A, a : pronounced like a in "dad".
E, e : can be pronounced either like e in "vowel" or like e in "red".
I, i : pronounced like short i in "hit".
O, o : pronounced like o in_"off"_.
U, u : pronounced like oo in "hook".
B, b : pronounced like b in "balloon".
C, c : pronounced like ch in "chapel.
D, d : pronounced like d in "diet".
F, f : pronounced like f in "fairy".
G, g : pronounced like g in "guardian".
H, h : pronounced like h in "home", pronounciation may be muted between 2 vowels.
J, j : pronounced like j in "jazz".
K, k : pronounced like k in "kill".
Kh, kh : prononced like _chin the Scottish "Loch", or german "Bach"._
L, l : pronounced like l in "lullaby".
M, m : pronounced like m in "mother".
N, n : pronounced like n in "nose".
Ng, ng : pronounced like ng in "sing".
NY, ny : pronounced like ny in "Kenya", like the Spanish ñ.
P, p : pronounced like p in "put".
R, r : pronounced rolled, like in the Spanish "rojo".
S, s : pronounced like s in "set".
Sy, sy :pronounced like sh in "sheep".
T, t : pronounced like t in "turtle".
V, v : pronounced like v in "volt".
W, w : pronounced like w in "water".
Y, y : pronounced like y in "yoga".
Here is a table to remember for numbers in indonesian :
10 + .. | ...0 | ...00 | ..000 | ..000 000 | ..000 000 000 | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0 | nol | sepuluh | tens | hundreds | Thous. | Millions | Billions |
1 | satu | sebelas | sepuluh | seratus | seribu | sejuta | semilyar |
2 | dua | dua belas | dua puluh | dua ratus | dua ribu | dua juta | dua milyar |
3 | tiga | tiga belas | tiga puluh | tiga ratus | tiga ribu | tiga juta | tiga milyar |
4 | empat | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
5 | lima | ||||||
6 | enam | ||||||
7 | tujuh | ||||||
8 | delapan | ||||||
9 | sembilan |
Then you juste have to add numbers one after another, by example : 2.748.169.513 : dua milyar, tujuh ratus embat puluh delapan juta, seratus enam puluh sembilan ribu, lima ratus tiga belas.
To express halfs, you just need to add setengah after the number : satu setengah : one and half, dua setengah : two and half.
For ordinals, you just need to add the prefix ke before the number, except for first said pertama, so second is kedua, third ketiga etc...
There is two types of sentences in Indonesian :
- Verbal phrases, they have a classical order Subject-Verb-Object, they're used with a verb to express an action ; saya makan ikan : I eat fish
-Nominal phrases that express a statement or a quality ( like "to be" ) ;
Dia saudara aku : He/she is my brother/sister ( lit: he/she brother/sister I )
There is no grammatical gender, "he" or "she" are expressed in the same way and nouns don't have genders like in French, Spanish or German.
It is an agglutinative language, that means that lot of words are formed with suffixes or prefixes attached to a root, that make a word with a related meaning to the root ; example : curi : steal ; pencuri : thief.
What that make Indonesian easy to learn is the lack of declension in the grammar, nouns and adjectives don't change according to gender or to different cases ( accusative, nominative, dative, like in German or Slavic languages ), even pronouns are similar either as Subject or Object ( saya means both I and me ), and there is no conjugation for verbs, even for past and future, that means that verbs are invariable, you'll use the same word to say "I eat", "he is eating", "we ate", or "they will eat", time is express only with time marker like "tomorrow" or "before".
There is no articles in Indonesian, neither definite ( the ), neither undefinite ( a, an ).
In a verbal phrase negation is expressed with "tidak" : saya tidak minum teh : I don't drink tea.
In a nominale phrase negation is expressed with "bukan" : dia bukan wartawan : he/she is not journalist.
We already saw that personal pronouns are the same, either as subject or object ( "I" and "me" are expressed the same way ) ; they can also be used as possessives ("my") when simply placed after a noun. Thus, if saya profesor means I am professor, profesor saya means my professor.
Here is the list of personal pronouns :
Singular | Pluriel | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person* | 2nd person | 3rd person | ||||
formal | familiar | formal | familiar | inclusive | exclusive | formal | familiar | ||
saya | aku | anda | kamu | dia | kita | kami | anda semua | kalian | mereka |
I | I | you | you | He/she | We (with you) | We (without you) | you | you | they |
* pour la 2nd personne du pluriel, on utilise la forme inclusive kita pour inclure l'interlocuteur, et la forme exclusive kami pour l'exclure
*aku and kamu are often shortened to respectively ku and mu
Ini and itu are much used in Indonesian and often replace the definite article "the" ; when they are used with a noun they are placed after it :
Always very useful like in any language, they are generally in the beginning of a sentence :
They are used the same way as english, here are the most important :
Three prepositions are especially important and often used in different phrases : di express location ( in, at ), ke express direction ( to, at, towards ), and dari provenance ( from ) ; they can replace the verb when this one is not needed to understand the meaning of the sentence.
Other useful prepositions are : pada, to ( someone ) ; tanpa, without ; untuk, for ; dengan, with.
The word ada is quite important in Indonesian as it is used to express existence ( it is a bit similar to есть in Russian or var in Turkish ) and can be translated with "there is" ; it is also used to locate something or someone in space.
Plural of nouns are usually formed by repeating the noun, anak : child ; anak-anak : children ; however, this repetition can also change the meaning of the word, and some words only exists under this form. It is not necessary to repeat the noun when the plural is obvious, preceded by a number by example, thus : anak-anak : children, but dua anak : two children.
Adjectives are always put after the noun, and as we saw they are not declined : dua rumah kecil : two small houses ( lit: "two house small" ).
Are expressed with lebih ( more ), kurang ( less ), et yang paling ( that is the most )( or ter- for short adjectives ) and placed before the adjective :
Daripada ( than ) is used for comparaisons : dia lebih miskin daripada saya : he/she is taller than me. (lit : he/she more tall than I )
Many words in Indonesian are formed by combining two words :
There is no verb to express "to be" in Indonesian, it is simply express by the lack of verb in a sentence ( nominal phrase ) :
However, to locate something or someone in space, we use "ada" :
There is no verbal declension in Indonesian, future and past are expressed with time adverbs, or markers, thus :
You can give order to someone using the suffixe -lah at the end of a verb, but it can be perceived as a bit rude ;
it is better to use saja or dulu at the end of the sentence, or more polite is to use tolong ( please ) followed by the verb with the suffix -kan ; examples :
Negative imperative is expressed with jangan : jangan makan itu : don't eat this.