Indonesian Grammar, Proverb, Simple Conversations,

and Reading
Evi evi @ writeme.com, November 2004
For Thomas’s web

Indonesian Grammar, Proverb, Simple Conversations, and Reading..................................1

Introduction
..........................................................................................................................................3
Characteristic and Major Difference Compared to Other Languages.............................4
Kata Benda (Noun)..........................................................................................................6
Base Form and Derivative Form
......................................................................................................................................6
Singular Form and Plural Form...................................................................................7
Gender..........................................................................................................................7
Kata Kerja (Verb)............................................................................................................8
Kata Ganti (Pronoun).....................................................................................................10
Personal Pronoun
....................................................................................................................................10
Kami, Kita..................................................................................................................11
Referring an Animal..................................................................................................11
Possessive Pronoun(Kata Ganti Kepemilikan)..........................................................11
Kata Ganti Penunjuk (Determiner Pronoun)..............................................................11
Kata Ganti Penanya (Question Word).......................................................................12
Kata bilangan (Number)................................................................................................14
Ordinal Number – Bilangan Ordinal..........................................................................14
Kata sifat (Adjective).....................................................................................................15
Comparison (Perbandingan)......................................................................................15
Kata Keterangan (Adverb).............................................................................................16
Kata Penghubung (Conjugation) – Konjungsi...........................................................19
Kata Seru (interjection)..............................................................................................22
Artikel (article)...........................................................................................................24
Proverb (Peribahasa)......................................................................................................25
Simple Conversation (Percakapan Sederhana)..............................................................27
Greeting (salam).........................................................................................................27
Introducing people (perkenalan)................................................................................28
Asking for time and date (Menanyakan waktu dan tanggal).....................................29
Asking for direction (Menanyakan Arah)..................................................................30
Phone conversation (pembicaraan telepon)...............................................................31
Sentence.........................................................................................................................33
Pattern........................................................................................................................33
Active sentence and passive sentence........................................................................33
Kalimat Tunggal and Kalimat Majemuk...................................................................34
Indonesian Affixation....................................................................................................35
Reading..........................................................................................................................45

1
Translating a popular Indonesian song......................................................................45

2
Introduction

Where should we start?

At kindergarten, children start with pronunciation of alphabet, and then try to make syllable (suku
kata) ba-bi-bu-be-bo, ka-ki-ku-ke-ko, until all 21 consonants have been in paired with 5 vowels
(za-zi-zu-ze-zo). And then you are expected to combine syllables to make words.

Twenty to thirty years ago, the first sentence taught at elementary school was: "Ini Budi." (This is
Budi) Continued with the whole introduction of Budi's family. Father, mother, sister, brother,
uncle, and aunt. At my third grade at elementary school, my father taught me English. It also
started with the same pattern of sentence. “This is a table. This is an egg.”

Let’s start with that for the sake of memory!

Demonstrative pronoun ini (this) and itu (that)

Ini Budi. This is Budi.

Itu bapak Budi. That is Budi’s father.

Does Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia) is the same as Malay?

Indonesian is one of Malay dialects. Malay, known as Bahasa, is spoken at Indonesia, Singapore,
Malaysia, and Brunei. It has many dialects that sometimes speakers from different dialects
confuse one another. This is why, Indonesian is declared as the unified language at Indonesia
(1928). As for the sake of standard writing, a general Indonesian spelling standard is released
from the 30th Congress of Language Board (Majelis Bahasa) Brunei Darussalam – Indonesia –
Malaysia (1991).

For more information about Malay, check http://ms.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahasa_Melayu

Check some difference in the following table.

English Indonesia Malaysia

Public notice
Have fun
Emergency (notice near
the lift: In emergency case,
do not use the lift)
Pengumuman, pemberitahuan
Bersenang-senang
Darurat
(dalam keadaan darurat
jangan gunakan lift)
Maklumat (maklumat is known in
Indonesian, but rarely used except
in old stories)
Berseronok (in Indonesian it has
negative meaning: to wear a sexy
cloth)
Kecemasan
(dalam masa kecemasan, jangan
gunakan lift)
In Indonesian, kecemasan means a
feeling of uneasiness, but not that

3
 urgent
Child Anak Budak
In Indonesian, it means: slave. At
Palembang-Sumatera island, the
word for anak is the same, budak.
At Sundanese, it is barudak.
Car Mobil Kereta
In Indonesian, kereta means train.
At some dialects, it means bike,
even motor-cycle

For information check:

http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perbedaan_antara_sebutan_Bahasa_Melayu_basahan_dan_B
ahasa_Indonesia

But, don’t worry too much about the difference. It is not so bad compared to me as native
speaker of Palembangese dialect (that has the same dialect as Kuala Lumpur dialect)
when I meet my friends with Javanese dialect. I do not speak Javanese; therefore I am
completely blank as they talk in their mother tongue :-) There is another special course
for language such as Javanese or Sundanese.

Characteristic and Major Difference Compared to Other

Languages.

1. Just like English, Indonesian consists of 26 letters (a-z) and 5 vowels (a,i,u,e,o).
However only 3 diphthongs (ai, au, oi) and 4 dual-consonant conjunct (kh, ng, ny,
sy) are known. Sentence is read from left to right. Notice that letters are read
differently compared to English. The main trouble of Indonesian learning English
and vice versa is on mixing pronouncation of two vowels. Letter i is pronounced
as e in English, letter e is pronounced as a.
2. Punctuation is known just like English.
3. Noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjugation, interjection, article,
pronoun are known.
4. Passive sentence and active sentence are known.
5. Subject, predicate (verb), and object are known.
6. Proverb and idiom are known.
7. Slang language is also known. Spoken among young people.
8. Words in Indonesian are very rich with suffix, infix, and prefix.
9. There is no gender for words.
10. Indonesian does not have tense.
11. Pronoun is only known for person. There is no pronoun for animal or other
unanimated object such as ‘it’.
12. There is no determiner like ‘the’.
13. The plural form has the same form as the singular one for noun. However,
reduplication may occur in some rules.

4
14. The concept of “we” is further defined as “we” without listener, and “we” with
listener included.

5
Kata Benda (Noun)

Base Form and Derivative Form

There are two types of noun based on how they are formed.
1. Base form (bentuk dasar, stem, or kata dasar)
2. Derivative form (bentuk turunan, or kata berimbuhan)

Derivative noun is formed by adding affixation (prefix, suffix, infix, konfiks) to a base word. A
base word need not be typed as noun, it can be adjective or verb.
Example:
Paman dan Budi membaca koran di taman.
Uncle and Budi are reading the newspaper in the garden.

The words paman, Budi (a person’s name), koran, and taman are all noun in the base form. Now,
consider this sentence.
Pendukung Arsenal merayakan kemenangan timnya dengan penuh kegembiraan.
Arsenal supporters celebrated the victory of their team joyfully.

The words pendukung, kemenangan, kegembiraan are all derivative nouns. In Indonesian
dictionary, we search by base form first, and then try to find the specific derivative form.
Therefore, we will not find a derivative word as first entry in the dictionary.

Pendukung = pe + (n) + dukung

Kemenangan = ke + menang + an
Kegembiraan = ke + gembira + an

In this example, dukung is a verb for support. Adding prefix pe- converts the word as noun.
Menang is a verb (to win), and gembira is an adjective (joyful). Adding ke-an converts the words
as nouns.

ke-, pe-, and per- are most common used prefix to form a derivative noun. The complete rules for
noun are given below:

No affix example English

1 Ke-, ke-an Kekasih, kehendak, Lover, will, laziness,
kemalasan, kediaman residence
2 pe(n)-, pe(n)-an, -an Penyelia, penerjemah, Supervisor, translator,
penerjemahan, translating (process
terjemahan, penyanyi of), translation, singer
3 per-, per-an pertapa, pertanyaan, ?, question, fix,
perbaikan, brotherhood
persaudaraan
4 -el, -er, -em gelembung, serabut, bubble, ?, sparkling
gemerlap
5 -wan, -wati Bangsawan, noble family, reporter
wartawati, hartawan (female), rich man
6 -at, -in Hadirin, hadirat audience (male),

6
 audience (female)
7 -isme, -isasi, -logi, -tas Nasionalisme, Nationalism,
nasionalisasi, nationalization,
terminologi, terminology,
komunitas community

Note: Indonesian also derivates affix from foreign language as seen in number 7.

