Indonesian language

AffixesEdit

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"

Noun affixesEdit

Noun affixes are affixes that form nouns upon addition to root words. The following are examples of noun affixes:

Type of noun affixesAffixExample of root wordExample of derived word

Prefixpə(r)- ~ pəng-duduk (sit)penduduk (population)

kə-hendak (want)kehendak (desire)

Infix⟨əl⟩tunjuk (point)telunjuk (index finger, command)

⟨əm⟩kelut (dishevelled)kemelut (chaos, crisis)

⟨ər⟩gigi (teeth)gerigi (toothed blade)

Suffix-anbangun (wake up, raise)bangunan (building)

Circumfixkə-...-anraja (king)kerajaan (kingdom)

pə(r)-...-an

pəng-...-ankerja (work)pekerjaan (occupation)

The prefix per- drops its r before r, l and frequently before p, t, k. In some words it is peng-; though formally distinct, these are treated as variants of the same prefix in Indonesian grammar books.

Verb affixesEdit

Similarly, verb affixes in Indonesian are attached to root words to form verbs. In Indonesian, there are:

Type of verb affixesAffixExample of root wordExample of derived word

Prefixbər-ajar (teach)belajar (to study)[51]

məng-tolong (help)menolong (to help)

di-ambil (take)diambil (be taken)

məmpər-panjang (length)memperpanjang (to lengthen)

dipər-dalam (deep)diperdalam (be deepened)

tər-makan (eat)termakan (to have accidentally eaten)

Suffix-kanletak (place, keep)letakkan (keep)

-ijauh (far)jauhi (avoid)

Circumfixbər-...-anpasang (pair)berpasangan (in pairs)

bər-...-kandasar (base)berdasarkan (based on)

məng-...-kanpasti (sure)memastikan (to make sure)

məng-...-iteman (company)menemani (to accompany)

məmpər-...-kanguna (use)mempergunakan (to utilise, to exploit)

məmpər-...-iajar (teach)mempelajari (to study)

kə-...-anhilang (disappear)kehilangan (to lose)

di-...-isakit (pain)disakiti (to be hurt by)

di-...-kanbenar (right)dibenarkan (is allowed to)

dipər-...-kankenal (know, recognise)diperkenalkan (is being introduced)

Adjective affixesEdit

Adjective affixes are attached to root words to form adjectives:

Type of adjective affixesAffixExample of root wordExample of derived word

Prefixtər-kenal (know)terkenal (famous)

sə-lari (run)selari (parallel)

Infix⟨əl⟩serak (disperse)selerak (messy)

⟨əm⟩cerlang (radiant bright)cemerlang (bright, excellent)

⟨ər⟩sabut (husk)serabut (dishevelled)

Circumfixkə-...-anbarat (west)kebaratan (westernized)

In addition to these affixes, Indonesian also has a lot of borrowed affixes from other languages such as Sanskrit, Arabic and English. For example, maha-, pasca-, eka-, bi-, anti-, pro- etc.

NounsEdit

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).

GenderEdit

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) or for his and her (dia, ia or -nya). 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").

NumberEdit

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, as it is logically, one does not change the singular into the plural form, because it is not necessary and considered a pleonasm (in Indonesian often called Pemborosan Kata).

PronounsEdit

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 pronounsEdit

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

personrespectsingularplural

1st personexclusiveinformal, familiarakukami

(we: they and me, she/he and me)

standard, politesaya

inclusivekita

(we: you and me, you and us)

2nd personfamiliarkamukalian

politeAnda

(you)Anda sekalian

(you, you all)

3rd persondia or ia

(she/he)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 datuk (all extremely humble), beta (a royal addressing oneselves), patik (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 əncik (cek before a name) is polite, traditionally used for people without title. The compounds makcik and pakcik 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. 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 pronouns aku, kamu, engkau, ia, kami, and kita are indigenous to Indonesian.

Possessive pronounsEdit

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"

PronounEncliticPossessed form

aku-kumejaku (my table)

kamu-mumejamu (your table)

ia-nyamejanya (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 menderita penyakit kulit. Aku mengetahui ilmu kedokteran. Aku-lah yang akan mengobati dia.

"It has come to my attention that the King 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.[52]

Demonstrative pronounsEdit

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".

PronounIndonesianEnglish

inibuku iniThis book, these books, the book(s)

buku-buku iniThese books, (all) the books

itukucing ituThat cat, those cats, the cat(s)

kucing-kucing ituThose cats, the (various) cats

Pronoun + yangExample SentenceEnglish Meaning

Yang iniQ: Anda mau membeli buku yang mana?

