Learn to Speak Indonesian

shutternomad.com /2012/12/bahasa/
Michael

Selamat Siang Temanku! Anda mau Belajar Bahasa Indonesia? Bagus Sekali!
Hello friend! You want to learn to speak Indonesian? Great!

One of the most rewarding experiences for me in 2010 has been learning basic conversational
Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) while backpacking through Asia. When you speak the local
language, especially one that most foreigners never bother to learn, you open unexpected
doors, make many friends, put smiles on countless faces, and experience the country in a way
most people dont.

Why learn Bahasa?

You are likely reading this because you are interested in visiting Indonesia, a beautiful country
full of amazing people and rich with culture. Even learning a few phrases will greatly enhance
your experience there. I am confident that you will pick up some Bahasa on your trip if you try,
and that this guide will aid in your learning. Learning Indonesian sounds scary, exotic, and
difficult but I assure you Bahasa Indonesia was one of the simplest languages Ive ever come
across. Once I learned how to learn Bahasa via immersion and comprehension rather than rote
and repetition, learning to speak a few more languages in the next few months became much
easier and Ive actually found Im eager to learn even more languages.

A message to my fellow Americans

Dont be scared. Youre not bad at languages, most people in the world are bilingual. Many of
your foreign coworkers that speak fluent English probably learned it as a second language in
high school or college. I was terrible at learning languages before my trip. This isnt America,
nobody is going to laugh at you, get upset at you, or tell you to go back to your country if you
say things wrong. People would often smile and correct me, and some even sat down and spent
hours with me teaching me pronunciations and other words even when they didnt speak a
word of English themselves. Ive sat in rice paddies with farmers, chatted with countless
waiters, drank tea with a painter, road tripped with awesome Jakartan photographers, and even
bantered with a police officer for a while all while they taught me what Im attempting to teach
you now. Those moments were more meaningful to me than any ancient temples I visited or
beautiful sunsets I watched on my trip, and I hope you can experience some of those
connections as well.

Bahasa is E-A-S-Y

A few reasons why conversational Bahasa is so easy to learn:

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 There are no new characters to learn, you can already read and write it
There are no verb tenses to learn
Objects have no gender, even he and she is the same word
Words are almost always pronounced exactly as spelled
There are no plural words, simply repeat words to pluralize
There are rarely multiple ways to say the same thing
There are very few articles and prepositions
Syllable emphasis is consistent and not as important as other languages
There are no tones or intonations
The grammar is painfully simple

This means you can string together a few words and youre actually speaking a full proper
sentence. Some quick examples:

English Bahasa

What is this? apa ini?

I want this mau ini

Do you want this? anda mau ini?

This is tasty ini enak

Is this tasty? ini enak?

This guide is full of explanations and tips that took me months to figure out and I would have
learned much faster had someone told them to me. This is not built as a quick phrase guide or
vocabulary list, this is written for people that want to actually learn how to speak basic
conversational Bahasa. Youll be amazed at how far you can get with such a small vocabulary
and I guarantee youll be greeted with huge smiles everywhere you go in Indonesia.

Quick note: Native speakers call their language Bahasa Indonesia, or Bahasa for short.
Bahasa literally means language. Ill be referring to the language as Bahasa from here on out.

Big fat disclaimer: I am not a language teacher nor do I speak the language fluently. I just picked
it up quickly, love speaking it, and love teaching others how to speak it. Throughout this guide Ill
be listing the actual spelling of words and how my American ear hears the word.

Ready?

Pronunciation

Getting used to the pronunciation was the most important hurdle. Everything became much
easier once I figured this out. Before diving into words, lets go over pronunciation so you can
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actually read Bahasa. Even if you dont know a single word, with a few rules you can read nearly
any word in Bahasa like a local. Here are the basic pronunciation rules.

Vowel Pronunciation

a ah like Ball and Father

i ee like Bee and Antique

o oh like No and Low

u oo like Food and Hoop

e uh when it is the first vowel in a word

eh like Bed when it is not the first vowel.

ai aye like why

au ow like cow

oi oy like boy

Tip: E takes a bit of getting used to. The common word ke is pronounced as a short kuh,
almost as if you got punched in the gut. When in doubt omit the first e of most words when
speaking. The auditory difference is often very subtle and people will understand you.