It is better to predict first what a suspicious noun word serves as in a sentence. Noun can serve as
subject, object, predicate, or complement. Check this example:

Kakek ketagihan masakan menantunya.

Grandpa is addicted to his daughter-in-law’s cooking.
While all other words are nouns, ketagihan is a verb. It is formed by ke + tagih + an.

Ke-, ke-an, pe-, pe-an, -an, per- can form other types of word beside noun. To avoid confusion,
refer to complete rule in the Indonesian Affixation page (last page of this document).

Singular Form and Plural Form

The simple way to make a noun plural is by repeating the word. In Indonesian grammar, it is
known as reduplication (kata ulang). Reduplication also happens on adverb, adjective, verb, and
number. We’ll cover Kata Ulang in detail next time. A lot of fun! Rumah-rumahan for example,
does not mean houses, but doll-house.

Example:

No Singular English Plural English

Kucing Cat Kucing-kucing Cats
Sepatu Shoes Sepatu-sepatu Shoes
Pendidikan Education Pendidikan- Educations
pendidikan

“Di sana ada kucing-kucing.”

“There are cats.”

Kucing-kucing does not tell the listener how many cats are there, and neither does sepatu-sepatu.
If we know there are four cats, we will say: “Di sana ada 4 kucing.” “There are 4 cats.”

Notice that we do not repeat kucing any more as we have a quantity word before the noun. The
rule also applies if we know there are a lot of cats (more than 1):
“Di sana ada banyak kucing.”
“There are a lot of cats.”

Gender
Indonesian does not use gender for words. Therefore, there is no gender for noun.

7
Kata Kerja (Verb)

Just like noun, with verb we have basic form and derivative form.

Example of base form:

Saya mandi, sarapan, kemudian pergi ke kantor saya. Setelah saya pulang dari kantor, saya
langsung tidur.
I took a bath, ate my breakfast, and then went to my office. After I had come back from the
office, I went to bed directly.

In SPOK pattern sentence, verb is mostly found as Predicate.

Monyet memanjat pohon kelapa.
Subject + Predicate + Object

The monkey climbs the coconut tree.

Me-, di-, ter-, ke- are the prefix used to form a derivate verb.

No Affix Example English

1 Me-, me-kan, me-i, memper-kan Meminjam, To borrow, to lend
meminjamkan, (+noun), to lend (+
meminjami, personal pronoun), to
mempertanyakan, question, to renew
memperbarui
2 di-, di-kan, di-i, diper-kan Dipinjam, Passive.
dipinjamkan, To be borrowed, to be
dipinjami, lent (+noun), to be
dipertanyakan, lent (+noun), to be
diperbarui questioned about, to
be renewed
3 Ter-, ter-kan, ter-I Terjebak, terpuaskan, To be trapped in, to be
terlampaui fulfilled, to be passed
over
4 Ke-an Kehujanan, kejatuhan, To catch rain, to be hit
kehilangan suddenly, to lose

Example:
Rakyat mempertanyakan kenaikan harga barang.
People questioned the raise of goods’ price.

Kemarin adikku kehujanan, di samping itu dia juga terjebak macet.

Yesterday, my sister was caught in the rain, beside that she was also trapped in a traffic jam.

Berita tersebut menimbulkan sensasi besar melebihi riuh rendahnya pemilihan umum sendiri.
The news created a big sensation bigger than the fanfare of the General Election itself.

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Saya meminjam jaket dari Selvi = Selvi meminjamkan jaket pada saya = Selvi meminjami saya
jaket = Jaket dipinjam saya dari Selvi = Jaket dipinjamkan Selvi pada saya = Saya dipinjami Selvi
jaket.
All means: I borrow a jacket from Selvi.
This sentence also means the same, using base form: Jaket saya pinjam dari Selvi.

Dari mana kamu dapat jaket? Where do you get the jacket from?
Pinjam dari Selvi. I borrow it from Selvi.

Notice that intransitive verb (verb that does not require any object), will change to transitive verb
(requires object) after affixation. This pattern also works:
Object + Subject + verb in base form

More examples:
Sensasi besar timbul.
A big sensation has arosen.

Koran mereka robek-robek  Mereka merobek-robek koran.

They tore down the newspaper.

Nomor teleponnya sudah saya catat  Saya sudah mencatat nomor teleponnya.
I had already written down your number.

Kenang-kenangan pahit bersamamu akan saya lupa  Saya akan melupakan kenang-kenangan
pahit bersamamu.
I will forget the bitter memories with you.

But not always! You can’t say:

Bayi saya mandi. It will mean: My baby is taking a bath by itself; instead of: I give my baby a
bath.
Be careful of reflexive verbs, verbs that are against the subject.

In poetic sentence, personal pronoun can be put after verb. Verb + Personal pronoun
Terhanyut aku akan nostalgia. I am drifted away in nostalgia.

Check the page on Indonesian Affixation for detail how prefix will change if added to a word
started with certain letter. I think we’d better put detail of each affix means here, but let’s see.

9
Kata Ganti (Pronoun)

There are three types of pronoun in Indonesian: personal pronoun (kata ganti orang),
determiner (kata ganti penunjuk), and question word (kata ganti penanya). There is no
pronoun for animal or unanimated object.

Personal Pronoun

Indonesian knows the concept of first person, second person, and third person.

No Single Plural Explanation

First person Saya, aku, ku- Kami, kita If listener is not
included, use
kami. If listener
is included, use
kita.
Second person Kamu, Anda, kau, Saudara Kalian, Anda
(sekalian),
Saudara-saudara
Third person Dia, ia, beliau Mereka

Saya and aku are used based on how close relationship between speaker and listener is. Saya is
more formal compared to aku. In national ceremony, speech will use saya, but between close
friends, aku will be used. You will also notice the slang language gua used among young persons
extensively, along with lu for second person.

This is the same case with second person. Anda or saudara both are more formal than kamu or
kau. A mother will call her child with kamu, but a lecturer to his student, a television reporter to
his audience, will use saudara or anda.
If a young person address an older person with kamu, kau, or saudara, he will be considered
impolite. For this case, use Bapak or Ibu to be polite.

Same case with plural form. Kalian for kamu or kau. Saudara-saudara or Anda sekalian for
formal occasion, Bapak-bapak or Ibu-ibu for older persons.

Example:
Asking how are you:
To an older person: Apa kabar, Pak?
To the radio listener: Apa kabar, Saudara?
To a friend: Kamu apa kabar?
Saudara-saudara sebangsa dan setanah air!
People of my nation!

Third person, dia and ia are used both formal and informal. Beliau is used to refer to someone
respected.

Example:

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 Jenderal Sudirman adalah pahlawan nasional. Beliau akan selalu dikenang.
General Sudirman was a national hero. He will always be remembered.

Polisi menangkap orang itu. Dia memalsukan uang.

The police are catching that person. He forged the money.

Kami, Kita.
Check this example:
Kami membeli dua ekor ayam kemarin. Hari ini kita akan memasaknya.
We bought two chickens yesterday. Today, we will cook them.

The speaker bought two chicken yesterday not with the listener(s). However, she will cook them
with the speaker(s).

Note: This is a bad example for referring two chickens as –nya. The full correct sentence should
be: Kami membeli dua ekor ayam kemarin untuk kita masak hari ini.

Referring an Animal

There is no pronoun for animal or unanimated things, like “it” in English. We refer to animal with
its name followed by determiner ini/itu.

Example:
Saya melihat seekor kupu-kupu di sebelah sana. Kupu-kupu itu berwarna kuning.
I saw a butterfly over there. It is yellow.

Changing kupu-kupu itu as dia is incorrect.

Incorrect: Saya melihat seekor kupu-kupu. Dia berwarna kuning.

Possessive Pronoun(Kata Ganti Kepemilikan)

Possesive pronoun is formed by adding personal pronoun after noun. There is no change in
writing or whatsoever. However, it is more convenience that aku is contracted to -ku, kamu to
-mu, and dia to –nya.

Example:
Buku saya, rumah Anda, kursinya, komputer mereka, beasiswaku, pekerjaanmu.
My book, your house, his chair, their computer, my scholarship, your job.

For animal, same pattern, with no change in animal’s name.

Gading gajah sangat mahal.
The elephant’s ivory is very expensive.

