Indonesian language

This article is about the official language of Indonesia. For an overview of all languages used in Indonesia, see Languages of Indonesia.

"Indonesian Malay" redirects here. For Ethnic Malays in Indonesia, see Malay Indonesian.

Indonesian
Bahasa Indonesia
Native to	Indonesia
Native speakers	43 million (2010 census) L2 speakers: 156 million (2010 census)
Language family	Austronesian Malayo-Polynesian (MP) Nuclear MP Malayo-Sumbawan Malayic Malayan Malay Malacca ("Riau") Malay Indonesian
Writing system	Latin (Indonesian alphabet) Indonesian Braille
Signed forms	Sistem Isyarat Bahasa Indonesia
Official status
Official language in	Indonesia
Recognised minority language in	East Timor
Regulated by	Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa
Language codes
ISO 639-1	id
ISO 639-2	ind
ISO 639-3	ind
Glottolog	indo1316
Linguasphere	31-MFA-ac
Countries of the world where Indonesian is a majority native language   Countries where Indonesian is a minority language

Indonesian (Bahasa Indonesia [baˈhasa indoneˈsia]) is the official language of Indonesia. It is a standardized register of Malay, an Austronesian language that has been used as a lingua franca in the multilingual Indonesian archipelago for centuries.

Indonesia is the fourth most populous nation in the world (after China, India and the United States). Of its large population, the majority speak Indonesian, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Most Indonesians, aside from speaking the national language, are fluent in any of more than 700 indigenous regional languages; examples include Javanese, Sundanese and Madurese, which are commonly used at home and within the local community. Most formal education, and nearly all national media and other forms of communication, are conducted in Indonesian.

The Indonesian name for the language is Bahasa Indonesia (literally "the language of Indonesia"). This term is occasionally found in English, and additionally "Malay-Indonesian" is sometimes used to refer collectively to the standardized language of Indonesia (Bahasa Indonesia) and the Malay language of Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore (Bahasa Melayu).

Geographic distribution

In 2010, Indonesian had 42.8 million native speakers, and 154.9 million second-language speakers, who speak it alongside their local mother tongue, giving a total number of speakers in Indonesia of 197.7 million. It is common as a first language in urban areas, and as a second language by those residing in more rural parts of Indonesia.

The VOA and BBC use Indonesian as their standard for broadcasting in Malay. In Australia, Indonesian is one of three Asian target languages, together with Japanese and Mandarin, taught in some schools as part of the Languages Other Than English programme.

In East Timor, which was an Indonesian province from 1975 to 1999, Indonesian is recognised by the constitution as one of the two working languages (the other being English), alongside the official languages of Tetum and Portuguese.

History

Early kingdoms era

Rencong alphabet, native writing systems found in Malay Peninsula, central and South Sumatra. The text reads (Voorhoeve's spelling): "haku manangis ma / njaru ka'u ka'u di / saru tijada da / tang [hitu hadik sa]", which is translated by Voorhoeve as: "I am weeping, calling you; though called, you do not come" (hitu adik sa- is the rest of 4th line.

Kedukan Bukit Inscription, written in Pallava script, is the oldest surviving specimen of the Old Malay language in South Sumatra, Indonesia.

Indonesian is a standardized register of "Riau Malay", which despite its common name is not the Malay dialect native to Riau, but rather the Classical Malay of the Malaccan royal courts. Originally spoken in Northeast Sumatra, Malay has been used as a lingua franca in the Indonesian archipelago for half a millennium. It might be attributed to its ancestor, the Old Malay language (which can be traced back to the 7th century). The Kedukan Bukit Inscription is the oldest surviving specimen of Old Malay, the language used by Srivijayan empire. Since the 7th century, the Old Malay language has been used in Nusantara (Indonesian archipelago), marked by Srivijaya inscriptions and in other inscriptions of coastal areas of the archipelago, such as those discovered in Java.

Old Malay as lingua franca

Trade contacts carried on by some ethnic peoples at the time was the main vehicle to spread the Old Malay language, as it was the communication device among the traders. By that time, the Old Malay language had become a lingua franca and was spoken widely by most people in the archipelago. Indonesian (in its standard form) is essentially the same language as the official Malaysian, Singaporean and Brunei standards of Malay. However, it does differ from Malaysian in several aspects, with differences in pronunciation and vocabulary. These differences are due mainly to the Dutch and Javanese influences on Indonesian. Indonesian was also influenced by the Melayu pasar (literally "market Malay") that was the lingua franca of the archipelago in colonial times, and thus indirectly by other spoken languages of the islands. Malaysian Malay claims to be closer to the classical Malay of earlier centuries even though modern Malaysian has been heavily influenced, in lexicon as well as in syntax, by English. The question of whether High Malay (Court Malay) or Low Malay (Bazaar Malay) was the true parent of the Indonesian language is still in debate. High Malay was the official language used in the court of the Johor Sultanate and continued by the Dutch-administered territory of Riau-Lingga, while Low Malay was commonly used in marketplaces and ports in archipelago. Some linguists have argued that it was the more-common Low Malay that formed the base of the Indonesian language.

Dutch colonial era

When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) first arrived in the archipelago, the Malay language was a significant trading and political language due to the influence of Malaccan Sultanate and later the Portuguese. However, the language had never been dominant among the population of the Indonesian archipelago as it was limited to mercantile activity. The VOC adopted the Malay language as the administrative language of their trading outpost in the east. Following the bankruptcy of the VOC the Dutch crown took control of the colony in 1799 and it was only then that education in and promotion of Dutch began in the colony. Even then, Dutch administrators were remarkably reluctant to promote the use of Dutch compared to other colonial regimes. Dutch thus remained the language of a small elite: in 1940, only 2% of the total population could speak Dutch. During the era of colonization the language that would become Indonesian absorbed a huge amount of Dutch vocabulary in the form of loanwords.

Birth of Indonesian language

Volksraad session held in July 1938 in Jakarta, where Indonesian used for the first time by Jahja Datoek Kajo, after abandoned for several decades by Dutch colonial government.

The nationalist movement that ultimately brought Indonesian to its national language status rejected Dutch from the outset. However, the rapid disappearance of Dutch was a very unusual case compared to other colonized countries, where the colonial language generally has continued to function as the language of politics, bureaucracy, education, technology, and other important areas for a significant time after independence. Soenjono Dardjowidjojo even goes so far as to say that, "Indonesian is perhaps the only language that has achieved the status of a national language in its true sense" since it truly dominates in all spheres of Indonesian society. The ease with which Indonesia eliminated the language of its former colonial power can perhaps be explained as much by Dutch policy as by Indonesian nationalism, though. In marked contrast to the French, Spanish and Portuguese, who pursued an assimilation colonial policy, or even the British, the Dutch did not attempt to spread their language among the indigenous population. In fact, they consciously prevented the language from being spread by refusing to provide education, especially in Dutch, to the native Indonesians so they would not come to see themselves as equals. Moreover, the Dutch wished to prevent the Indonesian from elevating their perceived social status by taking on elements of Dutch culture. Thus, until the 1930s, they maintained a minimalist regime and allowed Malay to spread quickly throughout the archipelago.