Consonant Pronunciation

c c is soft and pronounced ch like China

k k is hard and pronounced k like Cat

j like dg in Edge

r r is always slightly rolled, much like in Spanish. It doesnt matter if its in the
middle or end of a word, it is rolled. In Spanish many people flourish their rolled
rs as if there were 5 or 10 of them in a row but this is definitely not the case in
Bahasa Indonesia a very very short rr is all you need. Avoid the temptation to
pronounce everything like you were excitedly saying Burrrrrrrito! and stick with
a shorter burrito. Because all rs are rolled, most native Indonesians speaking
English will pronounce water as wah-turrrr so dont feel so bad if you cant
get used to it. Indonesians will forgive you if you skip the rolled r but some
people will comment that you have an American accent. After a month of
speaking Bahasa I still forget to roll many of my rs.

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 Consonant Pronunciation

h h is never silent, even at the end of words. Yes, you heard me right. At the end
of the word it is aspirated it sounds like you are softly and quickly breathing
out. Softly is the key, this is not a clearing-your-throat ach sound that you
might have heard in Hebrew, German, or Arabic. Be careful to not forget the
non-silent h when speaking as woods can have different meanings with or
without them. muda (young) and mudah (easy) sound the same to a
westerner not familiar with the sound. murah (cheap) also sounds very similar
if you leave out the rolled r. You can imagine easily getting in trouble if you
were talking about your young friend and describe her to the locals as easy or
cheap (which happened to me).

ng ng like Sing. ng is common in Bahasa and may take some practice. Try
saying long wrong song out loud. Notice that the back of your tongue rests on
the top of your mouth at the end of each word? Get used to that feeling, youll
be using it a lot. It is important to note that the g is soft, it is not as if you said
the word as lon-guh.

ngg ng like Finger (think fi[ng-g]er). ngg is fairly common as well and is used
when a hard g should be pronounced. While not formally a consonant (its
more of a syllable breaking ng-g), its important to learn. Mangga (mango) is
pronounced mahng gah (or mong gah). If you spelled it manga, it would
lack the hard g and would be pronounced mahng ah. Similarly tinggal
(stay/live) is pronounced teeng gahl, bangga (proud) is bahng-gah.

Glottal stop

When a word ends in a b, p, and more often a k its nearly silent. The word no is tidak. It is
pronounced tee-dock but with a barely audible k sound. This is accomplished by putting the
back of your tongue on the top of your throat to cut the k sound short. This is similar to cutting
uh short in the English phrase uh-oh!. Even though its barely audible, you cannot omit it. Try
this out and listen when others say it. Another example that helped me was tick tock. I had to
say tick tock tidak a few times until it felt comfortable, trying hard to cut off the end of each
word as I hit the k. Words ending in b and p behave the same way.

Vocabulary

Ready for words? Lets get some vocabulary under our belt before we try to form sentences or
understand grammer.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Yes ya yah

No / never tidak tee-dahk

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Maybe mungkin moong-keen

Not yet belum buh-loom (often just bloom)

Greetings

Much like English, people say Good morning, good evening. In Indonesia they have many
more specific greetings and people love it when you use them correctly. Youll also be hearing
them a lot throughout the day so its good to at least understand them.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Good morning Selamat pagi suh-lah-maht pah-gee

Good mid-day Selamat siang suh-lah-maht see-ahng

Good afternoon Selamat sore suh-lah-maht sorreh (note the rolled r)

Good evening Selamat malam suh-lah-maht mah-lahm

Mid-day is generally around 11AM-3PM and was described by locals as the really hot part of
the day when you dont want to be outside. Afternoon is typically 3PM-ish to sunset.

People use Selamat [time of day] instead of hello and its almost always appropriate to use
the greeting when meeting a friend, when entering a restaurant or shop, even when passing a
random policeman on the street.

When someone greets you with Selamat pagi, the appropriate response is to repeat pagi and
people (especially women) usually reply in a somewhat happy singsongy way. PA-geeeeee! Try
saying Selamat pagi to a few shop keepers in the morning and note their tone when they
inevitably and happily reply pagi!

As you have likely deduced, pagi is morning, siang is mid-day, sore is afternoon, and malam is
evening/night. Many words get reused so once you know these, you know the meals as well:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Breakfast makan pagi mah-kahn pah-gee

Lunch makan siang mah-kahn si-ang

Dinner makan malam mah-kahn malam

Depending on the context makan means eat or meal, so you are saying Morning meal, Mid-
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day meal, and Evening meal. As you speak more Bahasa youll realize how many words are
reused in many different contexts. For fun nap is tidur siang mid-day sleep.