A: Saya mau yang ini.

Q: Which book do you wish to purchase?

A: I would like this one.

Yang ituQ: Kucing mana yang memakan tikusmu?

A: Yang itu!

Q: Which cat ate your mouse?

A: That one!

VerbsEdit

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.

NegationEdit

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:

IndonesianGlossEnglish

Saya tidak tahuI not knowI do not know

Ibu saya tidak senangmother I not be-happyMy mother is not happy

Itu bukan anjing sayathat be-not dog IThat is not my dog

ProhibitionEdit

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.

AdjectivesEdit

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".

IndonesianGlossEnglish

Hutan hijauforest green(The) green forest.

Hutan itu hijauforest that greenThat/the forest is green.

Kəreta yang merahcarriage which (is) red.(The) carriage which is red = the red carriage.

Kəreta merahcarriage red.Red carriage.

Dia orang yang terkenal sekalihe/she person which be-famous veryHe/she is a very famous person

Orang terkenalperson famous.Famous person.

Orang ini terkenal sekaliperson this be-famous veryThis 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-" intransitive 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" means "cloudy". Using the "ter-" prefix, implies a state of being. For example, "buka" means "open", hence "terbuka" means "is opened"; "tutup" means "closed/shut", hence "tertutup" means "is closed/shut".

Word orderEdit

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 EnglishIdiomatic 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 EnglishIdiomatic English

Rumah ini dibeli lima tahun yang laluHouse this + be purchased five year(s) agoThe 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.

EmphasisEdit

Word order is frequently modified for focus or emphasis, with the focused word usually placed at the beginning of the clause and followed by a slight pause (a break in intonation):

Saya pergi ke pasar kemarin "I went to the market yesterday" – neutral, or with focus on the subject.

Kemarin saya pergi ke pasar "Yesterday I went to the market" – emphasis on yesterday.

Ke pasar saya pergi, kemarin "To the market I went yesterday" – emphasis on where I went yesterday.

Pergi ke pasar, saya, kemarin "To the market went I yesterday" – emphasis on the process of going to the market.

The last two are more likely to be encountered in speech than in writing.

Measure wordsEdit

Another distinguishing feature of Indonesian is its use of measure words, also called classifiers (Kata penggolong). In this way, it is similar to many other languages of Asia, including Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai, Burmese, and Bengali.

Measure words are also found in English such as two head of cattle, a loaf of bread, or this sheet of paper, where *two cattle, a bread, and this paper (in the sense of this piece of paper) would be ungrammatical. The word satu reduces to se- /sə/, as it does in other compounds:

Measure wordUsed for measuringLiteral translationExample

buahthings (in general), large things, abstract nouns

houses, cars, ships, mountains; books, rivers, chairs, some fruits, thoughts, etc.'fruit'dua buah meja (two tables), lima buah rumah (five houses)

ekoranimals'tail'seekor ayam (a chicken), tiga ekor kambing (three goats)

oranghuman beings'person'seorang laki-laki (a man), enam orang petani (six farmers), seratus orang murid (a hundred students)

bijismaller rounded objects

most fruits, cups, nuts'grain'sebiji/ sebutir telur (an egg), sebutir/ butiran-butiran beras (rice or rices)

batanglong stiff things

trees, walking sticks, pencils'trunk, rod'sebatang tongkat (a stick)

həlaithings in thin layers or sheets

paper, cloth, feathers, hair'leaf'sepuluh helai pakaian (ten cloths)

kəping kepingflat fragments slabs of stone, pieces of wood, pieces of bread, land, coins, paper'chip'sekeping uang logam (a coin)

pucukletters, firearms, needles'sprout'sepucuk senjata (a weapon)

bilahthings which cut lengthwise and thicker'blade'sebilah kayu (a piece of wood)

bidanɡthings which can be measured with number'field'sebidang tanah/lahan (an area)

potongbread'cut'sepotong roti (slices of bread)

utasnets, cords, ribbons'thread'seutas tali (a rope)

carikthings easily torn, like paper'shred'secarik kertas (a piece of paper)

Example: Measure words are not necessary just to say "a": burung "a bird, birds". Using se- plus a measure word is closer to English "one" or "a certain":

Ada seekor burung yang bisa berbicara

"There was a (certain) bird that could talk"