Dutch dominance at that time almost cover all aspects, to the official forums should used the Dutch, although since the Youth Congress (1928) was agreed as the Indonesian national language which is one of the tools the pro-independence struggle. As of it, Mohammad Husni Thamrin inveighed actions underestimating Indonesian. After some criticism and protests, the use of Indonesian was allowed since the Volksraad sessions held in July 1938. By the time they tried to counter the spread of Malay by teaching Dutch to the natives, it was too late, and in 1942, the Japanese conquered Indonesia and outlawed the use of the Dutch language. Three years later, the Indonesians themselves formally abolished the language and established Bahasa Indonesia as the national language of the new nation.

Adopted as national language

Bahasa Negara ialah Bahasa Indonesia.

The national language shall be Indonesian.

Article 36, Chapter XV, Constitution of Indonesia

The adoption of Indonesian as the country's national language was in contrast to most other post-colonial states, as neither the language with the most native speakers (in this case, Javanese) nor the language of the former European colonial power (in this case, Dutch) was to be adopted, but one with only a small number of native speakers.

The Pledge was the result of second Youth Pledge held in Batavia in October 1928. On the last pledge, there was an affirmation of Indonesian language as a unifying language throughout the archipelago.

In 1945 when Indonesia declared its independence and Indonesian was formally declared the national language, it was the native language of only about 5 per cent of the population, whereas Javanese and Sundanese were the mother tongues of 42-48 percent and 15 percent respectively. It was a combination of nationalistic, political, and practical concerns that ultimately led to the successful adoption of Indonesian as a national language. In 1945, Javanese was easily the most prominent language in Indonesia. It was the native language of nearly half the population, the primary language of politics and economics, and the language of courtly, religious, and literary tradition. What it lacked, however, was the ability to unite the diverse Indonesian population as a whole. With thousands of islands and hundreds of different languages, the newly independent country of Indonesia had to find a national language that could realistically be spoken by the majority of the population and that would not divide the nation by favoring one ethnic group, namely the Javanese, over the others. In 1945, Indonesian was already in widespread use; in fact, it had been for roughly a thousand years. Over that long period of time, Malay, which would later become Indonesian, was the primary language of commerce and travel. In addition, it was the language used for the propagation of Islam in the 13th to 17th centuries, as well as the language of instruction used by Portuguese and Dutch missionaries attempting to convert the indigenous people to Christianity. The combination of all of these factors meant that the language was already known to some degree by most of the population, and it could be more easily adopted as the national language than perhaps any other.

Over the first 53 years of Indonesian independence, the country’s first two presidents, Soekarno and Suharto constantly nurtured the sense of national unity embodied by Indonesian, and the language remains an important component of Indonesian identity today. Through a language planning program that made Indonesian the language of politics, education, and nation-building in general, Indonesia became one of the few success stories of an indigenous language effectively overtaking that of a country’s colonizers to become the de jure and de facto official language. It is a unique and somewhat unusual story, especially considering the historical dominance of Javanese; a diverse collection of peoples were able to compromise to hold the nation together. Today, Indonesian continues to function as the language of national identity as the Congress of Indonesian Youth envisioned, and it also serves as the language of education, literacy, modernization, and social mobility. Despite still being a second language to most Indonesian citizens, it is unquestionably the language of the Indonesian nation as a whole, as it has had unrivaled success as a factor in nation-building and the strengthening of Indonesian identity.

Modern and colloquial Indonesian

Further information: Indonesian slang language

Road-signs in an airport terminal.

Toll gate in Indonesia.

Indonesian language used on a bus advertisement.

While Indonesian is spoken as a mother tongue by only a small proportion of Indonesia's large population (i.e. mainly those who reside within the vicinity of Jakarta and other large predominantly Indonesian-speaking cities such as Medan and Balikpapan), over 200 million people regularly make use of the national language, with varying degrees of proficiency. In a nation that boasts more than 300 native languages and a vast array of ethnic groups, it plays an important unifying and cross-archipelagic role for the country. Use of the national language is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools, universities, workplaces, among members of the Indonesian upper-class or nobility and also in many other formal situations, although the 2010 Indonesian Census shows that only 19.94% of people over 5 years old speak mainly Indonesian at home.

Standard and formal Indonesian is used in books and newspapers and on television/ radio news broadcasts; however, few native Indonesian speakers use the formal language in their daily conversations. While this is a phenomenon common to most languages in the world (for example, spoken English does not always correspond to written standards), the degree of "correctness" of spoken Indonesian (in terms of grammar and vocabulary) by comparison to its written form is noticeably low. This is mostly due to Indonesians combining aspects of their own local languages (e.g., Javanese, Sundanese, Balinese, and Chinese) with Indonesian. This results in various "regional" Indonesian dialects, the very types that a foreigner is most likely to hear upon arriving in any Indonesian city or town. This phenomenon is amplified by the use of Indonesian slang, particularly in the cities.

The most common and widely used colloquial Indonesian is heavily influenced by Betawi language, a Malay-based creole of Jakarta, amplified by its popularity in Indonesian popular culture in mass media and Jakarta's status as the national capital. In informal spoken Indonesian, various words are replaced with those of a less formal nature. For example, tidak (no) is often replaced with the Javanese nggak while seperti (like, similar to) is often replaced with kayak (pronounced kai-yah). Sangat or amat (very), the term to express intensity, is often being replaced with Javanese-influenced banget.

As for pronunciation, the diphthongs ai and au on the end of base words are typically pronounced as /e/ and /o/. In informal writing the spelling of words is modified to reflect the actual pronunciation in a way that can be produced with less effort. For example, capai becomes cape or capek, pakai becomes pake, kalau becomes kalo.

In verbs, the prefix me- is often dropped, although an initial nasal consonant is often retained, as when mengangkat becomes ngangkat (the basic word is angkat). The suffixes -kan and -i are often replaced by -in. For example, mencarikan becomes nyariin, menuruti becomes nurutin. The latter grammatical aspect is one often closely related to the Indonesian spoken in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.

Official status

Indonesian is also the language of Indonesian mass media, such as magazines. Printed and broadcast mass media are encouraged to use proper Indonesian, although more relaxed popular slang often prevails.

Warning sign in Indonesia.

Indonesian is the official language of the Republic of Indonesia, thus its usage is encouraged throughout Indonesian archipelago. Its regulated in Chapter XV, Constitution of Indonesia 1945 about the flag, official language, coat of arms, and national anthem of Indonesia. Also in Chapter III, Section 25 to 45, Government regulation No. 24/ 2009 specifically mentions the status of the Indonesian language. Indonesian functions as a symbol of national identity and pride, and is a unifying language among the diverse Indonesian ethnic groups. It also serves as a vehicle of communication among the Indonesian provinces and different regional cultures in Indonesia. The language is used as the national official language, the language of education, communication, transaction and trade documentation, the development of national culture, science, technology, and mass media in Indonesia.