You can use selamat for many more things as well:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Welcome Selamat datang suh-lah-maht dah-tong

Goodbye (to someone staying) Selamat tinggal suh-lah-maht teeng-gahl

Goodbye (to someone leaving) Selamat jalan suh-lah-maht jah-lahn

Good night (to someone sleeping) Selamat tidur suh-lah-maht tee-doohr

Enjoy your meal (Good eats!) Selamat makan suh-lah-maht mah-kahn

See you later! (informal) Sampai jumpa sahm-pai joom-pah

Digging deeper: As you can see there are two different goodbyes. Selamat tinggal means
Good stay and you say it to someone if they are the ones sticking around. Selamat jalan
means good walk and you say it to someone who is walking away. Jalan also means road so
youll see most roads named Jalan this and Jalan that. Walk about / stroll with no specific
location in mind is jalan-jalan and is used when you are saying you just wanna wander around
town or what you say to pesky shop keepers trying to get you in their store Im just walking
and Im not interested in shopping is simply jalan-jalan.

Advanced tip: Tidur means sleep, so selamat tidur means Good sleep. When someone is
going to bed you say selamat tidur, not selamat malam. Selamat malam technically means
good night but in Bahasa it is used as the good evening greeting. Of course you can always
say sweet dreams (literally beautiful dreams):

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Sweet dreams mimpi indah meem-pee eehn-dah

Politeness

Its always good to be polite in another country and youll find that the Indonesians are extremely
polite people. Youll be using these and hearing these every single day. Its important to note
that Indonesians dont say please. The word for please (tolong) also means help and is
usually used in that context.

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Thank you terima kasih tuh-ree-mah kah-seeh

Youre welcome terima kasih kembali tuh-ree-mah kah-seeh kem-bah-lee

Youre welcome (casual) sama sama sah-mah sah-mah

Sama sama means same same, as in same to you! and should ALWAYS be said after
someone thanks you for anything. This is important. If anyone ever says terima kasih to you
(and they definitely will), reply happily with sama sama!

Kembali means to return, so terima kasih kembali is similar to saying I return your thanks.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

How are you? apa kabar ah-pah kah-barr (dont forget, rolled r)

Good! bagus bah-goos

Very good! bagus sekali bah-goos skah-lee

OK baik (or baik-baik) ba-eek (or baik-baik)

Apa kabar literally means what (is the) news?

Apologies are always good to know too:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Excuse me (if you bump someone) maaf mah-ahf

Im sorry (may I have your forgiveness) minta maaf meen-tah mah-ahf

Its nothing tidak apa-apa tee-dahk ah-pah ah-pah

When ordering food, it is polite to use minta and permisi:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

May I have (polite) minta meen-tah

Excuse me permisi purr-mee-see

(to politely get attention)

Thank you very much terima kasih banyak tuh-ree-mah kah-seeh bahn-yak

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Thanks (informal) makasih mah kah-seeh

Makasih is just a shortened and much less formal version of terima kasih, only to be used with
friends.

Pronouns

English Bahasa Pronunciation

I / me / my / of mine saya sah-yah

You / your anda ahn-dah

They / their mereka muh-reh-kah

Him / her / he / she dia dee-ah

We (listener included) kita kee-tah

We (listener not included) kami kah-mee

Myself / alone sendiri sehn-dee-ree

Notice that saya can be used for pretty much everything referring to self:

English Bahasa Literal translation

My friend teman saya friend / mine

I teach my friend saya belajar teman saya I / teach / friend / mine

My friend taught me teman saya belajar saya friend / me / learn / me

Your friend teman anda friend / you

You taught your friend anda belajar teman anda you / teach / friend / you

Your friend taught you Teman anda belajar anda friend / you / learn / you

Plurals

Many languages, including English, have different words for plural versions of things. Duck,
ducks, goose, geese. There are no plural words in Bahasa, you simply double the word. People
also use banyak which means many.

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Child anak ah-nahk

Chidren anak-anak ah-nahk ah-nahk

A few children beberapa anak beh-beh-rah-pah ah-nahk

Many children banyak anak bahn-yahk ah-nahk

Many banyak bahn-yahk

How many? berapa beh-rah-pah

A couple of beberapa beh-beh-rah-pah

Note that not all words can be doubled Man is laki-laki but men is sadly not laki-laki-laki-laki
which would have been totally awesome. I still dont know how to say men, but simply laki-
laki given the right context seems to work well.