Kata Ganti Penunjuk (Determiner Pronoun)

Kata ganti penunjuk in Indonesian replaces:

No Determine which determiner English

11
1 Thing Ini This, these
Itu That, those
Anu Something that
speaker is not sure
whatabouts
2 Place (also known as locative pronoun) Sini Here
Situ There
Sana Place far from both
speaker and listener
3 How to Begini Like this
begitu Like that

Example:
Begini cara melakukannya. This is how to do it. Do it like this.
Saya tidak begitu! I am not like that!

You can see ‘begitu’ in the second example can be replace with other noun phrase. This will
answer question: Begitu bagaimana? Like what?
Saya tidak menerima suap seperti orang itu. I do not accept bribery like that man.

Other examples:

Payung Anda yang ini, jaket Anda yang itu, dan sepatu anda di sana.
Your umbrella is this one, your jacket is that one, and your shoes is there.

“Di mana kakakmu?” “Di… anu, saya lupa.” “Where is your sister?” “She is at … err… I forget.”

Si anu memiliki seekor kambing, sedangkan tetangganya si anu memiliki padang rumput.
Someone had a goat, on the other hand his neigbour had a meadow. (A name used in a story, Mr.
A, Mr. B, etc)

Kata Ganti Penanya (Question Word)

No Affix Base word Question word English

Apa What
Si- Siapa Who
Meng- Mengapa Why (kenapa is informal)
Apa
Ken(a)- Kenapa
k-n Kapan When
Ber- Berapa How much, how many
Mana Mana When used alone, can be any of
below:
Di Di mana Where (one is placed)
Ke Ke mana Where (one will go)
Dari Dari mana From where
Bagai- Bagaimana How

12
 Yang Yang mana Which
Examples:

Di mana jaket paman kauletakkan? Where did you place Uncle’s jacket?

Mau pergi ke mana, Bibi? Where do you want to go, Aunty?

Kapan sepupu Anda lulus ITB? When did your cousin graduate from ITB?

Apa penyebab semua masalah itu? What was the cause of the whole trouble?

Siapa yang bertanggung jawab di sini? Who is in charge here?

Berapa harga sekilo ikan teri di pasar?

How much does 1 kilo of anchovies cost in the market?

Mengapa nasibku begini merana? Why is my fate this miserable?

Bagaimana mungkin menyelesaikan tugas sebanyak ini dalam seminggu?

How is it possible to finish task as much as this in a week?

Klab bola mana yang Anda dukung?

Which football club that you support?  yang mana

Mana saja dirimu selama ini? Where have you been?  ke mana (informal conversation)

Mana kursi kesayanganku? Where is my favorit chair?  di mana

One of common mistake with which is when translating from English sentence formed with more
than 1 sentence, and joined with which (not in a question), like this:
I will sell the house which I bought last year.
Incorrect translation: Saya akan menjual rumah yang mana saya beli tahun lalu.
Correct translation: Saya akan menjual rumah yang saya beli tahun lalu.

There is no ‘whom’ like in English.

13
Kata bilangan (Number)

Indonesian has two types of number: ordinal and cardinal.

Check vocabulary: bilangan.

Ordinal Number – Bilangan Ordinal

Ordinal number starts with ke-, followed by its cardinal number.
Example:
1st, 2nd kesatu (pertama), kedua
Or as combination of ke and digits: ke-1,
ke-2

Other note:
Se- is a prefix that stands for one. Sejuta is as same as satu juta.
Ke- also means collection.

If we do not know how many things are, we will use kata bilangan tak tentu. The following
words, except sejumlah, also used for uncounted noun.
No English
Beberapa Some
Banyak A lot of
Sedikit A little of
sejumlah Some

Sejumlah mahasiswa memprotes kebijakan rektor.

Some students protested the dean’s policy.

Di daerah pedesaan masih banyak perumahan tradisional.

In rural area, there are a lot of traditional house.

Tambahkan sedikit garam jika suka.

Add a little salt as you like.

Sedikit banyak saya memahami masalah itu.

More or less I understand that problem.

Sekitar seratus warga negara Indonesia mendatangi ketiga tempat pemungutan suara di Sanaa
pada Pemilihan Presiden Kedua bulan Agustus tadi. Jumlah ini jauh lebih banyak dibanding
Pemilihan Presiden Pertama.
Around a hundred Indonesian citizen came over the three voting sites at Sanaa on the second
Precidential Election last August. The number is bigger compared to that on the First Precidential
Election.

14
Kata sifat (Adjective)

In Indonesian, noun comes before adjective, also known as DM (Diterangkan-Menerangkan)

pattern.
Example:

Malam Minggu kelabu.

Noun adjective

Dark Saturday night.

Malam Minggu is the thing being explained (diterangkan). Kelabu explains (menerangkan)
malam Minggu. Notice that the English translation has different pattern, MD.

Example :
Saya memakai sepatu baru. I wear new shoes.
Gedung-gedung tinggi menghiasi sepanjang Jalan Thamrin. The tall buildings decorates
alongside of Thamrin Street.
(Note not to repeat plural form like this: Gedung-gedung tinggi-tinggi. No lexical meaning)

Comparison (Perbandingan)

There is no change in adjective form for comparison. We only need to add lebih for ‘more’, and
add paling or prefix ter- for ‘the most’ before an adjective.

Pattern:
Lebih + adjective + (daripada | dari)
Paling + adjective + (di | di antara) or ter- + adjective

Example:
If Ali is 180 cm tall, Budi is 160 cm tall, Cici is 158 cm tall, and Bambang is 160 cm, then:

Ali lebih tinggi daripada Budi. Cici lebih pendek dari Budi. Ali paling tinggi di antara mereka.
Ali is taller than Budi. Cici is shorter than Budi. Ali is the tallest among the three.

Budi dan Bambang sama tinggi. Or: Budi setinggi Bambang.

Budi is as tall as Bambang.

If we know, in fact, Ali is the tallest in the class, we can say:

Ali paling tinggi di kelas. Or: Ali tertinggi di kelas.

15
Kata Keterangan (Adverb)

Kata Keterangan (Adverb) in Indonesian is a word that explains other words. It differs from
Keterangan in S-P-O-K sentence pattern.

Take some examples:

Mereka mengerjakan ujian dengan baik. They do their tests well.
Saya selekasnya berlari secepat-cepatnya. Soon I run as fast as possible.

In the first example, dengan baik = well is Keterangan not kata keterangan (adverb). In the
second example, selekasnya and secepat-cepatnya are both adverbs.

Keterangan in sentence pattern covers a wide range of function. Beside how-to, it can also
explain time, place, tool, and cause. It can be formed by noun. Rather than 1 word, it is usually
formed by nominal phrase and prepositional phrase.

Dosen saya sudah pergi kemarin. My lecturer has left yesterday.

Kemarin is keterangan in sentence pattern as explanation of time. We can change it to ‘beberapa

hari yang lalu’ (several days ago) and it still serves as explanation of time.

Confused yet? Don’t worry, (unless you are going to face an Indonesian national test, or your
major at university is Indonesian) the confusion between Keterangan in sentence pattern and kata
keterangan should be negligible. Just remember it is much like –ly in English.

Se- + reduplication of adjective + -nya = as + adjective + as possible

Example:
Sedalam-dalamnya. Adjective is dalam (deep). Translated: “as deep as possible”.

Reduplication of adjective = in + adjective + manner

Example:
Pelan-pelan. Adjective is pelan (slow). Translated: “in a slow way.”

But, try to scan the table below:

No Adverb English
Sangat Very
Hanya Only
Lebih More
Segera Soon
Diam-diam In a silent manner
Lekas-lekas In a hurry manner
Habis-habisan Till all ways are exhausted
Mati-matian
Gila-gilaan In a crazy manner

16
 Sebaiknya In a suggested way
Secepatnya As soon as possible
Sebenarnya As for the truth
Sesungguhnya
Agaknya Looks like that…
Kiranya
Rasanya Feels like…
Biasanya Usually

What is the simplest way to translate an adverb ended with –ly in English? In most case, just put
dengan in front of the adjective.

My sister sleeps soundly. Adikku tidur dengan nyenyak.

The Lion King started his story sadly. Sang Singa memulai ceritanya dengan sedih.
Taufik hit back fast. Taufik memukul balik dengan cepat.

17
Kata Tugas:
In Indonesian grammar, kata tugas covers kata depan or preposisi (preposition), kata hubung
(conjugation), kata seru (interjection), and artikel (article).

Kata tugas only has grammatical meaning, but no lexical meaning. Therefore, it can’t stand by
itself.