According to Indonesian law, the Indonesian language is proclaimed as the unifying language during Sumpah Pemuda on 28 October 1928, developed further to accommodate the dynamics of Indonesian civilization. It was mentioned that the language was based on Riau Malay, though linguists note that this is not the local dialect of Riau, but the Malaccan dialect that was used in the Riau court. Since its conception in 1928 and its official recognition in 1945 Constitution, the Indonesian language has been loaded with a nationalist political agenda to unify Indonesia (former Dutch East Indies). This status has made Indonesian language relatively open to accommodate influences from other Indonesian ethnic languages, most notably Javanese as the majority ethnic group in Indonesia, and Dutch as the previous colonizer. As a result, Indonesian has wider sources of loanwords, compared to Malay. It was suggested that the Indonesian language is an artificial language made official in 1928. By artificial it means that Indonesian was designed by academics rather than evolving naturally as most common languages have, in order to accommodate the political purpose of establishing an official unifying language of Indonesia. By borrowing heavily from numerous other languages it expresses a natural linguistic evolution; in fact, it is as natural as the next language, as demonstrated in its exceptional capacity for absorbing foreign vocabulary.

The disparate evolution of Indonesian and Malaysian has led to a rift between the two standards. This has been based more upon political nuance and the history of its standardization rather than cultural reasons, and as a result there are asymmetrical views regarding each other's standard among Malaysians and Indonesians. In Malaysia, the national language is Malaysian; in Indonesia, it is Indonesian. Malaysians tend to assert that Malaysian and Indonesian are merely variants of the same language, while Indonesians tend to treat them as separate, albeit related, languages. The result of this attitude is that Indonesians feel little need to harmonize their language with Malaysia and Brunei, whereas Malaysians are keener to coordinate the evolution of the language with Indonesians. Although the 1972 Indonesian alphabet reform was largely a concession of Dutch-based Indonesian to the English-based spelling of Malaysian.

Phonology

Vowels

It is usually said that there are six vowels in Indonesian. These six vowels are shown in the table below. However, other analyses set up a system with other vowels, particularly the open-mid vowels /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.

Table of vowel phonemes of Indonesian

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open		a

Table of vowel phonemes of Indonesian

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e	ə	o
Open-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Diphthongs

Some analyses claim that Indonesian has three native diphthong phonemes only in open syllables, they are:

• /ai̯/: kedai ('shop'), pandai ('clever')
• /au̯/: kerbau ('buffalo')
• /oi̯/ (or /ʊi̯/ in Indonesian): dodoi, amboi

Others assume that these "diphthongs" are actually a monophthong followed by an approximant, so ⟨ai⟩ represents /aj/, ⟨au⟩ represents /aw/, and ⟨oi⟩ represents /oj/. On this basis, there are no phonological diphthongs in Indonesian.

Words borrowed from English with /eɪ/, such as Mei ('May') and esei ('essay') are pronounced with /e/. This feature also happens to English /oʊ/ which becomes /o/.

Diphthongs are differentiated from two vowels in two syllables, such as:

• /a.ʔi/: e.g. rayakan ('celebrate') [ra.ʔi], air ('water') [a.ʔer] (or [a.ʔɪr] in Indonesia and [a.ʔir] elsewhere)
• /a.ʔu/: bau ('smell') [ba.ʔu], laut ('sea') [la.ʔot] (or [la.ʔʊt] in Indonesia and [la.ʔut] elsewhere)

The vowel hiatuses below are two different vowels but pronounced as diphthongs.

• /ia/: meriah ('lively')
• /iu/: liur ('saliva')
• /ua/: luar ('outside')
• /ui/: kelui ('paging')

Consonants

The consonants of Indonesian are shown below. Non-native consonants that only occur in borrowed words, principally from Arabic and English, are shown in parentheses. Some analyses list 19 "primary consonants" for Indonesian as the 18 symbols that are not in parentheses in the table as well as the glottal stop [ʔ].

Consonant phonemes of Standard Indonesian

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	voiceless	p	t	t͡ʃ	k	(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d	d͡ʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	(f)	s	(ʃ)	(x)	h
	voiced	(v)	(z)
Approximant		w	l	j
Trill			r

Orthographic note: The sounds are represented orthographically by their symbols as above, except:

• /ɲ/ is written ⟨ny⟩ before a vowel, ⟨n⟩ before ⟨c⟩ and ⟨j⟩
• /ŋ/ is written ⟨ng⟩
• the glottal stop [ʔ] is written as a final ⟨k⟩ or an apostrophe ⟨'⟩ (the use ⟨k⟩ from its being an allophone of /k/ or /ɡ/ in the syllable coda)
• /tʃ/ is written ⟨c⟩
• /dʒ/ is written ⟨j⟩
• /ʃ/ is written ⟨sy⟩
• /x/ is written ⟨kh⟩
• /j/ is written ⟨y⟩

Stress

Indonesian has light stress that falls on either the final or penultimate syllable, depending on regional variations as well as the presence of the schwa (/ə/) in a word. It is generally the penultimate syllable that is stressed, unless its vowel is a schwa /ə/. If the penult has a schwa, then stress moves to the ante-penultimate syllable if there is one, even if that syllable has a schwa as well; if the word is disyllabic, the stress is final. In disyllabic stress with a closed penultimate syllable, such as tinggal ('stay') and rantai ('chain'), stress falls on the penult.

However, there is some disagreement among linguists over whether stress is phonemic (unpredictable), with some analyses suggesting that there is no underlying stress in Indonesian.

Grammar

The third edition of Indonesian Grammar (Tata Bahasa Indonesia) books published by Balai Pustaka. It is an official book that produced under the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Generally, word order is similar to that of most modern European languages, such as English, by being Subject-Verb-Object (SVO), unlike East Asian languages like Japanese or Korean, which use Subject–Object–Verb.

Indonesian and English also use the same alphabet, syntax, and punctuation. Indonesian is not a tonal language, unlike Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai.

Affixes

In Indonesian, affixes take on an important role because slightly different affixes may have very different meanings. There are four types of affixes: prefixes (awalan), suffixes (akhiran), circumfixes (apitan) and infixes (sisipan). Affixes are categorized into noun, verb, and adjective affixes. Root words are either nouns or verbs, which can take on affixes to generate new words, for example, masak (to cook) may become memasak (cooks), memasakkan (cooks for), dimasak (cooked), pemasak (a cook), masakan (a meal, cookery). Many initial consonants alternate in the presence of prefixes: sapu (to sweep) becomes menyapu (sweeps/sweeping); panggil (to call) becomes memanggil (calls/calling), tapis (to sieve) becomes menapis (sieves).

