CONVERSATION: GOING TO A LIBRARY

This is an example of a conversation between two students. As a conversation it is informal. It is quite difficult to translate these sentences into English in order that they have similar structures to the Indonesian. This problem will be discussed in the next lessons.

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Agus: Hallo, Joko. Selamat pagi! = Hallo, Joko. Good morning!
Joko : Selamat pagi. Mau ke mana? = Good morning. Where are you going?
Agus : Ke perpustakaan. Kamu mau ke mana? = To the library. You?
Joko : Saya juga mau ke perpustakaan. Saya mau mengembalikan buku.=I will also go to the library. I will return the book.
Agus : Saya mau meminjam buku. Saya butuh referensi untuk makalah saya. = I will borrow books. I need a reference for my paper.
Joko : Tugasmu belum selesai? Have you not finished your task?
Agus : Belum. Mungkin saya baru bisa menyelesaikan tugas saya dalam satu minggu ini. = Not yet. Maybe I will be able to finish my task within this week.
Joko : Saya sudah selesai satu minggu yang lalu. I finished my task a week ago.
Agus : Mmm, bagus! Liburan mendatang apa yang akan kamu kerjakan? Mmm, it is good! What will you do in the next vacation?
Joko : Saya mau pulang ke Jawa. Kamu mau ke mana? = I will return to Java. Where will you go?
Agus : Sepertinya saya harus bekerja. Saya butuh uang untuk membayar kuliah semester depan. Saya juga butuh uang untuk membeli buku. = I think I have to work. I need money to pay my educational fee for the next semester. I also need money to buy books.

TENSES: 2

Because we do not have tenses, there are at least two ways to learn tenses in Indonesian. The first is by following the translation in the previous lesson. Although it is not common, Indonesians will understand what you mean. For example, in the preceding lesson there is a sentence like this: Saya akan sudah makan menjelang pukul 10 pagi. It is not familiar to us, but we understand. The second is just to express the sentences and are followed by the information of time.

Afterwards, I group the tenses into five categories. You will never find this categorisation in the Indonesian grammar.

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CATEGORY 1:

The present tense and past tense are the same. The difference is their information of time. Remember, we do not have the past form of verbs!

Present Tense
I usually study in my sleeping room.
Saya biasanya BELAJAR di kamar tidur saya.

Past Tense
I studied yesterday in my sleeping room.
Saya BELAJAR kemarin di kamar tidur saya.

Note: generally=umumnya, commonly=biasanya.

CATEGORY 2:

The present continuous tense and past continuous tense are the same.

Present Continuous Tense
I am studying now in the library.
Saya sedang belajar sekarang di perpustakaan.

Past Continuous Tense
I was studying when he called me.
Saya sedang belajar saat dia menelpon saya.

CATEGORY 3:

Future Tense
I WILL study tomorrow.
Saya AKAN belajar besok.

CATEGORY 4:

The present perfect tense and past perfect tense are the same!

Present Perfect Tense
I HAVE STUDIED.
Saya SUDAH BELAJAR.

Past Perfect Tense
My mother said that I HAD STUDIED.
Ibu saya berkata bahwa saya SUDAH BELAJAR.

Pay attention, in Indonesian we can add the information of time in the present perfect tense and past perfect tense. For example: Kami telah makan (tadi pagi)=We have eaten (this morning). Note: sudah=telah.

CATEGORY 5:

Since THE FOLLOWING TENSES are not familiar to Indonesians, forget them!
1. Present Perfect Continuous Tense
2. Past Perfect Continuous Tense
3. Future Continuous Tense
4. Future Perfect Tense
5. Future Perfect Continuous Tense


IMPORTANT!
The most important in “Indonesian tenses” is the information of time. To make sure that an action has happened, is happening, or will happen is from the information of time. Mention it and then we understand.

TENSES: INTRODUCTION

In Indonesian we do not recognise what English speakers say as tenses. Consequently, in Indonesian there is no the past form of verbs. They will be the same when they are used for ‘past tense’, ‘present tense’, and ‘future tense’. Therefore, you do not need to memorise the past form of verbs as we do when we learn English, or other languages. This fact also applies to local languages in Indonesia, such as Sundanese and Javanese. I do not know with other local languages because in Indonesia there are more than 700 local languages.

Look at these examples:

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Present Tense
I (usually) EAT at 7 in the morning.
Saya (biasanya) MAKAN pada pukul 7 pagi.

Present Continuous Tense
We are EATING in the restaurant.
Kami sedang MAKAN di restauran.

Present Perfect Tense
She has EATEN.
Dia sudah MAKAN.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense
He has been eating for 15 minutes.
Dia telah sedang MAKAN selama 15 menit.

Past Tense
They ATE yesterday in my house.
Mereka MAKAN kemarin di rumah saya.

Past Continuous Tense
I was EATING when he came.
Saya sedang MAKAN saat dia datang.


Past Perfect Tense
My mother said that she had EATEN.
Ibu saya berkata bahwa dia sudah MAKAN.

Past Perfect Continuous Tense
My father had been EATING when I visited him.
Bapak saya sudah sedang makan saat saya mengunjunginya.

Future Tense
My younger brother will EAT in his friend’s house tomorrow.
Adik saya akan MAKAN di rumah temannya besok.

