Sunda) or one of the other 700 regional languages spoken across the archipelago. It is written in the Latin alphabet and is phonetic, which makes it easy to learn. Its grammar is also relatively logical, as will be explained.
Pronunciation Guide
The pronunciation of Indonesian is regular once you learn a few sounds particular to the language (shown here with an *). In general, the sounds of Indonesian are similar to that of Italian or Spanish.
| a | as in Bali, father. Never “ay” as in English |
| e | as in mother (unvoiced shwa sound) |
| e | + ac cent (é, usually not written) as in saté, café. This sound is much less common than the unvoiced e. In this book, an accent will be shown, but this does not appear in ordinary written Indonesian. Neither e nor é is ever pronounced as “ee” like in English. |
| i | as in mini, piano. Never “eye” as in English. |
| o | as in pogo, piano |
| u | as in ukulele, true |
| b | as in bed, Bali |
| c* | as in chair, church (never k in words of Indonesian origin) |
| d | as in door, diva |
| f | as in five, off (some Indonesians say p instead of f) |
| g | as in goat, giggle (always hard) |
| h | as in hello |
| j | as in juice, Jakarta |
| k | as in kettle, Kalimantan |
| l | as in lemon |
| m | as in Médan, mini |
| n | as in November |
| ng* | as in singing, gong |
| ngg* | as in finger (ng + g) |
| p | as in party, pen |
| q | is only in words of Arabic origin and is pronounced k, e.g. Qatar |
| r* | is trilled as in Spanish. Rrrrrr. A tricky sound to learn. |
| s | as in sarong, satay |
| t | as in tornado, tent |
| v* | is pronounced as f, usually in words from Dutch, e.g. the female name Vivi is usually pronounced Fifi. |
| w | as in water, Wednesday |
| y | as in yellow, young |
| z | as in zoo. This letter is not common and is pronounced as j by some people. |
The alphabet can be sung to the same tune as the English alphabet song:
Ah bé sé dé é éf gé
Ha ii jé ka él ém én
O pé ki érr éss té oo
Fé wé éks yé zét
The International Phonetic Alphabet is very useful where it is unclear whether the English or Indonesian alphabet is being used. Misspelt international airline tickets can cause a great deal of problems and stress, so make sure you always check spelling and name order. The concept of having a family name is a fairly recent development and the idea of surnames is quite unfamiliar to even some westernized Indonesians.
The following codes are used for Indonesian letters and numbers when given verbally (e.g. over a phone):
Alpha bravo Charlie delta echo foxtrot golf hotel India Juliet kilo London (the usual equivalent is Lima, but this means 5 in Indonesian) Mike November Oscar Papa Quebec Romeo sierra tango uniform victor whiskey x-ray Yankee Zulu
Numbers are said by putting the word angka (number) before the actual number. For example: IP32AF would be read
ii / péh / angka tiga / angka dua / ah / éff,
or
India / Papa / angka tiga / angka dua / alpha / foxtrot.
PART ONE
Essential Language Pointers
This is essential reading to get an overview before you begin trying out phrases.
Indonesian word order is basically the same as English but can be flexible, i.e. subject / verb / object.
| Saya | makan | nasi. |
| I | eat | rice. |
One key difference is that adjectives follow the noun, as in French, e.g.
| Saya | makan | nasi | putih.. | |
| I | eat | rice | white. | (= I eat white rice.) |
One great feature is that, unlike in English, you do not have to worry about tense, plural or gender. When these are shown, they are done so in other, more intuitive ways.
PRONOUNS
SINGULAR
| I | saya, aku (informally or to children) |
| you | usually not stated. You can use anda (a bit stilted) or the person’s name. Kamu is very familiar or for children. Engkau or kau is common in Sumatra. |
| he, she, it | dia |
PLURAL
| we | kita (including person being addressed), |
| kami (excluding person being addressed) | |
| you | kalian. This is a useful word which is neither distant or over-familiar. |
| they | meréka |
These can all be used as adjectives to create possessive pronouns, e.g.
buku saya my book buku kita our book
Sometimes these are abbreviated.
| bukunya | (from buku dia) his or her book, the book |
| bukumu | your (familiar) book |
| bukuku | my (familiar) book |
Sometimes pronouns are omitted in spoken Indonesian, especially when referring to other people, or if who you are referring to is clear from the context of the sentence.
NOUNS
These always come before any adjective describing them, except when counting.
| tas | bag |
| tas biru | blue bag |
| bis | bus |
| bis biru | blue bus |
| uang | money |
| tiga tas biru | three blue bags |
Many words with the affixes ke-an are nouns, often with a more abstract meaning.
uang money; keuangan finance
aman secure, safe; keamanvan security
Per-an is another affix denoting more abstract nouns.
tani farmer; pertanian agriculture
usaha trade, business; perusahaan company
ADJECTIVES
These always follow the noun (or verb) they describe. There is no clear distinction between adjectives and adverbs (which describe verbs).
| biru | blue |
| tas biru | blue
|