Other examples of the use of affixes to change the meaning of a word can be seen with the word ajar (teach):

• ajar = teach
• ajaran = teachings
• belajar = to learn
• mengajar = to teach (intransitive)
• mengajarkan = to teach (transitive)
• diajar = being taught (intransitive)
• diajarkan = being taught (transitive)
• mempelajari = to study
• dipelajari = being studied
• pelajar = student
• pengajar = teacher
• pelajaran = subject, education
• pengajaran = lesson
• pembelajaran = learning
• terajar = taught (accidentally)
• terpelajar = well-educated, literally "been taught"
• berpelajaran = is educated, literally "has education"

Nouns

Common derivational affixes for nouns are peng-/per-/juru- (actor, instrument, or someone characterized by the root), -an (collectivity, similarity, object, place, instrument), ke-...-an (abstractions and qualities, collectivities), per-/peng-...-an (abstraction, place, goal or result).

Gender

Indonesian does not make use of grammatical gender, and there are only selected words that use natural gender. For instance, the same word is used for he/him and she/her ([dia or ia] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)) or for his and her ([dia, ia or -nya] Error: {{Lang}}: text has italic markup (help)). No real distinction is made between "girlfriend" and "boyfriend", both pacar (although more colloquial terms as cewek girl/girlfriend and cowok boy/boyfriend can also be found). A majority of Indonesian words that refer to people generally have a form that does not distinguish between the sexes. However, unlike English, distinction is made between older or younger.

There are some words that have gender, for instance putri means "daughter", and putra means "son" and also pramugara means "male flight attendant" and pramugari meaning "female flight attendant". Another example would be olahragawan, which equates to "sportsman", and olahragawati, meaning sportswoman. Often, words like these (or certain suffixes such as "-a" and "-i" or "-wan" and "wati") are absorbed from other languages (in these cases, from Sanskrit through the Old Javanese language). In some regions of Indonesia such as Sumatera and Jakarta, abang (a gender-specific term meaning "older brother") is commonly used as a form of address for older siblings/males, while kakak (a non-gender specific term meaning "older sibling") is often used to mean "older sister". Similarly, more direct influences from other languages, such as Javanese and Chinese, have also seen further use of other gendered words in Indonesian. For example: Mas ("older brother"), M'bak ("older sister"), Koko ("older brother") and Cici ("older sister").

Number

Indonesian grammar does not regularly mark plurals. In Indonesian, to change a singular into a plural one either repeats the word or adds para before it (the latter for living things only); for example, "students" can be either murid-murid or para murid. Plurals are rarely used in Indonesian, especially in daily and informal situations. Reduplication is often mentioned as the formal way to express the plural form of nouns in Indonesian; however, in informal daily discourse, speakers of Indonesian usually use other methods to indicate the concept of something being "more than one". Reduplication may also indicate the conditions of variety and diversity as well, and not simply plurality.

Reduplication is commonly used to emphasize plurality; however, reduplication has many other functions. For example, orang-orang means "(all the) people", but orang-orangan means "scarecrow". Similarly, while hati means "heart" or "liver", hati-hati is a verb meaning "to be careful". Also, not all reduplicated words are inherently plural, such as orang-orangan "scarecrow/scarecrows", biri-biri "a/some sheep" and kupu-kupu "butterfly/butterflies". Some reduplication is rhyming rather than exact, as in sayur-mayur "(all sorts of) vegetables".

Distributive affixes derive mass nouns that are effectively plural: pohon "tree", pepohonan "flora, trees"; rumah "house", perumahan "housing, houses"; gunung "mountain", pegunungan "mountain range, mountains".

Quantity words come before the noun: seribu orang "a thousand people", beberapa pegunungan "a series of mountain ranges", beberapa kupu-kupu "some butterflies".

Plural in Indonesian is just to clarify the number of objects in sentence. For example, Ani membeli satu kilo mangga (Ani buys one kilogram of mangoes). In this case, "mangoes", which is plural, is not said as mangga-mangga because the plurality is implicit: the amount a kilogram means more than one mango. So, in Indonesian is logically does not change the singular into the plural form, because it is not necessary and considered a pleonasm (in Indonesian often called Pemborosan Kata).

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are not a separate part of speech, but a subset of nouns. They are frequently omitted, and there are numerous ways to say "you". Commonly the person's name, title, title with name, or occupation is used ("does Johnny want to go?", "would Madam like to go?"); kin terms, including fictive kinship, are extremely common. However, there are also dedicated personal pronouns, as well as the demonstrative pronouns ini "this, the" and itu "that, the".

Personal pronouns

From the perspective of a European language, Indonesian boasts a wide range of different pronouns, especially to refer to the addressee (the so-called second person pronouns). These are used to differentiate several parameters of the person they are referred to, such as the social rank and the relationship between the addressee and the speaker.

This table shows an overview over the most commonly and widely used pronouns of the Indonesian language:

Common pronouns

person		respect	singular	plural
1st person	exclusive	informal, familiar	aku	kami (we: they and me, she/he and me)
		standard, polite	saya
	inclusive			kita (we: you and me, you and us)
2nd person		familiar	kamu	kalian
		polite	Anda (you)	Anda sekalian (you, you all)
3rd person		colloquial	dia or ia (she/he)	dia orang (they)
		formal standard		mereka (itu) (they)

• First person pronouns

Notable among the personal-pronoun system is a distinction between two forms of "we": kita (you and me, you and us) and kami (us, but not you). The distinction is increasingly confused in colloquial Indonesian.

Saya and aku are the two major forms of "I". Saya is the more formal form, whereas aku is used with family, friends, and between lovers. Sahaya is an old or literary form of saya. Sa(ha)ya may also be used for "we", but in such cases it is usually used with sekalian or semua "all"; this form is ambiguous as to whether it corresponds with inclusive kami or exclusive kita. Less common are hamba "slave", hamba tuan, hamba datok (all extremely humble), beta (a royal addressing oneselves), patek (a commoner addressing a royal), kami (royal or editorial "we"), kita, təman, and kawan.

• Second person pronouns

There are three common forms of "you", Anda (polite), kamu (familiar), and kalian "all" (commonly used as a plural form of you, slightly informal). Anda is used with strangers, recent acquaintances, in advertisements, in business, and when you wish to show respect (though terms like tuan "sir" and other titles also show respect), while kamu is used in situations where the speaker would use aku for "I". Anda sekalian is polite plural.

Engkau (əngkau), commonly shortened to kau, and hang are used to social inferiors, awak to equals, and əncek (cek before a name) is polite, traditionally used for people without title. The compounds makcek and pakcek are used with village elders one is well acquainted with or the guest of.

• Third person pronouns

The common word for "s/he" and "they" is ia, which has the object and emphatic/focused form dia. Bəliau "his/her Honour" is respectful. As with "you", names and kin terms are extremely common. Colloquially, dia orang is commonly used for the plural "they"; in writing, mereka "someone", mereka itu, or orang itu "those people" are used for "they".