Kata Depan (preposition)

No Preposition English
Bagi, untuk, buat, guna For
Dari From
Dengan With, using
Di At, on
(oleh) karena, (oleh) sebab Because, caused by, as
Ke, menuju To, into, onto
Pada, pada saat At, by the time
Tentang, mengenai About
Sejak Since, for
Bersama, beserta Together with, along with
Menjelang A moment before
Menurut According to
Sekeliling Around
Sekitar Around (time or place)
Selama For, during, along
Sepanjang Along (time or place)
Terhadap To (an object)
Bagaikan As, like
Daripada Rather than
Kepada To (a person)
Sampai dengan Until
Selain dari Other than, beside, but

Example:
Perjalanan dari Jakarta ke Bandung memakan waktu 3 jam dengan kereta api. Selama perjalanan
ia selalu tidur sejak kereta meninggalkan stasiun Jatinegara, dan baru bangun menjelang kereta
memasuki stasiun Bandung. Oleh sebab itu waktu tiga jam bagaikan tidak ada artinya baginya.
Menurutnya tidur lebih baik daripada melamun sepanjang jalan. Pada saat ia meninggalkan kereta
menuju rumahnya, tubuhnya akan terasa segar.

Travel time from Jakarta to Bandung takes about 3 hours using the train. During the journey, he
always sleeps since the train has left Jatinegara Station, and wakes up a moment before the train
has entered Bandung Station. That’s why, 3 hours is like nothing for him. According to him,
sleeping is better rather than daydreaming along the journey. By the time he has left the train
going to his abode, he will feel well.

18
Kata Penghubung (Conjugation) – Konjungsi

Also known as kata penggabung.

By grammar, there are three types of conjugations:

1. Konjugasi Subordinatif (Subordinative conjugation)
used in kalimat majemuk bertingkat (kalimat majemuk where one pattern is higher than
the other(s)
2. Konjugasi Koordinatif (Coordinative conjugation)
used in kalimat majemuk setara (kalimat majemuk where all pattern at the same level)
3. Konjugasi Korelatif (Correlative conjugation)
used in any of sentence types above

However, stop worrying about the grammar’s jargon. Let’s go straight to the mapping.

No Conjugation English mapping

Dan And
Atau Or
Tetapi, tapi, akan tetapi But, however
Time related : - after
- sesudah, setelah, sehabis, - before
selesai - since
- sebelum - when
- sejak - while
- ketika, tatkala - during, as long as
- sementara, sambil, seraya, - until
selagi
- selama
- sampai
Condition related : If, provided that
Jika, kalau, jikalau, asal(kan), bila,
manakala
Assumption, wish, or example related : Example, wish sentence
Andaikan, seandainya, umpamanya,
sekiranya
Aim related : In order to, so that
Agar, biar, supaya
Concessive related : Eventhough, though, despite
Biarpun, meskipun, sekalipun,
walau(pun), sungguhpun, kendati(pun)
Similarity related : Like, as, seem
Seakan-akan, seolah-olah, sebagaimana,
seperti, sebagai, laksana
Cause related : Because
Sebab, (oleh) karena
Result related : So that, until, that’s why, resulted in
(se)hingga, sampai(-sampai), maka(nya)
Explanation related : That
Bahwa
How to related : By, with, using

19
 Dengan
Tidak hanya…, tetapi juga … Not only…, but also…
Tidak hanya…, bahkan
bukannya…, melainkan Instead of…
bukannya…, malah
Makin… makin.. Comparison like in example : The sooner is
the better.
Jangankan…, pun Even… ?
Baik… maupun… Either pattern
apa(kah)… atau…
entah… entah…
Demikian (rupa)… sehingga… So that

Example :

Dia mengetuk-ngetuk pintu dan memanggil-manggil, tetapi tidak ada yang menjawab karena
sedang tidak ada orang di rumah.
He has been knocking and yelling at the door but nobody answers him as nobody is at home.

The sentences are created from 4 sentences:

- Dia mengetuk-ngetuk pintu. He has been knocking at the door.
- Dia memanggil-manggil. He has been yelling at the door.
- Tidak ada orang yang menjawab. Nobody answers him.
- Tidak ada orang di rumah. Nobody is at home.

Jangankan seribu, sesen pun aku tak punya.

As a cent I have not, a thousand rupiahs is out of question.

Entah akhir minggu entah hari kerja, dia tidak pernah menjawab teleponnya. Entah penting
entah tidak, dia seakan-akan sudah tidak peduli lagi.
Either weekend or weekdays, she never answers her phone. Either it is important or not, she
seems care no longer.

Bukannya sadar, kelakuannya malah makin mengesalkan.

Instead of being aware, his attitude is getting annoying.

Makin bertambah hari, makin jelas mana teman sejati mana kepentingan sejati.
The more days have passed, the more clear which are the true friends and which are the true
benefit-takers.

Saya katakan ini supaya kamu mengerti manakala waktumu tiba kelak.
I tell you this so that you will understand when your time has come someday.

Setelah mengemasi buku-bukunya, ia berlari tergesa-gesa sehingga hampir menabrak pintu

kelas.
After taking his books, he hurriedly run till he almost hit the class door.

20
Andaikan aku punya permadani terbang seperti Aladin dalam dongeng Seribu Satu Malam,
aku akan mempelajari modelnya sampai aku bisa membuat tiruannya dalam jumlah banyak.
Setelah itu, saya tidak akan khawatir jika sampai ada musuh Aladin merebut permadani yang
asli.
If I had a flying carpet like Alladin in One Thousand and One Nights story, I would learn its
model until I could produce its reproduction in a large amount. After that, I would not worry
if any enemy of Alladin got the genuine carpet by force.

21
Kata Seru (interjection)

No Interjection English
Ayo Let’s
Nah There
Hai, heh, he Hi, hey
Ah Polite disagreement
Halo Hello
Eh Err
Oh O
Wahai Greeting in respected conversation
Yah, ya Sigh (dissapointment)
Wah Wow, well
Hem Hmmm
Ngomong-ngomong By the way
Aduh Argh (pain expression)
Asyik Great (considered informal)
Senangnya Great (formal)
Duh, aduhai Awesome expression
Idih Negative expression (why listener does such
thing?)
Ih Negative expression (strong dislike)
Sialan, brengsek Negative expression (cursing)
Lo, lho Wondering expression

Example:
Duh, bagusnya rumah beratap hijau itu! Wow, that house with green roof is very pretty!
Wah, ada apa ini ramai-ramai? Well, what all noise is about?
Wah, cantiknya angsa hitam itu! Wow, that black swan is sure pretty!

Nah, itu ibu datang! There, there, mom is here!

Aduh, kakiku sakit! Argh, my foot is hurt!

Ayo makan! Let’s eat!

Halo, bisa bicara dengan Pak Bambang? Hello, may I speak with Mr. Bambang?

Ah, masa iya sih? Is it so?

Ah, mana mungkin. How could it possible?

Ngomong-ngomong, tadi saya bertemu Santi. By the way, I just run across Santi.

Asyik, gaji naik lagi. Great, another new salary raise.

Idih, kamu sudah kaya masih hitungan! Argh, despite a rich man you still count on small things!

22
Ih, memangnya dia tidak malu berpakaian begitu?
Why isn’t she ashamed of herself by dressing like that?

Sialan, berani-beraninya dia mempermainkan aku! Damn her, how could she make fool of me?

Lo, Ji, bukannya tahun lalu kamu bilang mau melamar kerja lagi?
Last year you said you would apply for new job, didn’t you, Ji?

23
Artikel (article)

Article in Indonesian grammar limits the meaning how many a noun are there. There are three
types of article :
1. Singular meaning : sang, sri, hang, dang
2. Plural/group meaning : para
3. Neutral meaning: si

Sri, hang,and dang are used before a royal family member. They are not extensively used. While
sang is used for a respected thing. When sang is found before an animal’s name, the speaker is
doing a fable.

Si is neutral, can be used for animal or person. Usually used in conversation.

Example :
Hai, sang kodok, mengapa kamu memanggil-manggil sang hujan?
Hey, Mr. Toad, why are you calling Mr. rain?

Para undangan dipersilakan duduk kembali.

The invitees may sit back.

Siapa bilang si Budi sakit? Si pembawa berita mengada-ada saja.

Says who Budi is sick? The news spreader just made it up.

