
like 't' in "top"
v
like 'ph' in "phone"
w
like 'w' in "weight"
x
like 'cks' in "kicks"
y (j)
like 'y' in "yes"
z
like 's' in "hiss", like 'z' in "haze", like 'dg' in "edge"
Common diphthongs
ai
like 'ay' in "say"
au
like 'ow' in "cow"
oi
like 'oy' in "boy"
Phrase list
Common
signs
Basics
Problems
Numbers
Unless noted as (informal), phrases in this phrasebook use the formal, polite Anda and saya forms for "you" and "I" respectively.
Prefix attack
Having trouble finding a word in a dictionary? Trying dropping the exact cruft.
Prefixes: be-, bel-, ber-, di-, ke-, me-, mem-, men-, meng-, per-, se-, ter-
Postfixes: -an, -i, -kan, -lah, -nya
BUKA
Open
TUTUP
Closed
MASUK
Entrance
KELUAR
Exit
DORONG
Push
TARIK
Pull
WC
Toilet
PRIA
Men
WANITA
Women
DILARANG
Forbidden
Basics
Hello.
Halo. (HUH-lo)
Hello. (informal)
He. (Hey)
How are you?
Apa kabar? (AH-pAh KAH-bar?)
Fine, thank you.
Baik, terima kasih. (BAYK, TREE-muh
KUS-see)
What is your name?
Namanya siapa? (NUM-muh-nyuh
shah-puh?)
My name is ______.
Nama saya ______. (NUM-MUH suh-yuh
_____.)
Nice to meet you.
Senang bertemu anda. (SNUNG burr-tuh-moo
UN-duh)
Please.
Silakan. (see-LUH-kunn)
Please. (request)
Tolong. (TOH-long)
Thank you.
Terima kasih.
You're welcome.
Terima kasih kembali.
Yes.
Ya. (EEYUH)
No.
Tidak. (TEE-duh), Tak (TAH)
Excuse me. (getting
attention)
Maaf. (MUH-UFF)
Excuse me. (begging
pardon)
Maaf, permisi.
I'm sorry.
Maaf.
Goodbye
Selamat tinggal.
Goodbye (informal)
Dadah. (DUH-DUH)
I can't speak Indonesian [well].
Saya tidak bisa berbahasa Indonesia [dengan baik].
Do you speak English?
Bisa bahasa Inggris?
Is there someone here who speaks
English?
Ada orang yang bisa bahasa Inggris?
Help!
Tolong!
Look out!
Hati-hati!
Good morning.
Selamat pagi. (slum-mut
PUH-GUEE)
Good afternoon.
Selamat siang.
Good evening.
Selamat sore.
Good night.
Selamat malam.
Good night (to
sleep)
Selamat tidur.
I don't understand.
Saya tidak mengerti.
Where is the toilet?
Di mana toiletnya? (DEE muh-nuh
TOY-leht-nyuh?)
Problems
Help!
Tolong!
Leave me alone.
Jangan ganggu saya.
Don't touch me!
Jangan pegang saya!
I'll call the police.
Saya panggil polisi.
Police!
Polisi!
Stop! Thief!
Stop! Maling!
I need your help.
Saya minta tolong.
It's an emergency.
Ini darurat.
I'm lost.
Saya tersesat.
I lost my bag.
Saya kehilangan tas saya.
I lost my wallet.
Saya kehilangan dompet saya.
I'm sick.
Saya sakit.
I've been injured.
Saya terluka.
I need a doctor.
Saya perlu dokter.
Can I use your phone?
Bisa saya pakai telepon anda?
Numbers
0
nol / kosong (COSS-song)
1
satu
2
dua
3
tiga
4
empat
5
lima (LEE-ma)
6
enam
7
tujuh
8
delapan
9
sembilan
10
sepuluh
11
sebelas
12
duabelas
13
tigabelas
14
empatbelas
20
duapuluh
21
duapuluh satu
22
duapuluh dua
23
duapuluh tiga
30
tiga puluh
40
empat puluh
50
lima puluh
100
seratus
200
dua ratus
300
tiga ratus
1000
seribu
1100
seribu seratus
1152
seribu seratus lima puluh dua
1200
seribu duaratus
1500
seribu limaratus
2000
dua ribu
2100
dua ribu seratus
10,000
sepuluh ribu
20,000
duapuluh ribu
100,000
seratus ribu
150,000
seratus limapuluh ribu
156,125
seratus limapuluh enam ribu seratus duapuluh lima
250,000
duaratus limapuluh ribu / seperempat juta (quarter of a
million)
500,000
limaratus ribu / setengah juta (half a million)
1,000,000
satu juta
1,150,000
satu juta seratus limapuluh ribu
1,250,000
satu seperempat juta
1,500,000
satu setengah juta
1,750,000
satu juta tujuh ratus limapuluh ribu
1,000,000,000
satu milyar
1,000,000,000,000
satu trilyun
number _____ (train, bus,
etc.)
nomor _____ (NO-more)
half
setengah
quarter
seperempat
three quarter
tiga perempat
less
kurang
more
lebih
________
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