Shopping & Restaurant Basics

English Bahasa Pronunciation

This ini ee-nee

That itu ee-too

What apa ah-pah

All semua seh-moo-ah

Want mau ma-oo (like meow without the ee)

Buy beli buh-lee

Pay bayar bah-yahr

Cheap murah moorrah (rolled r & aspirated h)

And dan dahn

Or atau ah-tah-oo

Open buka boo-kah

Closed tutup too-toop

Need (less polite) perlu purr-loo

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Small kecil keh-cheel

Bathroom kamar kecil kah-mar keh-cheel

Person orang oh-rahng

One person se-orang seh oh-rahng

(when eating alone)

Three people tiga orang tiga oh-rahng

May I have my bill? Minta bon-nya? meen-tah bohn-nya

(check please!)

Putting it together in our first phrases:

English Bahasa Literal translation

What is this? Apa ini? What / this?

Do you want this? Mau ini? Want / this?

Do you want this? (casual) Mau? Want?

I want that Mau itu Want / that

Tip: Notice that I and you are left out of the sentence. You are welcome to use personal
pronouns to be explicit but many people just omit them.

Some other useful shopping / restaurant phrases:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Is this place open? ini tempat ee-nee tem-paht boo-kah?

buka?

Where is the bathroom? di mana kamar dee mah-nah kah-mar keh-cheel (literally
kecil? where is the small room?)

I need the bathroom! saya perlu sah-yah purr-loo kah-mar keh-cheel

(urgent, not polite) kamar kecil!

And people like it when you complement them on the food:

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Tasty enak eh-nahk (Sounds like the english words eh knock)

Very tasty enak sekali eh-nahk skah-lee (or more formally seh-kah-lee)

Its all tasty semua enak seh-moo-ah eh-nahk

Its all delicious! semua enak sekali seh-moo-ah eh-nahk skah-lee!

And if something is REALLY delicious you can use lazat.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Super delicious lazat lah-zaht

Food

Many places dont have English menus, so knowing how to read a menu and order food in
Indonesia can unlock many fantastic culinary options for you. Bonus restaurants are fantastic
places to practice your Bahasa since you have to talk to the host(ess) and waiters throughout
your meal.

Some common foods youll be asking about:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Rice nasi nah-see

Chicken ayam ah-yahm

Pig / pork babi bah-bee

Sausage sosis soh-sees

Fried goreng goh-reng

Mixed campur cham-poor

Fried chicken ayam goreng ah-yahm goh-reng

Fried rice nasi goreng nah-see goh-reng

Chicken fried rice nasi goreng ayam nah-see goh-reng ah-yahm

Vegetable sayur sah-yoor

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Salad sayuran sah-yoor-ahn

Cheese keju keh-joo

Butter mentega muhn-teh-gah

Eggs telur teh-loohr

Tofu tahu tah-hoo

Chili sauce saus sambal sah-oos sahm-bahl

Fruit buah boo-ah (aspirated h)

Fruit plate buah buah han boo-ah boo-ah hahn

Coconut kelapa keh-lah-pah

Young coconut (whole) kelapa muda keh-lah-pah moo-dah

Mango mangga mohng-gah

Banana bisang bee-sang

Potato kantang kahn-tahng

Carrot ortol ohr-tohl

Some drinks:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Water air ahy-yoor

Drinking water air minum ahy-yoor mee-noom

Drinking water (slang) aqua ah-kwah

Bottle botol boh-tohl

Coffee kopi koh-pee

Tea teh teh

Beer bir beer

Milk susu suh

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Coconut water air kelapa ahy-yoor keh-lah-pah

Ice es ess

Youll often want to ask for cold water, youll want some black pepper, or check if something is
sour.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Hot (temp) panas pah-nahs

Cold (temp) dingin deeng-in

Sugar gula goo-lah

Salt garam gah-rahm

Black pepper merica hitam meh-ree-cha hee-tahm

Sweet manis mah-nees

Salty asin ah-seen

Sour asam ah-sahm

Tasteless tawar tah-wahr

Since tap water may get you sick, sometimes it is safe to tell them to not use ice:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Dont (command) jangan jahng-ahn

Use pakai pah-kayee

Dont use ice jangan pakai es jahng-ahn pah-kayee ess

And finally my most useful Bahasa phrase. I use it every time I sit down at a restaurant and
waiters/waitresses will often ask the chef or will give you their opinion on whats the tastiest. Ive
had some incredible meals this way and I had absolutely no idea what I was ordering until I
learned more Bahasa words.

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Whats the most delicious thing yang mana paling yahng mah-nah pah-leeng eh-
here? enak? nahk?

Animals

Youll probably want to refer to animals you arent likely to eat

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Dog anjing ahn-jeeng

Cat kucing koo-cheeng

Monkey monyet mohn-yeht

Naughty monkey monyet nakal mohn-yeht nah-kahl

Sweet dog anjing manis ahn-jeeng mah-nees

Note that sweet (manis) can be used with animals, women, and sauces but cannot be used for
men, doing so is an effeminate insult.