Sang Saka Merah Putih = the way Indonesian call Indonesian flag.

24
Proverb (Peribahasa)
Indonesian is rich with proverbs. There are about more than 500 well known proverbs.
The following are some examples:
No Proverb
Cabik-cabik bulu ayam
Tak ada rotan, akar pun jadi
Menepuk air di dulang, terpecik ke muka
sendiri
Ada gula ada semut
Besar pasak daripada tiang
Kalah bisa karena biasa
Berakit-rakit ke hulu, berenang-renang ke
tepian. Bersakit-sakit dahulu, bersenang-senang
kemudian.
Anjing menggonggong, kafilah berlalu.
Tong kosong nyaring bunyinya.
Air tenang menghanyutkan.
Kacang lupa kulit.
Seperti buah simalakama, dimakan ibu mati, tak
dimakan bapak mati.
Air cucuran atap jatuhnya ke pelimbahan juga.
Buruk muka, cermin dibelah.
Sedikit demi sedikit, lama-lama jadi bukit.
Sedia paying sebelum hujan.
Menari di atas bangkai.
Orang makan nangka, awak kena getahnya.
Musuh dalam selimut.
Sekali merengkuh dayung, dua tiga pulau
terlampaui.
Sambil menyelam minum air.
Ada udang di balik batu.
Bergantung pada akar lapuk.
Seperti telur di ujung tanduk.
Seperti menegakkan benang basah.
Sesal dahulu pendapatan, sesal kemudian tak
Meaning
Blood is thicker than water
By hook or by crook
Despise your family, despise your self.
People come to wherever the source of
wealth is.
Spending more than one can afford.
Practice makes perfect.
Great things have small beginning. Work
hard before harvests the result.
Ignore others’ objection, just carry on.
Empty vessels make most sound. Or:
great talkers are poor doers.
Be careful to deal with a man of few
words. He is wise who speaks a little.
A success person forgets how he was
before.
As between the devil and the deep sea.
Like father like son.
A mock to person who does against this
English proverb: “Don’t break the mirror
if you see your face is bad.”
A penny saved is a penny earned.
Make hay while the sun shines.
Both means: Someone who blames
others for his fault.
A wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Doing several things at once.
To have an axe to grind.
To depend on something undependable.
In a very serious situation to fall into
trouble.
Doing useless thing.
Everything must be calculated for not
25
 berguna.
Ada api ada asap.
Makan hati berulam jantung.
Kalah jadi abu, menang jadi arang.
Ada uang Abang sayang, tak ada uang Abang
ditendang.
Tuntutlah ilmu hingga ke negeri Cina.
Mendengar guntur di langit, air di tempayan
dicurahkan.
Seperti orang buta kehilangan tongkat.
Seperti anak ayam kehilangan induk.
Membeli kucing di dalam karung.
Datang tampak muka, pergi tampak punggung.
Kasih ibu sepanjang jaman, kasih anak
sepanjang jalan.
Lain ladang lain belalang.
Ada ubi ada talas. Ada budi ada balas.
Seperti pinang dibelah dua.
Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga.
Seperti kucing dibawakan sapu.
Menerka ayam di dalam telur.
Ayam dapat, musang pun dapat.
Tangan mencencang, bahu memikul.
Mencabik baju di dada.
Berjalan sampai batas, berlayar sampai pulau.
Menjual bedil kepada lawan.
Jauh panggang dari api.
Oh, all right, that’s too many of them. I’ll stop. I just enjoy writing it back from my memory 
being sorry afterward.
Rumor must have a source. There is no
smoke without fire.
In a very miserable condition caused by
person one’s loves.
People who fight both will lose
something.
Friends are many while the pocket is full.
Search for knowledge to the highest
level!
One who lets certain luck away for
hoping bigger uncertain luck.
Completely confused.
Be at one’s wit end.
To do something doubtful.
Be courteous! Greet when you come,
greet when you leave.
Mother’s love is forever.
Different country, different custom.
Gratitude is the memory of the heart. It
will be returned with gratitude someday.
Two persons very much alike.
To be in continues bad luck.
To be very scared of something bad.
Counting chicken before hatching.
Catching thief with his stolen goods.
Who does, he takes responsibility.
Despise one’s self to others.
Everything must be done until finish.
To trouble one’s self.
Far from expected.
26
Simple Conversation (Percakapan Sederhana)

Greeting (salam)

Halo Hello
Salam kenal. Used in personal email or letter to introduce
one’s self
Apa kabar? How are you?
Salam buat orang rumah. Say hello to your family.
Baik-baik, ya? Take care.
Selamat pagi. Pagi. Good morning.
Selamat siang. Good day.
Selamat sore. Good afternoon.
Selamat malam. Good night.
Ke mana saja? Where have you been?
Kamu baik-baik saja? Are you just fine?
Baik-baik saja. Sehat-sehat saja. Just fine.
Sudah dulu, ya? Buru-buru ini. To end a conversation. I’ll be making my track.
Selamat tinggal. Good bye (if you leave someone)
Selamat jalan. Good bye (if someone leaves you)
Semoga sukses. Sukses, ya? Good luck.
Selamat, ya? Congratulation!
Salam hormat. Regards. (in formal email or letter)
Sampai jumpa lagi. Sampai bertemu lagi. See you soon.
Dah! Dah! Bye, bye
Salam. To end an email or a letter where relationship is
not close.
Salam sayang Love (to end an email or a letter between close
relationship)
Salam jitak. Salam kompak. Slang words to end an email or a letter between
young persons.
Tulis surat, ya? Write me.
Halo, masih ingat saya? Hello, do you still remember me?
Jangan lupakan kami. Don’t forget us.
Hai! Hi!
Selamat makan. Bon appetite.
Bersenang-senanglah! Have fun!

Where is good evening, you asked? I am not sure. At 10:30 AM, a non-native Indonesian speaker
once asked me, was it selamat pagi or selamat siang? My answer was simple, if he was already
hungry for lunch (makan siang), it would be selamat siang. OK, not a good answer.

On the time when I was crazy with night live football watch at 2 PM, the commentators were
confused as well if they should greet the television audience with selamat malam or selamat pagi.
Someone put that confusion as a theme in Bahasa Indonesia column at a national newspaper.
Unfortunately, I forgot what the column said! Another volunteer should help me here. 

27
Introducing people (perkenalan)

Brian: Hai, perkenalkan nama saya Brian. Nama Indonesia saya, Yayan.
Hi, let me introduce my self. I’m Brian. My Indonesian name is Yayan.

Eko: Hahaha. Saya Eko. Bahasa Indonesianya bagus sekali. Belajar dari mana?
Hahaha. I’m Eko. Your Indonesian is so good. Where did you learn?

Brian: Dari Gungun, bagian informasi. Itu Gungun.

Gungun, ini tamu hotel kita dari Indonesia: Bapak Eko.
Gungun from information desk taught me. Here comes Gungun.
Gungun, this is our hotel guest from Indonesia: Mr Eko.

Eko: Halo. Panggil saja Eko.

Hello. Just call me Eko.

Gungun: Halo. Sudah lama di sini, Mas?

Hello. How long have you been here, Mas?

Eko: Wah, saya bukan orang Jawa. Tidak usah disapa Mas. Saya dari Medan.
Well, I’m not a Javanese. Please don’t call me Mas. I’m from Medan.

Gungun: Oh, saya orang Sunda.

O, I’m a Sundanese.

Eko: Baru datang tadi malam. O, ya, kenalkan, teman saya yang baru datang ini namanya
Iwan. Wan, ini Gungun, ini Brian.
I just came last night. By the way, let me introduce my friend, who just came, his name is
Iwan.
Wan, this is Gungun, this is Brian.

Iwan: Halo.
Hello.

28
Asking for time and date (Menanyakan waktu dan tanggal)

Joko: Kapan ada rapat perkenalan manajer baru kita?

When will the meeting to introduce our new manager be held?

Anton: Besok, jam sepuluh tepat di ruang Anyer.

Tomorrow at 10 o’clock sharp at Anyer room.

Joko: Bukankah pada jam itu ada jadwal presentasi selama setengah jam?
Isn’t it a presentation is scheduled for a half hour at that time?

Anton: Oh, presentasi itu diundur minggu depan.

Oh, it was postponed to next week.

Joko: Presentasi itu sudah dijadwalkan sejak sebulan yang lalu.

It has been scheduled since one month ago.