• Regional varieties

There are a large number of other words for "I" and "you", many regional, dialectical, or borrowed from local languages. Saudara "you" (male) and saudari (female) (plural saudara-saudara or saudari-saudari) show utmost respect. Daku "I" and dikau "you" are poetic or romantic. Indonesian gua "I" and lu "you" are slang and extremely informal. In the state of Pahang, two variants for "I" and "you" exist, depending on location. In East Pahang, around Pekan, "kome" is used as "I" while in the west around Temerloh, "koi" is used. Interestingly, "kome" is also used in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, but instead it means "you". This allegedly originated from the fact that both the royal families of Pahang and Perak (whose seats are in Pekan and Kuala Kangsar respectively) were descendants of the same ancient line.

The informal pronouns aku, kamu, engkau, ia, kami, and kita are indigenous to Indonesian.

Possessive pronouns

Aku, kamu, engkau, and ia have short possessive enclitic forms. All others retain their full forms like other nouns, as does emphatic dia: meja saya, meja kita, meja anda, meja dia "my table, our table, your table, his/her table".

Possessed forms of meja "table"

Pronoun	Enclitic	Possessed form
aku	-ku	mejaku (my table)
kamu	-mu	mejamu (your table)
ia	-nya	mejanya (his, her, their table)

There are also proclitic forms of aku, ku- and kau-. These are used when there is no emphasis on the pronoun:

Ku-dengar raja itu penyakit sopak. Aku tahu ilmu tabib. Aku-lah mengubati dia.

"It has come to my attention that the Raja has a skin disease. I am skilled in medicine. I will cure him."

Here ku-verb is used for a general report, aku verb is used for a factual statement, and emphatic aku-lah meng-verb (≈ "I am the one who...") for focus on the pronoun.

Demonstrative pronouns

There are two demonstrative pronouns in Indonesian. Ini "this, these" is used for a noun which is generally near to the speaker. Itu "that, those" is used for a noun which is generally far from the speaker. Either may sometimes be equivalent to English "the". There is no difference between singular and plural. However, plural can be indicated through duplication of a noun followed by a ini or itu. The word yang "which" is often placed before demonstrative pronouns to give emphasis and a sense of certainty, particularly when making references or enquiries about something/ someone, like English "this one" or "that one".

Pronoun	Indonesian	English
ini	buku ini	This book, these books, the book(s)
	buku-buku ini	These books, (all) the books
itu	kucing itu	That cat, those cats, the cat(s)
	kucing-kucing itu	Those cats, the (various) cats

Pronoun + yang	Example Sentence	English Meaning
Yang ini	Q: Anda mau membeli buku yang mana? A: Saya mau beli yang ini	Q: Which book do you wish to purchase? A: I would like this one
Yang itu	Q: Kucing mana yang makan tikusmu? A: Yang itu!	Q: Which cat ate your mouse? A: That one!

Verbs

Verbs are not inflected for person or number, and they are not marked for tense; tense is instead denoted by time adverbs (such as "yesterday") or by other tense indicators, such as sudah "already" and belum "not yet". On the other hand, there is a complex system of verb affixes to render nuances of meaning and to denote voice or intentional and accidental moods. Some of these affixes are ignored in colloquial speech.

Examples of these are the prefixes di- (patient focus, frequently but erroneously called "passive voice", for OVA word order in the third person, and OAV in the first or second persons), meng- (agent focus, frequently but erroneously called "active voice", for AVO word order), memper- and diper- (causative, agent and patient focus), ber- (stative or habitual; intransitive VS order), and ter- (agentless actions, such as those which are involuntary, sudden, stative or accidental, for VA = VO order); the suffixes -kan (causative or benefactive) and -i (locative, repetitive, or exhaustive); and the circumfixes ber-...-an (plural subject, diffuse action) and ke-...-an (unintentional or potential action or state).

• duduk to sit down
• mendudukkan to sit someone down, give someone a seat, to appoint
• menduduki to sit on, to occupy
• didudukkan to be given a seat, to be appointed
• diduduki to be sat on, to be occupied
• terduduk to sink down, to come to sit
• kedudukan to be situated

Forms in ter- and ke-...-an are often equivalent to adjectives in English.

Negation

Four words are used for negation in Indonesian, namely tidak, bukan, jangan, and belum.

• Tidak (not), often shortened to tak, is used for the negation of verbs and "adjectives".
• Bukan (be-not) is used in the negation of a noun.

For example:

Indonesian	Gloss	English
Saya tidak tahu	I not know	I do not know
Ibu saya tidak senang	mother I not be-happy	My mother is not happy
Itu bukan anjing saya	that be-not dog I	That is not my dog

Prohibition

For negating imperatives or advising against certain actions in Indonesian, the word jangan (do not) is used before the verb. For example,

• Jangan tinggalkan saya di sini!

Don't leave me here!

• Jangan lakukan itu!

Don't do that!

• Jangan! Itu tidak bagus untukmu.

Don't! That's not good for you.

Adjectives

There are grammatical adjectives in Indonesian. Stative verbs are often used for this purpose as well. Adjectives are always placed after the noun which they modify. Hence, "rumah saya" means "my house", while "saya rumah" means "I am a house".

Indonesian	Gloss	English
Hutan hijau	forest green	(The) green forest.
Hutan itu hijau	forest that green	That/the forest is green.
Kəreta yang merah	carriage which (is) red.	(The) carriage which is red = the red carriage.
Kəreta merah	carriage red.	Red carriage.
Dia orang yang terkenal sekali	he/she person which be-famous very	He/she is a very famous person
Orang terkenal	person famous.	Famous person.
Orang ini terkenal sekali	person this be-famous very	This person is very famous

To say that something "is" an adjective, the determiners "itu" and "ini" ("that" and "this") are often used. For example, in the sentence "anjing itu galak", the use of "itu" gives a meaning of "the/that dog is ferocious", while "anjing ini galak", gives a meaning of "this dog is ferocious". However, if "itu" or "ini" were not to be used, then "anjing galak" would meaning only "ferocious dog", a plain adjective without any stative implications. The all-purpose determiner, "yang", is also often used before adjectives, hence "anjing yang galak" also means "ferocious dog" or more literally "dog which is ferocious"; "yang" will often be used for clarity. Hence, in a sentence such as "saya didekati oleh anjing galak" which means "I was approached by a ferocious dog", the use of the adjective "galak" is not stative at all.

Often the "ber-" intransitve verb prefix, or the "ter-" stative prefix will be used to suggest a meaning of "to be...". For example, "beda" means "different", hence "berbeda" means "to be different"; "awan" means "cloud", hence "berawan-awan" means "cloudy". Using the "ter-" prefix, implies a state of being. For example, "buka" means "open", hence "terbuka" means "is open"; "tutup" means "closed/shut", hence "tertutup" means "is closed/shut".

Word order

Adjectives, demonstrative determiners, and possessive determiners follow the noun they modify.