Numbers

Once you learn 1-10, the teens, a hundred, a thousand, and a million you will be able to say just
about every number.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

1 satu sah-tooh

2 dua doo-ah

3 tiga tee-gah

4 empat em-paht

5 lima lee-ma

6 enam nahm (e is silent)

7 tujuh too-joo

8 delapan deh-lah-pahn

9 sembilan sem-bee-lahn
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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

10 sepuluh seh-pooh-looh

The teens are from 11-19 which are trickier. The word belas is used as teen. Bahasa
shortens one to a, such as a hundred, or a month instead of one hundred or one
month. Interestingly this also applies to 11 one teen is a teen sebelas instead of satu
belas, but 12 is two teen, 13 is three teen, and familiarly 14-19 is four teen to nine teen.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

11 sebelas seh-bloss

12 dua belas duah bloss

13 tiga belas tee-gah bloss

19 sembilan belas sem-bee-lahn bloss

20-99 is pretty straightforward. 20 is dua puluh which literally means two ten. Just as you
would say Two hundred or Two thousand, you say Two ten. 21 is two ten one.

Hundred is ratus. Just like 11, one hundred gets special treatment. Instead of satu ratus
one says seratus.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

20 dua puluh duah pooh-looh

21 dua puluh satu duah pooh-looh sah-tooh

22 dua puluh dua duah pooh-looh duah

30 tiga puluh tee-gah pooh-looh

40 empat puluh em-paht pooh-looh

99 sembilan blas sembilan sem-bee-lahn blahs sem-bee-lahn

100 seratus seh-rah-toos

101 seratus satu seh-rah-toos sah-tooh

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

115 seratus lima bilas seh-rah-toos lee-mah bloss

555 lima ratus lima puluh lima lee-mah rah-toos lee-mah bloss lee-mah

Thousand is ribu ree-boo. This is very common since the IDR (Indonesian Rupiah) is always
in the thousands. Million is juta. Unlike 100 (seratus) and 1,000 (seribu), some people say
satu juta, some shorten it to sejuta. It seems to be a personal preference thing.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

1,000 ribu ree-boo

1,111 seribu seratus sebilas seh-ree-boo seh-rah-toos se-blahs

2,000 dua ribu duah ree-boo

1,000,000 sejuta / satu juta seh-joo-tah / sah-too joo-tah

Time

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Today hari ini hah-ree ee-nee (literally this day)

Tomorrow besok beh-sock

Yesterday kemarin keh-mah-reen

Now sekarang seh-kah-rahng

Later nanti nahn-tee

Not yet belum bloom or buh-loom

Every day setiap hari seh-tee-ahp hah-ree

Hour jam jahm

Day hari hah-ree

Month (moon) bulan booh-lahn

Year tahun tah-hoon

5 oclock jam lima (hour five) jahm-lima

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

6 oclock jam enam jahm-nahm

When kapan kah-pahn

What time is it? Jam berapa jahm beh-rah-pah

In 3 days tiga hari lagi tee-gah hah-ree lah-gee

3 days ago tiga hari yang lalu tee-gah hah-ree yahng-lah-looh

Tip: Times in the future use lagi again/another and times in the past use yang lalu which
passed. Think of it like saying In another three days and Three days have passed since

For vs For

In English you can say for two days (duration) and for fun (purpose), but these are distinct
words in Bahasa.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

For (purpose) untuk oohn-toohk

For (duration) selama suh-lah-mah

Some examples in sentences:

English Bahasa

I am staying in Bali saya tinggal di Bali

I am staying in north Bali saya tinggal di Bali utara

I am going to north Bali saya pergi ke Bali utara

I am staying in north Bali for three saya tinggal di Bali utara selama tiga hari (during
days three days)

I am staying in north Bali for the saya tinggal di Bali utara untuk belajar Bahasa
purpose of learning Bahasa Indonesia

I am staying in north Bali to learn saya tinggal di Bali utara untuk belajar Bahasa
Bahasa Indonesia (same as previous sentence)

Grammar & Sentences

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Now that we know some words, we can form more complex sentences. Most sentences are of
the following structure

Time + person + verb + subject + adjective

Adjectives and adverbs go after words, so this morning is morning this and tasty food is
food tasty. An example in a sentence:

English Bahasa Literal translation

This morning I want Pagi ini saya mau makan morning / this / I / want / meal /
delicious breakfast pagi enak morning / tasty