Anton: Manajer yang baru sudah mengubah jadwalnya. Ngomong-ngomong, jam berapa
sekarang?
The new manager has rescheduled it. By the way, what time is it?

Joko: Jam dua belas lewat seperempat.

A quarter past twelve.

Anton: Jammu kecepatan sepuluh menit, tapi memang sudah jam makan.
Your watch is 10 minutes ahead, whatsoever, it is lunchtime already.

Joko: Ya, kita sudah terlambat makan. Ayo, pergi!

Yes, we’re already late for lunch. Let’s go!

29
Asking for direction (Menanyakan Arah)

Bajuri: Permisi, numpang nanya.

Excuse me, could you show me some directions?

Yusuf: Ya, silakan.

By no means.

Bajuri: Kedubes Singapura di mana, ya?

Where is the Embassy of Singapore?

Yusuf: Oh, jalan saja terus sepanjang Rasuna Said. Kalau naik taksi dari sini, letaknya di
sebelah kanan jalan.
Just keep walking along Rasuna Said. If by taxi from here, it is on the right of the street.

Bajuri: Kalau Menara XL di mana?

What about XL Tower?

Yusuf: Kalau mau ke Menara XL, Bapak tinggal menyebrang jalan di zebra cross sana.
Jalan terus, lalu belok kiri sedikit. Itu gedungnya kelihatan.
If you want to go to XL Tower, you simply cross the street using zebra cross over there.
Keep walking, and then turn left a little. You can see the building from here.

Bajuri: Terima kasih.

Thanks.

Yusuf: Sama-sama.
Don’t mention it.

Other common used asking for direction:

Saya mencari bagian bumbu dapur. I look for spice section. (at a supermarket)
Ibu mau ke mana? Where do you want to go?
Putar balik. Turn round.
Salah jalan. Wrong way.
Saya tersesat. I am lost.
Di mana pintu keluar? Where is the exit?
Antarkan saya ke Kuningan. Take me to Kuningan, please. (to a taxi driver)
Saya baru dari sana. I just came from there.

Numpang nanya is a conversation form. The formal form is: “Bolehkah saya menumpang
bertanya?” May I ask? Unless you want the person you ask leave impatiently, do not use the
formal form. Do not use that form to ask your teacher a question if you seriously want an answer.
Numpang is simply expecting a person will be kind to help you.

30
Phone conversation (pembicaraan telepon)

Formal Phone Conversation

Resepsionis: PT Penterjemahan, selamat pagi.

Receptionist: Penterjemahan Co., good morning.

Khaidir: Pagi, Mbak. Saya Khaidir dari PT Percetakan. Bisa disambungkan dengan Pak
Saleh?
Khaidir: Good morning. I’m Khaidir from Percetakan Co. Can you connect me to
Mr. Saleh?

Resepsionis: Tunggu sebentar.

Receptionist: A moment please.

Khaidir: Baik.
Khaidir: I’ll wait.

Resepsionis: Pak Saleh sedang rapat. Ada pesan?

Receptionist: Mr. Saleh is on meeting. Would you like to leave any message?

Khaidir: Ya, tolong minta Pak Saleh menghubungi saya segera. Penting.
Khaidir: Yes, please inform Mr. Saleh to call me back soon. Urgent.

Resepsionis: Akan saya sampaikan.

Receptionist: I’ll tell him.

Khaidir: Terima kasih. Selamat pagi.

Khaidir: Thank you. Good morning.

Resepsionis: Selamat pagi.

Receptionist: Good morning.

Bahasa Indonesia does not have phrase “Have a nice day”.

Other common used phone conversation:

Untuk layanan dalam bahasa Indonesia, tekan For service in Indonesian, please press one.
satu.
Siapa ini? Who is this? (very rude, if spoken without the
caller mentioning his name)
Salah sambung. Wrong number.
Saya panggil dulu orangnya. I’ll call the person whom you want to speak to.
Bu Ade sedang keluar. Bu Ade sedang tidak di Bu Ade is not here.
tempat.
Halo? Halo? Putus, ya? Testing if a phone connection is broken in the
middle of a conversation.
Nomor yang Anda panggil sedang di luar The number you’re calling is outside the
jangkauan. coverage area.

31
Cobalah menelepon beberapa saat lagi. Try again.

Informal Phone Conversation

blablabla

32
Sentence

Pattern

A complete sentence (kalimat mayor) in Indonesian is formed by at least two parts: Subject +
Predicate (known as S-P pattern). A wider pattern is by adding Object (S-P-O pattern), and
explanation or Keterangan (S-P-O-K pattern and S-P-K pattern).
At Indonesian, predicate can be from verb, noun, and adjective.

Also notice some verbs do not require object, such as: makan (eat), hilang (lost), bernyanyi
(sing), bermimpi (to dream).

Saya menyurati Budi pagi tadi.

S P O K
I wrote Budi this morning.

Dia bermimpi.
S P
She dreams.

Sepedanya baru.
S P
His bike is new.

Kamu penjaganya.
S P
You are the security guard.

Surat garansi televisi kami sudah hilang beberapa tahun yang lalu.
S P K
Our television’s guarantee letter has been lost several years ago.
S P K

Active sentence and passive sentence

Active sentence and passive sentence is easily recognized from the form of its verb. Use this rule:

Active: Subject + me- + (per-) + verb + (an|kan|i) + Object.

Passive: Object + di- + (per-) + verb + (an|kan|i) + Subject.

Example:
Active: Mahasiswa mengumpulkan pekerjaan rumah.
Subject + me + kumpul + kan + Object

33
 The students are collecting home works.

Passive: Pekerjaan rumah dikumpulkan mahasiswa.

Subject + di + kumpul + kan + Object

Home works are being collected by the students.

More examples:
Hal kecil jangan dipermasalahkan.
Do not make a small deal as a big matter.

Mengapa cinta dipertanyakan?

Why should love be questioned about?

Undang-undang pernikahan sudah diperbarui pada tahun 2004.

The marriage law has been renewed in 2004 year.

Sehari menjelang harga BBM dinaikkan, antrian panjang terlihat di pom bensin.
A day before the oil price had been raisen; a long queue was seen at the oil station.

Segala tenaga dan waktunya sudah tercurah dalam pekerjaan itu, tetapi upah yang
diperolehnya tidak layak untuk hidup.
All of his power and his time have been devoted to that work, however the pay received
is not adequate for living.

Prefix ber- is also used to create active sentence, while prefix ter- to create passive one. However
both are less used.

Kalimat Tunggal and Kalimat Majemuk

Note: I am not sure about the English grammar term for kalimat tunggal. Is it single sentence?
Kalimat majemuk, is it double sentence?

Based on number of sentence pattern, in Indonesian grammar we know two kind of sentences:
- kalimat tunggal: sentence with only one pattern
- kalimat majemuk: sentence with more than one pattern

Example:
Kalimat tunggal:
Pendapat Anda kurang tepat.
Subject + Predicate
Your opinion is incorrect.

Kalimat majemuk:
Pendapat Anda kurang tepat dan Anda juga jelek. 
Subject + Predicate + conjugation + Subject + Predicate
Your opinion is incorrect and you are ugly too.

34
Indonesian Affixation

Note: I am not an expert in linguistics; therefore I try not to go into detail on grammar theory
such as morpheme, stem word, lexical meaning or grammatical meaning. However, here is some
basic for Indonesian grammar:
- Vowel is known as huruf hidup (a, i, u, e, o)
- Consonant is known as konsonan (b, c, d, f,g,h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z)
- Diphtong is known as diftong, when 2 vowels is read as one syllable. There are only 3
diphtongs in Indonesian (ai, au, oi)
- Dual-consonant conjunct is known as gugus konsonan. There are only 4 of them (kh,
ng, ny, sy)
- Affixation is known as pengimbuhan (afiksasi). This is a process of attaching
grammatical morpheme (morfem terikat) to a stem word (kata dasar or morfem bebas) to
create a new word.
- We learn that there are 4 types of pengimbuhan:
- Awalan or prefiks (prefix): adding a grammatical morpheme in the front of a stem
word
- Akhiran or sufiks (suffix): adding a grammatical morpheme at the end of a stem word
- Sisipan or infiks (infix): adding a grammatical morpheme inside a stem word
- Konfiks: combination of awalan and akhiran. (I do not know what the English word
for this. We’ll keep calling it konfiks)

Affixation is an important key in mastering Indonesian grammar. Many new words are formed
from foreign language by means of affixation. Beginner of Indonesian should focus on main
affixation first, i.e:
- prefix: me-, ber-, di-, ter-, pe-, per-, se-, ke-
- suffix: -kan, -an, -i
- konfiks: combination of prefix and suffix above

This is the basic map

No Prefix Infix suffix konfiks
Me- Rarely used -kan Me-kan
Ber- -an di-kan
di- -I Memper-i
Ter- -nya Diper-i
Pe- Ke-an
Per- Pe-an
Se- Per-an
Ke- Ber-an
Ber-kan
Se-nya
Ter-kan

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Next, we will notice the existence of other less important affixations which can be easily studied
as not many words are formed from them. Example: a-, adi-, dwi-, eks-, maha-, pasca-, pra-, -el-,
-er-, -em-, antar-, ekstra-, non-, kontra-, pro-, semi-, sub-, swa-, tuna-, supra-, -isme, -isasi, -logi,
-wan, -or, -wan, -wati, -man, -at, -in, -anda, -nda, -da.