Indonesian does not have a grammatical subject in the sense that English does. In intransitive clauses, the noun comes before the verb. When there is both an agent and an object, these are separated by the verb (OVA or AVO), with the difference encoded in the voice of the verb. OVA, commonly but inaccurately called "passive", is the basic and most common word order.

Either the agent or object or both may be omitted. This is commonly done to accomplish one of two things:

1) Adding a sense of politeness and respect to a statement or question

For example, a polite shop assistant in a store may avoid the use of pronouns altogether and ask:

Ellipses of pronoun (agent & object)	Literal English	Idiomatic English
Bisa dibantu?	Can + to be helped?	Can (I) help (you)?

2) Agent or object is unknown, not important, or understood from context

For example, a friend may enquire as to when you bought your property, to which you may respond:

Ellipses of pronoun (understood agent)	Literal English	Idiomatic English
Rumah ini dibeli lima tahun yang lalu	House this + be purchased five year(s) ago	The house 'was purchased' five years ago

Ultimately, the choice of voice and therefore word order is a choice between actor and patient and depends quite heavily on the language style and context.

Writing system

Main articles: Indonesian alphabet and Perfected Spelling System

Indonesian is written with the Latin script. It was originally based on the Dutch spelling and still bears some similarities to it. Consonants are represented in a way similar to Italian, although ⟨c⟩ is always /tʃ/ (like English ⟨ch⟩), ⟨g⟩ is always /ɡ/ ("hard") and ⟨j⟩ represents /dʒ/ as it does in English. In addition, ⟨ny⟩ represents the palatal nasal /ɲ/, ⟨ng⟩ is used for the velar nasal /ŋ/ (which can occur word-initially), ⟨sy⟩ for /ʃ/ (English ⟨sh⟩) and ⟨kh⟩ for the voiceless velar fricative /x/. Both /e/ and /ə/ are represented with ⟨e⟩.

Spelling changes in the language that have occurred since Indonesian independence include:

Phoneme	Obsolete spelling	Modern spelling
/u/	oe	u
/tʃ/	tj	c
/dʒ/	dj	j
/j/	j	y
/ɲ/	nj	ny
/ʃ/	sj	sy
/x/	ch	kh

Introduced in 1901, the van Ophuijsen system, (named from the advisor of the system, Charles Adriaan van Ophuijsen) was the first standardization of romanized spelling. It was most influenced by the then current Dutch spelling system. In 1947, the spelling was changed into Republican Spelling or Soewandi Spelling (named by at the time Minister of Education, Soewandi). This spelling changed formerly-spelled oe into u (however, the spelling influenced other aspects in orthography, for example writing reduplicated words). All of the other changes were a part of the Perfected Spelling System, an officially-mandated spelling reform in 1972. Some of the old spellings (which were derived from Dutch orthography) do survive in proper names; for example, the name of a former president of Indonesia is still sometimes written Soeharto, and the central Java city of Yogyakarta is sometimes written Jogjakarta.

Vocabulary

See also: List of loanwords in Indonesian

A Pie chart showing percentage of other languages contribute on loan words of Indonesian language.

  Dutch (42.5%)

  English (20.9%)

  Arabic (19%)

  Sanskrit and Hindi (9%)

  Chinese (3.6%)

  Portuguese (2%)

  Tamil (2%)

  Persian (1%)

A modern dialect of Malay, Indonesian has also influenced by other languages, including other Austronesian languages, Sanskrit, English, Dutch, Portuguese, Arabic, Persian, Chinese, Tamil and Regional languages. It is estimated that there are some 750 Sanskrit loanwords in modern Indonesian, 1,000 Arabic loans, some of Persian and Hebrew origin, some 125 words of Portuguese, some of Spanish and Italian origin, and 10,000 loanwords from Dutch The vast majority of Indonesian words, however, come from the root lexical stock of its Austronesian (incl. Old Malay).

The study of Indonesian etymology and loan words reveals both its historical and social contexts. Examples are the early Sanskrit borrowings on 7th century during the trading era, the borrowings from Arabic and Persian during the time of the establishment of Islam in particular, and the ones from Dutch during the colonial period. Linguistic history and cultural history are clearly linked.

List of loan words of Indonesian language published by the Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa (The Language Center) under Ministry of Education and Culture:

Language origin	Number of words
Dutch	3280
English	1610
Arabic	1495
Sanskrit	677
Chinese	290
Portuguese	131
Tamil	131
Persian	63
Hindi	7

Source: Senarai Kata Serapan dalam Bahasa Indonesia (1996) published by Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa (The Language Center).

Loan words of Dutch origin

The former colonial power, the Netherlands, left a sizable amount of vocabulary that can be seen in words such as polisi (from politie = police), kualitas (from kwaliteit = quality), aktual (from actueel = current), rokok (from roken = smoking cigarettes), korupsi (from corruptie = corruption), kantor (from kantoor = office), resleting (from ritssluiting = zipper), pelopor (from voorloper = frontrunner) persneling (from versnelling = transmission gear), setrum (from stroom = electricity current), maskapai (from maatschappij = airline company), apotek (from apotheek = pharmacy), handuk (from handdoek = towel), setrika (from strijkijzer = clothes iron), bioskop (from bioscoop = cinema), spanduk (from spandoeken = banner), korsleting (from kortsluiting = short circuit), om (from oom = uncle), tante (from tante = aunt), traktir (from trakteer = treat) and gratis (from gratis = free). These Dutch loanwords, and many other non-Italo-Iberian, European language loanwords that came via Dutch, cover all aspects of life. Some Dutch loanwords, having clusters of several consonants, pose difficulties to speakers of Indonesian. This problem is usually solved by insertion of the schwa. For example, Dutch schroef [ˈsxruf] > sekrup [səˈkrup] (screw (n.)). One scholar argues that 20% of Indonesian words are inspired by the Dutch language.

Before the standardization of the language, many Indonesian words follow standard Dutch alphabet and pronunciation such as "oe" for vowel "u" or "dj" for consonant "j" [dʒ]. As a result, Malay words are written with that orthography such as: passer for the word Pasar or djalan for the word jalan, older Indonesian generation tend to have their name written in such order as well.

Loan words of regional languages origin

There are 726 languages spoken across the Indonesian archipelago in 2009, the largest multilingual population in the world only after Papua New Guinea. Javanese is the most widely spoken language without official status, following by Sundanese, Malay, Madurese, and Minangkabau.

Based on the fourth edition of KBBI, the list of regional languages with most high-contribution to Indonesian language are:

Language origin	Number of words
Javanese	1109
Minangkabau	929
Sundanese	223
Madurese	221
Balinese	153
Acehnese	112
Banjarese	100
Others	745

Source: Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Edisi Keempat (2008) published by Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa (The Language Center).

Loan words of Sanskrit origin

Indonesian National Armed Forces, Indonesian National Police, Indonesian Air Force and Indonesian Army mottos are Tri Dharma Eka Karma, Rastra Sewakottama, Swa Bhuwana Paksa, Kartika Eka Paksi, all in Sanskrit language.