Once you form your first sentence Bahasa some people will automatically assume you speak it
really well. This can be really intimidating when they start quickly speaking to you in Bahasa. Its
handy to tell people you only speak / understand a little bit, to recognize when someone is
asking if you speak Bahasa, or to ask a shop keeper if they can speak English / Spanish /
whatever. I found myself using these variants nearly every day to explain how it is I spoke
Bahasa. In fact, I used it so often that one girl I met accused me of only knowing how to speak
these few sentences since she heard me say it three times to three different people in a span of
two minutes.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Understand mengarti mung-ahr-tee

Speak bicara bee-charra

Able (to) bisa bee-sa

Can dapat dah-paht

Language bahasa bah-hah-sah

Indonesia Indonesia in-do-neh-see-yah

England Inggris Eeng-grees

A little bit sedikit-sedikit sdee-kit sdee-kit

Some useful examples

English Bahasa Literal Translation

I am from England Saya dari Inggris I / from / England

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 English Bahasa Literal Translation

I can understand Bahasa Saya bisa mengarti Bahasa I / able / understand /

Indonesia language / Indonesia

Can you speak English? Anda bisa bicara Bahasa You / able / speak / language /
Inggris? England?

I can speak a little bit of Saya bisa bicara Bahasa I / able / speak / language /
Bahasa Indonesia sedikit-sedikit Indonesia / little / little

Ive been able to speak saya bisa bicara Bahasa I / able / speak / language /
Bahasa for two months Indonesia selama dua Indonesia / during / two /
bulan month

Speak slowly please pilan-pilan slow / slow

Can you say that again? lagi? again?

Speak slowly please, Ive only pilan-pilan, saya hanya slow / slow / I / only / learn /
been learning to speak belajar bicara bahasa speak / language / Indonesia /
Bahasa for the past 7 days Indonesia selama tujuh hari during / seven / day

I taught myself saya belajar sendiri I / learn / alone

My friend taught me teman saya belajar saya friend / me / teach / me

People & Respect

Respect is an important element of Bahasa Indonesia. There is not one word for man or
woman, there are three levels. These are equivalent to boy / guy / man and girl / lady /
woman. Always use the most formal form when speaking to someone older or respected or
when youre just not sure. Use the lowest form with children or with close friends. Indonesian
men also use the least formal when saying look at that hot girl just as many American men do.
For some reason some of these words always have emphasis unlike other Bahasa words, Ive
capitalized the emphasis I hear.

Formality Male Female

Most formal laki-laki (lah-kee lah-kee) perempuan (peh-rem-poo-ahn)

Mid formal pria (pree-ah) wanita (wah-nee-tah)

Least formal cowok (choh-wohk) cewek (cheh-whek)

Similarly the words for I and you are different based on context, and there are two levels of
formality.
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 Formality I You

Formal saya (sah-yah) anda (ahn-dah)

Informal aku (ah-koo) kamu (kah-moo)

In general you should always use saya or anda unless the person you are talking to starts to
use aku and kamu with you. Even then, they might be using it because you are younger or they
see themselves as being more respected so using kamu might be insulting. Stick to saya &
anda unless its with close friends around your age or when speaking to little kids.

More Vocabulary

Starting to get the hang of this? Youll want to know how to talk about people & travel next

People

Youll frequently hear these words in casual conversation.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Pretty (for a woman) cantik chahn-teek

Cute / Handsome (for a man) ganteng gahn-tahng

Funny lucu loo-choo

Like suka soo-kah

Crazy gila gee-lah

Stupid bodoh boh-doh

Naughty (like a naughty monkey) nakal nah-kahl

Naughty monkey monyet nakal mohn-yeht nah-kahl

Girlfriend / boyfriend pacar pah-charr

Friend teman teh-mahn

My friend teman saya teh-mahn sah-yah

Your girlfriend / boyfriend pacar anda pah-charr ahn-dah

Love (romantic) cinta cheen-tah

Kiss cium chee-oom

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Hug paluk pah-look

Tip: Be careful to not jokingly call someone a naughty girl as that basically means prostitute.
Also, make sure to call a man ganteng instead of kantang or youre saying he looks like a
potato instead of calling him handsome.