Suffix me-, pe-, per- as well as their konfiks forms (me-kan, pe-an, per-an) vary in form when
added to a base word started with certain letter.

Variation Word started with this Example

letter
Me-, pe- l, m, n, ng, r, w Melawak, pemalu, To act like a
(no variation) menganga, clown, shy-
peragu, pewarta person, to open
wide, doubtful-
person, reporter
Mem-, pem- b, p Membalas, To pay off,
p will disappear pemukul beater
Men-, pen- c, d, j, t Mencari, To search,
t will disappear pendatang, comer, vendor,
penjual, challenger
penantang
Meng-, peng- Vowels, g, k, kh Mengintip, To peek, to
k will disappear mengarang, compose a story,
mengkhawatirkan, to worry about,
penggila fanatic fan
Meny, peny- S Menyulap, To put magic,
s will disappear penyelamat savior
Menge-, penge- Word with 1 syllable Mengelas, To weld, bomb-
pengebom doer

But be careful, there are some exceptions. Pesulap (magician) is not written as penyulap (any
person who does something great of fast like done with magic, but not a magician). Penatar
(person who is being taught) and petatar (tutor). Pejantan (usually for cock), pejalan (pedestrian),
pejabat (government officer), pegulat (wrestler), pesepakbola (footballer), pesenam (gym athlete),
pebulutangkis (badminton player).

The moral is, for certain professions, these rules can be broken.

Suffix ber- and ter- as well as their konfiks forms (ber-an, ber-kan, ter-kan) also vary for certain
first letter of base words.

Be-, te- r-, or first Terasa, bekerja, To feel, to work, to be

syllable teperdaya, beterbangan, cheated by, to fly, to be
contains ‘er’ terasuki possessed by evil spirit
Bel-, tel- Only for Belajar, telanjur, telantar To study, already being
limited words done, to be abandoned

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The next important affix is di-. This is the passive form of me-. The meaning is straightforward.
Check active sentence passive sentence part.

Tabel. Imbuhan Bahasa Indonesia (taken from Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia yang
Disempurnakan & Pedoman Umum Pembentukan Istilah)

No English
(they’re too many,
sob... Volunteer
please. I lost my
motivation on this
part ;))
1 -an noun Hasil Result/product of.
tulisan; catatan; writing; note; sweet;
manisan; asinan sour
Tulisan = hasil menulis
Yang biasa dikenai Object of
tindak Food; beverage;
Makanan; minuman; courier; reading
utusan; (buku) bacaan
Makanan = yang dimakan
Tempat Place
Tepian; lapangan Edge; field
Yang ditempatkan di Placed at
Awalan; akhiran
Awalan: ditempatkan di
awal
Alat untuk mengukur Measurement
atau menghitung,
ukuran:
Meteran; lima lembar
puluhan ribu
Noun Hasil mengukur atau Result of measurement.
(conv.) menghitung” Buying by dozen is
Membeli lusinan lebih cheaper than buying by
murah daripada membeli piece.
satuan.
noun Kumpulan; gugusan: Collection/composition
daratan; lautan; of
puluhan; ribuan
Yang mempunyai atau Possession of
mengandung:
Durian; rambutan
Durian = yang mempunyai
duri (buah)
Noun Yang menyerupai Similar to
(conv.) Gunungan = menyerupai
gunung
Adj. Lebih More, much
(conv.) Gedean = lebih gede Bigger
(jawa) = lebih besar
Verb Melakukan sesuatu yang
(conv.) pelaku atau tindakannya

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 banyak (beralasan,
saling):
Jualan; pacaran
noun Kegiatan yang berkenaan
dengan pelaku yang
banyak atau tindakan
yang banyak:
Syukuran; natalan;
lebaran
-anda, Anakanda, ayahanda, Used in old
-nda, -da ibunda, pamanda generation, language
among noble family:
Children, father,
mother, uncle
Antar- Di lingkungan atau Among (geography and
berhubungan yang satu politic terms)
dengan yang lain:
Antarbangsa;
antarbenua; antarpulau;
antarnegara
Ber- verb Memiliki: To posses:
(be-, Beristri; bersegi;
bel-) bergaram; beruntung;
bergambar
Mengatakan; mengakui To admit as:
sebagai:
Berkakak; beradik;
bertuan; berguru
Menghasilkan; To produce:
mengeluarkan:
Bertelur; berbunyi;
berapi
Biasa melakukan;
bertindak atau bekerja
sebagai:
Bertinju; berjudi;
bertani; bertukang
Melakukan pekerjaan Reflexive work
yang mengenai diri:
Bercukur; berhias;
berjemur; berangkat
Mendapat; dikenai
(pasif):
Bersambut; berterima;
belajar
Menggunakan; memakai;
mengendarai:
Berpayung; berbaju;
bermobil
Berada di keadaan:
Bergembira; bersenang
hati
Menjadi (kelompok):
Bersatu; berdua
Ber-…-an verb Melakukan sesuatu yang
pelakunya banyak atau

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 tindakan yang dilakukan
banyak (berbalasan,
saling):
berlarian; berguguran;
berpergian; berpukulan
-el- noun Yang melakukan: Doer:
Burung pelatuk
Alat: Tool:
Telapak; telunjuk
Benda yang:
Kelopak; gelembung
Kumpulan (banyak, Collection (various
aneka): of)
Geligi
verb Terjadi, berlaku, atau
melakukan yang pelaku
atau tindakannya
banyak:
Geleser; kelupas;
kelojak
-em- Noun Kumpulan (banyak, Collection (various)
aneka):
Gemunung; temali
Verb Frekuentif (berulang- Frequentative
ulang) atau terus-
menerus:
Gemerlap; gemerincing;
gemetar
-er- noun Alat: seruling Good:
Yang memiliki;
mengandung, atau
bersifat: gerigi
verb Berulang (terus- Repetitive action:
menerus): geresek;
seruak; seruduk
Mengandung (bersifat):
kerontang
-i (-iah, Adj. Berkenaan dengan;
-wi, berdasarkan pada:
-wiah, Alami; alamiah; badani;
-ni) badaniah; duniawi;
diniawiah; surgawi;
gerejani; rohani
verb Di, pada; memberi di,
pada:
Datangi; hidungi;
masuki; pagari; parasi;
selimuti; turuni
Berulang-ulang:
Lempari; potongi;
pukuli
-kan verb Menjadikan:
Bukukan; ceritakan;
datangkan; hitamkan;
masukkan; satukan
Sungguh-sungguh:

39
 Dengarkan; kenangkan
Untuk; kepada orang
lain:
Belikan; jualkan;
pinjamkan; sewakan;
ikatkan (tali ini);
pukulkan (kayu ini)
Ke- noun Yang mempunyai sifat
atau ciri: ketua
Yang dituju dengan
sifat itu: kekasih;
kehendak
Verb Telah mengalami atau
(conv.) menderita keadaan, atau
kejadian (dengan tidak
sengaja atau dengan
tiba-tiba):
Ketabrak; kepergok;
ketemu; ketawa
Dapat atau sanggup Be able to do
(dilakukan):
Tidak kebaca; tidak
keangkat
Ke-...-an Adj. Terlalu; terlampau: Too much, or too many
Kebesaran; kekecilan;
kesempitan
noun Yang mempunyai ciri
atau sifat:
keadilan; kemakmuran
Tempat: kediaman;
kedudukan; keindraan
verb Menderita, mengalami
kejadian, keadaan:
kecanduan; kelaparan;
kemalaman; ketagihan
Ku-, -ku (bentuk klitik aku)
pelaku, pemilik,
tujuan:
kuambil; rumahku;
memukulku
-man noun Yang berprofesi dalam: Profession of. Same
seniman rule as in English.
Sportman = person who
does sport for living.
Notice, sportman is
translated as
olahragawan in
Indonesian.
Me- verb Melakukan:
(meng-, membaca; menjual;
men-, mengukur
meny-, Menjadi:
menge-) Menyatu; mendua;
menguning; memburuk
Hidup sebagai: To live as:
membiara; menjanda