The Sanskrit influence came from contacts with India since ancient times. The words were either borrowed directly from India or with the intermediary of the Old Javanese language. Although Hinduism and Buddhism are no longer the major religions of Indonesia, Sanskrit, which was the language vehicle for these religions, is still held in high esteem and is comparable with the status of Latin in English and other Western European languages. Sanskrit is also the main source for neologisms, these are usually formed from Sanskrit roots. The loanwords from Sanskrit cover many aspects of religion, art and everyday life. Sanskrit loanwords, unlike those from other languages, have entered the basic vocabulary of Indonesian to such an extent that, for many, they are no longer perceived as foreign.

From Sanskrit came such words as भाषा bahasa (language), काच kaca (glass, mirror), राज- raja (king), मनुष्य manusia (mankind), भूमि bumi (earth/ world), आगम agama (religion), स्त्री Istri (wife/woman), जय Jaya (victory/victorious), पुर Pura (city/temple/place), रक्षस Raksasa (giant/monster), धर्म Dharma (rule/regulations), मन्त्र Mantra (words/poet/spiritual prayers), क्षत्रिय Satria (warrior/brave/soldier), विजय Wijaya (greatly victorious/great victory), etc. Sanskrit words and sentences are also used in names, titles, and mottos of the Indonesian National Police and Indonesian Armed Forces such as: Bhayangkara, Laksamana, Jatayu, Garuda, Dharmakerta Marga Reksyaka, Jalesveva Jayamahe, Kartika Eka Paksi, Swa Bhuwana Paksa, Rastra Sewakottama, Yudha Siaga, etc. The Sanskrit words also still makes the Indonesian language more powerful in meaning from the usage of the National Armed Forces titles such as (above) and more meanings that also contributes to official and formal languages of Indonesia.

Loan words of Chinese origin

Relationship has been going since the 7th century when the Chinese merchants trade in some areas of the archipelago such as Riau, West Borneo and East Kalimantan, and North Maluku. At the time of the kingdom of Srivijaya appeared and firmed, China opened a diplomatic relations with the kingdom in order to secure trade and seafaring. In the 922, Chinese travelers visited Kahuripan in East Java. Since the 11th century, a hundreds of thousands of Chinese migrants left their China Mainland and settled in many parts of Nusantara (now called as Indonesia).

The Chinese loanwords are usually concerned with cuisine, trade or often just things exclusively Chinese. Words of Chinese origin (presented here with accompanying Hokkien/ Mandarin pronunciation derivatives as well as traditional and simplified characters) include pisau (匕首 bǐshǒu  – knife), loteng, (樓/層 = lóu/céng – [upper] floor/ level), mie (麵 > 面 Hokkien mī – noodles), lumpia (潤餅 (Hokkien = lūn-piáⁿ) – springroll), cawan (茶碗 cháwǎn – teacup), teko (茶壺 > 茶壶 = cháhú [Mandarin], teh-ko [Hokkien] = teapot), 苦力 kuli = 苦 khu (bitter) and 力 li (energy) and even the widely used slang terms gua and lu (from the Hokkien 'goa' 我 and 'lu/li' 你 – meaning 'I/ me' and 'you').

Loan words of Arabic origin

Many Arabic words were brought and spread by merchants from Arab Peninsula like Arabian, Persian, and from the western part of India, Gujarat where many Muslims lived. As a result, many Indonesian words come from the Arabic language. Especially since the late 12th century, Old Malay was heavily influenced by the language and produced many great literary works such as Syair, Babad, Hikayat, and Suluk. This century is known as The Golden Age of Indonesian Literature.

Many loanwords from Arabic are mainly concerned with religion, in particular with Islam, and by extension, with greetings such as the word, "selamat" (from Arabic: سلام salām = peace) means "safe" or "lucky". Words of Arabic origin include dunia (from Arabic: دنيا dunyā = the present world), names of days (except Minggu), such as Sabtu (from Arabic: سبت sabt-u = Saturday), iklan (آعلان [iʻlan] Error: {{Transliteration}}: unrecognized transliteration standard: alan (help) = advertisement),kabar (خبر ḵabar = news), Kursi (كرسي kursī = a chair), jumat (جمعة jumʻa = Friday), ijazah (إجازة ijāza = 'permission', certificate of authority, e.g. a school diploma certificate), kitab (كتاب kitāb = book), tertib (ترتيب tartīb = order/arrangement) and kamus (قاموس qāmūs = dictionary). Allah (Arabic: الله), as it is mostly the case for Arabic speakers, is the word for God even in Christian Bible translations. Many early Bible translators, when they came across some unusual Hebrew words or proper names, used the Arabic cognates. In the newer translations this practice is discontinued. They now turn to Greek names or use the original Hebrew Word. For example, the name Jesus was initially translated as 'Isa (Arabic: عيسى), but is now spelt as Yesus. Several ecclesiastical terms derived from Arabic still exist in Indonesian language. Indonesian word for bishop is uskup (from Arabic: أسقف usquf = bishop). This in turn makes the Indonesian term for archbishop uskup agung (literally great bishop), which is combining the Arabic word with an Old Javanese word. The term imam (from Arabic: إمام imām = leader, prayer leader) is used to translate a Catholic priest, beside its more common association with an Islamic prayer leader. Some Protestant denominations refer to their congregation jemaat (from Arabic: جماعة jamāʻa = group, a community). Even the name of the Bible in Indonesian translation is Alkitab (from Arabic: الكتاب al-kitāb = the book), which literally means "the Book".

Loan words of Portuguese origin

Gereja (church) is derived from Portuguese igreja.

Alongside Malay, Portuguese was the lingua franca for trade throughout the archipelago from the sixteenth century through to the early nineteenth century. The Portuguese were among the first westerners to sail eastwards to the "Spice Islands". Loanwords from Portuguese were mainly connected with articles that the early European traders and explorers brought to Southeast Asia. Indonesian words derived from Portuguese include meja (from mesa = table), lemari (from armário = closet), boneka (from boneca = doll), jendela (from janela = window), gereja (from igreja = church), natal (from natal = Christmas), santo (from santo = saint), pesta (from festa = party), bendera (from bandeira = flag), sepatu (from sapato = shoes), dansa (from dança = dance), bangku (from banco = chair), pompa (from bomba hidráulica = pump), sekolah (from escola = school), tukar (from trocar = exchange), keju (from queijo = cheese), mentega (from manteiga = butter), and Minggu (from domingo = Sunday).

Other loan words

Modern Indonesian draws many of its words from foreign sources, there are many synonyms. For example, Indonesian has three words for "book", i.e. pustaka (from Sanskrit), kitab (from Arabic) and buku (from Dutch boek); however, each has a slightly different meaning. A pustaka is often connected with ancient wisdom or sometimes with esoteric knowledge. A derived form, perpustakaan means a library. A kitab is usually a religious scripture or a book containing moral guidance. The Indonesian words for the Bible and Gospel are Alkitab and Injil, both directly derived from Arabic. The book containing the penal code is also called the kitab. Buku is the most common word for books.

