> INDONESIAN PHRASE

Bahasa Indonesia (The Indonesian Language)

Bahasa Indonesia is both old and new language, it is based on Malay, which has been the lingua-franca throughout much of south-east Asia for centuries, but it has changed rapidly in the past few decades to meet the needs of a modern nation. Although formal Indonesian is a complex language demanding serious study, the construction of basic Indonesian sentences is relatively easy.

Indonesian is written in the Roman alphabet and, unlike some Asian languages, is not tonal. Indonesian always use their language to show their respect when addressing others, especially when a younger person speaks to his elders. The custom is to address an elder man as ‘bapak’ or ‘pak ‘(father) and as elder woman as ‘ibu’ (mother), and even in the case of slightly younger people who are obviously VIPs, this form of address is suitable and correct. Bung (in West Java) and ‘mas'(in Central and East Java) roughly translate as “brother” and are used with equals, people your own age whom you don’t know all that well, and with hotel clerks, taxi drivers, personal drivers, tour guides and waiters (it’s friendly and a few notches above “buddy” or mate).

To get you started, here to try some samples Indonesian phrases:

Greetings and Civilities:

good morning – selamat pagi

good afternoon/evening/night – selamat siang/selamat sore/selamat malam

goodbye (to person staying) – selamat tinggal

goodbye (to person going) – selamat jalan

how are you? – apa kabar?

I’m fine – kabar saya baik

please – silakan

thank you (very much) – terimakasih (banyak)

Time:

when? – kapan?

at what time…? – jam berapa…?

today – hari ini

tonight – nanti malam

tomorrow – besok

Yesterday – kemarin

Other Useful Words & Phrases:

I /me – saya

you – kamu

they – mereka

Mr – bapak

Mrs – ibu

Ms – mbak

excuse me – permisi

sorry – maaf

help – tolong

yes/no – ya/tidak

I don’t understand – saya tidak mengerti

how much (price)? – berapa (harga)?

expensive – mahal

what is this? – apa ini?

what is that? – apa itu?

Taste:

spicy – pedas

tasty – enak

sweet – manis

sour – asam

Temperature:

hot / cold / warm – panas / dingin/ hangat

mild (weather) – sejuk

Numbers:

1/2 – setengah, 1 – satu, 2 – dua, 3 – tiga, 4 – empat, 5 – lima, 6 – enam, 7 – tujuh, 8 – delapan, 9 – sembilan, 10 – sepuluh.

11 – sebelas, 12 – duabelas, 13 – tigabelas, 14 – empatbelas, 15 – limabelas, 16 – enam belas, 17 – tujuhbelas, 18 – delapanbelas, 19 – sembilan belas, 20 – duapuluh

21 – duapuluh satu/dua/tiga/empat/lima/enam/tujuh/delapan/sembilan

30 – tigapuluh, 31 – tigapuluh satu/dua/tiga/empat/lima/enam/tujuh/delapan/sembilan

40 – empatpuluh, 41 – limapuluh satu/dua/tiga/empat/lima/enam/tujuh/delapan/sembilan

50 – limapuluh, 51 – limapuluh satu/dua/tiga/empat/lima/enam/tujuh/delapan/sembilan

100 – seratus, 200 – dua ratus , 300 – tiga ratus …..

1000 – seribu, 2000 – dua ribu, 3000 – tiga ribu ….

10.000 – sepuluh ribu, 15.000 – limabelas ribu, 20.000 – duapuluh ribu, 40.000 – empatpuluh ribu, 50.000 – limapuluh ribe – 100.000 – seratus ribu.

Emergencies:

help! – tolong!

doctor – dokter

police – polisi

hospital – rumah sakit