Examples:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

You are very beautiful. anda cantik sekali ahn-dah chahn-teek skah-lee

Yesterday I kissed your kemarin saya cium kuh-mah-reen sah-yah chee-oom

friend teman anda teman ahn-dah

I want to kiss you saya mau cium anda sah-yah ma-oo chee-oom ahn-dah

Youre crazy anda gila ahn-dah gee-lah

Tip: Dont use cinta to say that you love Nutella that means something entirely different as I
embarrassingly found out. cinta is reserved for romantic love between two people, not as a
replacement for like a lot (suka sekali), otherwise you are almost saying you want to make love
to the bottle of Nutella.

Travel

You will quickly learn that people ask you where you are from and where you are going. Its
really handy to be able to tell them where youve been, what youre doing here, and your next
few destinations. Bonus points for using sentences.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

go pergi purr-gee

go to pergi ke purr-gee kuh

walk jalan jah-lahn

walk around / go for a stroll jalan-jalan jah-lahn jah-lahn

travel bepergian (notice the pergi) beh-purr-gee-ahn

return kembali kehm-bah-lee

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

car mobil moh-beel

motorbike motor moh-tohrr

beautiful / scenic indah een-dah

(for places, not people)

here di sini dee see-nee

there di sana dee sah-nah

north utara ooh-tah-rah

south selatan slah-tahn

east timor tee-moorr

west barat bah-raht

middle/central tengah tuhn-gah

Examples:

English Bahasa Literal Translation

I am going to west saya pergi ke Bali barat I / go / Bali / west

Bali

Three days ago I tiga hari yang lalu saya three / day / which have passed / i /
came here datang ke di sini arrive / to / here

In three days I will tiga hari lagi saya kembali three / day / again / I / return
return

Where are you mau ke mana? want / to / where?

going?

This last one confuses me a bit since it literally means want to where? but youll definitely hear
it a LOT. I was surprised at how often I was asked and started to feel like people were being a
bit nosy. Dont worry though, people are asking because they care (especially hotel staff). If
anything happens to you they want to know where they can find you, theyre not going to follow
you to steal your stuff or to pry. There are very no police in Balinese villages and almost no
crime because everyone knows where everyone else is going and where theyve been.

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Where are you from? anda dari mana ahn-dah dah-ree mah-nah?

Where are you from? (informal) kamu dari mana kah-moo dah-ree mah-nah?

What is your name? siapa nama anda? see-ah-pah nah-mah ahn-dah?

From dari dah-ree

I am from America saya dari Amerika sah-yah dah-ree ah-meh-ree-kah

I am from Sweden saya dari Swedia sah-yah dah-ree swee-dee-uh

I am from France saya dari Perencis sah-yah dah-ree peh-ren-chees

(sounds like Frenchies)

My name is Michael nama saya Michael nah-mah sah-yah mah-ee-kul

As you drive and walk around Indonesia youre bound to see this:

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Caution / be careful! Hati-hati hah-tee hah-tee

Note that this looks like a plural but hati means heart and the street signs are most definitely
not saying hearts!

And finally, these two words should adequately describe the weather in Indonesia

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Rain hujan hoo-jahn

Hot panas pah-nahs

Some more handy words

From memory, these are many words that I found useful in day to day conversation.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Know tahu tah-hu

I dont know tidak tahu tee-dock tah-hu

Holiday liburan lee-boo-rahn

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 English Bahasa Pronunciation

Only hanya hahn-ya

Meet bertemu ber-teh-moo

With dengan dung-ahn

Keep going terus troos

Keep walking straight jalan terus jah-lan tross

Place tempat tehm-paht

Enough cukup choo-koop

Relax santai sahn-ta-ee

Both / berdua behr-doo-ah

the two of them /
the two of you

The three of these bertiga behr-tee-ga

Lazy malas mah-lahs

Learn belajar blah-jahr

Room kamar kah-mahr

To shower / bathe mandi mahn-dee

Bathroom (room with shower) kamar mandi kah-mahr mahn-dee

Help tolong toh-lohng

Have punia pooh-nee-ya

After that sesuda itu seh-soo-dah ee-too

Word kata kah-tah

Words kata-kata kah-tah

Look lihat lee-hat

Useful in a hotel

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 English Bahasa

Can I look at a few rooms? bisa saya lihat beberapa kamar?

Hot water? Air panas?

Ill take it Baik, saya mau.

(OK, I want it)

I will say for __ nights saya tinggal __ malam

Do you accept credit cards? saya pakai kartu kredit?

(Am I able to use a credit card?)

Comprehension via Literal Translation

To tie it all together, its useful to see some full sentences and break them down into literal
English translations to better reveal the grammar. Once you understand the grammar youll be
surprised at how you can string together words and successful form sentences. Ill list some
handy phrases and their literal english translations so you can get a feel for it. There are some
other useful new words mixed in as well.