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 Menggunakan: To use as a tool:
memakai; menggunting;
menyabit; menggergaji
Menikmati: To enjoy:
Mengganja; merokok;
menyusu
Membuat, menghasilkan:
Menyambal; menggulai;
menggambar; menyayur
Memberi, melengkapi
dengan:
mengecat; mengapur;
menyampul; memagar
Menuju:
menepi; menyebrang;
mendarat
Mengeluarkan (suara):
mengeong; mengaduh;
mengerang; mencicit
Menyatakan: To declare as:
Mengaku confess
Mencari: To search for:
merotan; mendamar
Pe- Noun (bertalian
(peng-, dengan prefiks verbal
pem-, me-)
pen-, Yang melakukan atau
peny-, alat untuk melakukan:
penge-) pelemparan; pemukulan;
penyapu
Yang menjadi atau
menjadikan:
pendua; pemerah (bibir)
Yang menggunakan;
memakai:
pengguntingan;
penyabit; penggergajian
Yang membuat; yang
menghasilkan:
penyayur; penyambal;
penggambar
Yang mengeluarkan
(suara):
perintih; pengembik;
pengerang; pengaduh
Yang memberi;
melengkapi dengan:
pengecap; pengapur;
penyampul; pemagar
Yang menuju: penyebrang
Yang mencari: pendamar;
perotan
Yang berprofesi atau
yang biasa melakukan:
penari; penjahat;
penyihir

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Pe-...-an Noun (bertalian dengan
(peng-... prefiks verbal me-)
-an, proses:
pem-...- pengaturan;
an, penghijauan;
pen-...- pemasyarakatan;
an, pembatuan; penyatuan
peny-...-
an,
pene-...-
an)
Per- Verb Menjadikan:
perindah; perjelas
Membagi dua:
perdua; pertiga
per- Noun (bertalian dengan
(pe-, prefiks verbal ber-)
pel-) yang memiliki:
persegi; pertanda;
pemalu
Yang menghasilkan:
petelur; pedaging
Yang biasa melakukan
(sebagai profesi,
kebiasaan, kegemaran):
pertapa; petinju;
pelajar; petani;
pemabuk
Yang melakukan
pekerjaan mengenai
diri:
peubah
Yang dikenai laku,
tindak perbuatan:
pesuruh; petatar;
petaruh
Per-...- noun (bertalian dengan
an prefiks verbal ber-)
(pe-...- perihal, yang
an, berhubungan dengan:
pel-...- perolehan; pelajaran;
an) pekerjaan
Tempat:
peristirahatan;
perkotaan; pedesaan;
pegunungan
Pra- Sebelum, di muka:
zaman prasejarah
Se- (Bentuk klitik dari
esa)
satu:
sekamar; serumah;
sekampung; sedunia
Sama:
Setinggi; sepandai;
sepanjang; seberat;

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 semahal
Dengan; seturut;
setelah:
seizinku; setahu ayah;
sepergimu;
sepeninggalmu
Si- (dalam gambungan
bersi-)
membuat dirinya
menjadi; melakukan
dirinya menjadi:
bersibisu; bersitegang
Saling menjadi; saling
melakukan:
bersikuat;
bersipandang;
bersirobok
Swa- Sendiri:
swasembada; swakarya;
swadaya
Ter- Adj. Paling:
tercantik; terpandai;
tertinggi; termalas
Ter- verb Telah dilakukan atau di
(te-, keadaan:
tel-) terbuka; terduduk;
termenung; terpojok;
tertulang
Telah mengalami;
menderita keadaan atau
kejadian (dengan tidak
sengaja atau dengan
tiba-tiba):
terpesona; terkancing;
tercirit; terkentut;
terbangun
Sanggup atau dapat
dilakukan (biasanya
didahului kata tidak
atau bersufiks –kan):
tidak terkira; tidak
terangkat; terserapkan;
tersalurkan
-wan noun (bentuk pria)
Yang memilki:
sukarelawan
Yang bergerak dalam;
yang berprofesi dalam:
dramawan
-wati noun (bentuk wanita)
yang memiliki:
sukarelawati
Yang bergerak dalam;
yang berprofesi dalam:
dramawati; wartawati

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To do: (not directly in the spelling book, but taught at school)
Me-kan and di-kan
Memper-I, diper-I

44
Reading

Translating a popular Indonesian song

Kangen (Longing) by Dewa

Kuterima suratmu, tlah kubaca dan aku mengerti

I have accepted your letter, I have read it, and I have understood
betapa merindunya dirimu akan hadirnya diriku
how much you miss my presence back
di dalam hari-harimu bersama lagi
in your days together again

Kau bertanya padaku kapan aku akan kembali lagi

You asked me when I would come back again
Katamu tak kuasa menahan gejolak di dalam dada
You said you couldn’t bear the wave in your heart
yang membara menahan rasa pertemuan kita nanti
which flamed for bearing the feeling of our later seeing
saat kau ada di sisiku
when you are at my side

Semua kata rindumu semakin membuatku tak berdaya

All of your longing words make me helpless
menahan rasa ingin jumpa
to bear the feeling of seeing
Percayalah padaku aku pun rindu kamu
Believe me, I miss you too
Ku akan pulang... melepas semua kerinduan yang terpendam
I will go home… to let all deep longing go

Kau tuliskan padaku kata cinta yang manis dalam suratmu

You wrote me sweet love words in your letter
kau katakan padaku, saat ini kuingin ada pelukmu
You told me: “at this moment I want to be in your hug”
Dan belai lembut kasihmu
And the tender touch of your love
Takkan kulupa selamanya, saat bersama dirimu
I won’t forget for good, when I was with you

Semua kata rindumu semakin membuatku tak berdaya

All of your longing words make me helpless
menahan rasa ingin jumpa
to bear the feeling of seeing
Percayalah padaku aku pun rindu kamu
Believe me, I miss you too
Ku akan pulang... melepas semua kerinduan yang terpendam
I will go home… to let all deep longing go

Jangan katakan cinta menambah beban rasa

Don’t say that love adds a burden in feeling
Sudah simpan saja sedihmu itu, ku akan datang
Just keep your sadness away, I will come

45
Yogyakarta is one of cities in Indonesia that still keeps its old building and tradition over
the time. Yogyakarta song indirectly describes the atmosphere of Yogya, especially in
Malioboro Street where buskers and food street vendors are many at night.

Yogyakarta by KLA Project

Pulang ke kotamu, ada setangkup haru dalam rindu

Coming back home to your town, there is a bunch of melancholy in longing
Masih seperti dulu, tiap sudut menyapaku bersahabat, penuh selaksa makna
Just like in the old time, every corner friendly greets me, in a deep meaning
Terhanyut aku akan nostalgia
I am drifted away in nostalgia
Saat kita sering luangkan waktu
When we used to spare time
Nikmati bersama suasana Jogja
To enjoy the atmosphere of Yogya

Di persimpangan langkahku terhenti

At the street junction, my feet stop
Ramai kaki lima menjajakan sajian khas berselera
Crowded street vendors are selling delicious authentic cuisine
Orang duduk bersila
People are sitting feet folded
Musisi jalanan mulai beraksi seiring laraku kehilanganmu
The street musician starts playing by the time I start feeling blue of losing you
Merintih sendiri ditelan deru kotamu ...
To sigh by myself, ignored by the crowd of your town

Walau kini kau t'lah tiada tak kembali

Eventhough now you have gone and never come back
Namun kotamu hadirkan senyummu abadi
Your town presents your eternal smile
Ijinkanlah aku untuk s'lalu pulang lagi
Allow me to always come back again, please
Bila hati mulai sepi tanpa terobati
When heart starts to be lonely uncured

Other source of reading can be from online newspaper: kompas and republika.

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