There are direct borrowings from various other languages of the world, such as "karaoke" ([カラオケ] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: jp (help)) from Japanese, and "modem" from English. Many words that originally are adopted through the Dutch language today however often are mistaken as English due to the similarity in the Germanic nature of both languages. In some cases the words are replaced by English language through globalization: although the word arbei (Dutch: aardbei) still literally means strawberry in Indonesian, today the usage of the word stroberi is more common.

As speakers of other languages

BIPA (Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing) book, which helps foreigners to learn Indonesian language effectively.

Over the past few years, interest in learning Indonesian has grown among non-Indonesians. Various universities have started to offer courses that emphasise the teaching of the language to non-Indonesians. In addition to National Universities, private institutions have also started to offer courses, like the Indonesia Australia Language Foundation and the Lembaga Indonesia Amerika.

As early as 1988, teachers of the language have expressed the importance of a standardised Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing (also called BIPA) materials (mostly books), and this need became more evident during the 4th International Congress on the Teaching of Indonesian to Speakers of Other Languages held in 2001.

Since 2013, the Indonesian Embassy in the Philippines has given basic Indonesian language courses to 16 batches of Filipino students, as well as training to members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines. Due to increasing demand among students, the Embassy will open an intermediate Indonesian language course later in the year. The Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., USA also began offering free Indonesian language courses at the beginner and intermediate level.

In an interview, Department of Education Secretary Armin Luistro said that the country's government should promote Indonesian or Malay, which are related to Filipino. Thus, the possibility of offering it as an optional subject in public schools is being studied.

Words

Numbers

Cardinal

Number	English	Indonesian
0	zero	nol
1	one	satu
2	two	dua
3	three	tiga
4	four	empat
5	five	lima
6	six	enam
7	seven	tujuh
8	eight	delapan
9	nine	sembilan
10	ten	sepuluh
11	eleven	sebelas
12	twelve	dua belas
20	twenty	dua puluh
21	twenty one	dua puluh satu
30	thirty	tiga puluh
100	one hundred	seratus
200	two hundreds	dua ratus
210	two hundred ten	dua ratus sepuluh
1000	one thousand	seribu
10000	ten thousand	sepuluh ribu
100000	one hundred thousand	seratus ribu
1000000	one million	sejuta, satu juta
1000000000	one billion	satu miliar
1000000000000	one trillion	satu triliun

Ordinal

Number	English	Indonesian
1st	first	pertama
2nd	second	kedua
3rd	third	ketiga
4th	fourth	keempat
5th	fifth	kelima
6th	sixth	keenam
7th	seventh	ketujuh
8th	eighth	kedelapan
9th	ninth	kesembilan
10th	tenth	kesepuluh

Days and Months

Day

English	Indonesian
Monday	Senin
Tuesday	Selasa
Wednesday	Rabu
Thursday	Kamis
Friday	Jumat
Saturday	Sabtu
Sunday	Minggu

Month

English	Indonesian
January	Januari
February	Februari
March	Maret
April	April
May	Mei
June	Juni
July	Juli
August	Agustus
September	September
October	Oktober
November	November
December	Desember

Phrases

English	Indonesian
Hello	Halo
Thank you	Terima kasih (formal)
Thanks	Makasih (colloquial)
You are welcome	Sama-sama or terima kasih kembali
Yes	Ya or iya
No	Tidak
And	Dan
Or	Atau
How are you?	Apa kabar?
Have a nice day	Semoga hari Anda menyenangkan
Bon appetite	Selamat makan or Selamat menikmati
I am sorry	Maafkan saya
Excuse me	Permisi
Can you speak Indonesian?	Bisakah Anda berbicara bahasa Indonesia?
Yes, I can speak Indonesian / No, I can not speak Indonesian	Ya, saya bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia / Tidak, saya tidak bisa berbicara bahasa Indonesia
Please	Mohon or tolong
I am happy	Saya senang
I understand	Saya mengerti
Help!	Tolong!
Can you help me?	Bisakah Anda menolong saya?
Can I help you? / Do you need help?	Dapatkah saya membantu Anda? / Apakah Anda membutuhkan bantuan?
May I borrow your eraser?	Bolehkah saya meminjam penghapus Anda?
With my pleasure	Dengan senang hati
Welcome	Selamat datang
Welcome to Indonesia	Selamat datang di Indonesia
I agree / I disagree	Saya setuju / Saya tidak setuju
I understand / I do not understand	Saya mengerti / Saya tidak mengerti
I am hungry	Saya lapar
I am thirsty	Saya haus
Goodbye!	Sampai jumpa!

Example

The following texts are excerpts from the official translations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Indonesian and Malay, along with the original declaration in English.

English	Indonesian Language	Malaysian Language
Universal Declaration of Human Rights	Pernyataan Umum tentang Hak Asasi Manusia	Perisytiharan Hak Asasi Manusia sejagat
Article 1	Pasal 1	Perkara 1
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.	Semua orang dilahirkan merdeka dan mempunyai martabat dan hak-hak yang sama. Mereka dikaruniai akal dan hati nurani dan hendaknya bergaul satu sama lain dalam semangat persaudaraan.	Semua manusia dilahirkan bebas dan sama rata dari segi maruah dan hak-hak. Mereka mempunyai pemikiran dan perasaan hati dan hendaklah bergaul dengan semangat persaudaraan.

See also

• Bahasa, for other languages referred to as bahasa
• Languages of Indonesia
• Language families and languages
• Malay language
• Demographics of Indonesia
• Indonesian slang language
• Indonesian abbreviated words
• Comparison of Standard Malay and Indonesian
• List of English words of Indonesian origin

External links

• How many people speak Indonesian?
• free language resource
• Learning Indonesian
• Indonesian Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words (from Wiktionary's Swadesh-list appendix)
• Indonesia WWW Virtual Library
• Bahasa Indonesia Dictionary
• Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia dalam jaringan (Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language of the Language Center, in Indonesian only)
• Example recording of spoken bahasa Indonesia
• Informasi Bahasa Indonesia
• Tv Online
• Indonesia Language
• babla.co.id English-Indonesian dictionary from bab.la, a language learning portal
• Bahasa Indonesia English Dictionary

English to Bahasa Indonesia translator

• Google Indonesia Translator
• http://www.indotranslate.com/translated-text.php
• http://vvv.sederet.com/translate.php
• http://translation2.paralink.com/English-Indonesian-Translator
• http://imtranslator.net/translation/english/to-indonesian/translation/
• http://www.toggletext.com/main.cgi?page=translation

Dictionary software English and Bahasa Indonesia

• http://www.softpedia.com/get/Others/Home-Education/Kamus.shtml
• http://indodic.com/dlEnglish.html http://indodic.com/dlIndo.html