English Bahasa

May I please have two cold waters? minta dua air minum dingin?

Three days ago tiga hari yang lalu

Three days ago I arrived / came tiga hari yang lalu saya datang

Three days ago I arrived / came here tiga hari yang lalu saya datang di sini

I take photos saya ambil foto

I want to take photos. saya mau ambil foto

I want to take many photos saya mau ambil banyak foto

Tomorrow I want to take many photos besok saya mau ambil banyak foto

Tomorrow I want to take many photos of besok saya mau ambil banyak foto monyet
monkeys

Tomorrow I want to take many photos of besok saya mau ambil banyak foto monyet
naughty monkeys nakal

Tomorrow I want to go to east bali besok saya mau pergi ke bali timur

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 English Bahasa

Tomorrow I want to go to east bali to take besok saya mau pergi ke bali timur untuk
many photos of naughty monkeys ambil banyak foto monyet nakal

In this case we dont say monyet-monyet to say monkeys, think of it as Many monkey photos,
the many applies to photo, and its clear to the speaker that there are multiple monkeys.

Advanced: Prefixes and suffixes

Bahasa makes heavy use of prefixes and suffixes. I wasnt there long enough learn them all but
it makes understanding words in context easy. If you listen for a root word you can often
understand what someone is saying. If you learn one word, you can often comprehend a dozen!
Dont worry about what each of these prefixes and suffixes do to the word, just focus on the root
word. If you ever hear something ajar something it has something to do with teaching or
learning which, given some practice and context, will let you understand complex sentences
given a small vocabulary. An example of this in English is Develop, Developing,
Development, Redevelop, etc.

Ajar Variant Bahasa

ajar teach

ajaran teachings

belajar to learn

mengajar to teach

diajar being taught

mempelajari to study

dipelajari being studied

pelajar student

pengajar teacher

pelajaran subject

pengajaran lesson, moral of story

pembelajaran learning

terajar accidentally taught

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 Ajar Variant Bahasa

terpelajar well-educated

berpelajaran is educated

Lets look at a useful example of this, -an. Appending -an to a verb turns it into a noun.

English Bahasa Pronunciation

Eat (verb) Makan mah-kahn

Food (noun) Makanan mah-kahn-ahn

Drink (verb) Minum mee-noom

Drink (noun) Minuman mee-noom-ahn

Advanced: No, not yet, isnt, dont, forbidden, NEIN!

Bahasa has many ways of saying no, and you cant just throw tidak in front of things like you
can use no in Spanish.

Belum

English Bahasa Meaning & Usage

Tidak no, not (to negate verbs and adjectives) and never

Bukan is not used to say A is not B (I am not from Canada)

Jangan do not used to tell someone not to do something

Dilarang dont do that / forbidden

Youll often see it on signs along side hati-hati

not yet.

Belum is the tricky one. This was the source of much confusion for me. If someone asks if you
have a girlfriend/boyfriend/wife/husband, replying with tidak is the equivalent of saying that
you will never have one, as tidak means never as well as no. You should instead say belum
(not yet). Similarly, if someone asks if you are hungry, you say belum not yet, or you are
saying you are never hungry. Be wary of this or you will confuse native speakers.

Advanced: Colloquial Indonesian & Shortening

I didnt learn from a book and I wrote down words as I learned them. I was surprised to later find
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out that many of the words I wrote down were not in the dictionary! What was going on?

It turns out that Indonesians like to shorten commonly used words, just as english uses cuz for
both because and cousin. Tidak ada (I dont have) becomes tiada, bapak (father) becomes
pak, aku (I) becomes ku, kamu (you) becomes mu. Even when words arent shortened in that
manner, the first e in many words is often skipped. Selamat is often pronounced slah-maht,
selama is often pronounced slah-mah instead of suh-lah-mah and sedikit (little) is
pronounced sdee-keet instead of suh-deeh-keet.

Conclusion

Congratulations, youve made it to the end! This concludes my conversational Bahasa survival
guide. With some practice, youll be able to communicate entirely in Bahasa during your travels.

Special thanks to Carpediem Ayu for patiently and masterfully explaining subtle grammar and
spelling details to me, Astri Candrarini for forcing me to Skype her to practice spoken Bahasa,
Jessy Eykendorp for showing me around Bali and introducing me to so many amazing new
friends / native speakers, and the countless other new friends who put up with my broken
language skills and helped me along the way.

Gusti says: Anda dapat belajar bisa bicara Bahasa Indonesia!

Suggestions? Improvements? Corrections? Leave a reply below!

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