Future Continuous Tense
My elder brother will be EATING at 6 pm.
Kakak saya akan sedang MAKAN pada pukul 6 sore.

Future Perfect Tense
I will have EATEN by 10am.
Saya akan sudah MAKAN menjelang pukul 10 pagi.

Future Perfect Continuous Tense
You will have been EATING for 30 minutes.
Kamu akan sudah sedang MAKAN selama 30 menit.

From the above examples, we see that the verb ‘makan’ (to eat) is not changed in any tenses. I will explain this lesson more deeply in the following lessons, because we do not utilise all these tenses.

INDONESIAN - ENGLISH - INDONESIAN DICTIONARY

A dictionary is an indispensable tool for those who learn a language. For you who are studying Indonesian, there is a good Indonesian-English-Indonesian dictionary which you can download. Download the dictionary at this link.

LESSON 9: TIME

English people say that time is money, while Arabians say that it is like a sword. These views show the importance of time. When I leant Dutch, I found that there are many rules in stating a time by which I was in trouble. Different from Dutch, in Indonesian we just mention the number of the hour followed by it’s number of the minute.

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Example:

12:30 am = jam dua belas (lewat) tiga puluh (menit) pagi.

12:30 pm = jam dua belas (lewat) tiga puluh (menit) sore.

7: 15 am = jam tujuh (lewat) lima belas (menit) pagi.

7: 15 pm = jam tujuh (lewat) lima belas (menit) sore.

5: 10 am = jam lima (lewat) sepuluh (menit) pagi.

5: 10 pm = jam lima (lewat) sepuluh (menit) sore.

14: 13 = jam empat belas tiga belas

20: 7 = jam dua puluh tujuh

23: 1 = jam dua puluh tiga satu

Or you can also change “15 minutes” with “seperempat” (a quarter) and “30 minutues” with “setengah jam” (half an hour). “Over” is “lebih”, while “to” is “kurang”.

Contoh. Example:

12:15 = jam dua belas lewat seperempat.

11:45 = jam dua belas kurang seperempat, or sebelas lewat empat puluh lima.

Contoh. Example:

A: Jam berapa kita akan bertemu di kantor? What time will we meet in the office?

B: (Pada) jam 10:15 pagi. At 10:15 am.

A: Jam berapa (sekarang)? What time is it (now)?

B: Sekarang jam 10. It is 10 (am).

A: Jadi kita punya sisa waktu 15 menit. So we have 15 minutes left.

B: Ya. Yes.

Note: pagi means morning, sore means afternoon.

LESSON 8: DAYS IN A WEEK AND MONTHS IN A YEAR

Indonesia has thousands of words from foreign languages, especially from Arabic, Dutch, and English. In this lesson we will learn the name of days in a week and months in a year. The name of the days is from Arabic, and the name of the months is from English.

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Days in a week:

Minggu or Ahad = Sunday

Senin = Monday

Selasa = Tuesday

Rabu = Wednesday

Kamis = Thursday

Jum’at = Friday

Sabtu = Saturday


Months in a year

Januari = January

Februari = February

Maret = March

April = April

Mei = May

Juni = June

Juli = July

Agustus = August

September = September

Oktober = October

November = November

Desember = December


Example:

1. Hari apa hari ini? = What day is today?
2. Hari ini hari Minggu = Today is Sunday.
3. Hari apa besok = What day is tomorrow?
4. Besok hari Senin = Tomorrow is Monday.
5. Bulan apa bulan ini? = What month is this month?
6. Bulan ini bulan Januari = This month is January.


Vocabulary:

Hari (day), apa (what), ini (this), besok (tomorrow), bulan (month).

LESSON 7: ORDINAL NUMBERS

It is proven that Indonesian is very easy. If you want to make a cardinal number, just say “ke-“ in front of its cardinal number. Look at the table and hear me to know how these numbers are pronounced. Afterwards, look also at the first lesson.

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No. Cardinal Numbers [] Ordinal Numbers

1st= Pertama or kesatu
2nd= Kedua
3rd= Ketiga
4th= Keempat
5th= Kelima
6th= Keenam
7th= Ketujuh
8th= Kedelapan
9th= Kesembilan
10th= Kesepuluh
11st= Kesebelas
12nd Kedua belas
13rd= Ketiga belas
14th= Keempat belas
15th= Kelima belas
16th= Keenam belas
17th= Ketujuh belas
18th= Kedelapan belas
19th= Kesembilan belas
20th=Kedua puluh
21st= Kedua puluh satu
22nd= Kedua puluh dua
23rd= Kedua puluh tiga
24th= Kedua puluh empat
25th= Kedua puluh lima
Dan seterusnya (etc.)

1. Saya orang pertama yang masuk kelas ini = I am the first man who came in this class.
2. Kamu orang ketiga yang membeli buku itu = You are the third man who bought that book.
3. Dia orang keduapuluh yang lulus ujian = She/he is the 20th (wom)man who passed the exam.

LESSON 6: GREETINGS

In this lesson we will learn how an Indonesian addresses some. These are the common greetings. Read by heart and listen to me:

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Hallo - Hello
Selamat datang - welcome
Selamat pagi - good morning
Selamat siang – good day
Selamat sore – good afternoon
Selamat malam – good evening
Selamat tidur – good night
Senang bertemu denganmu – nice to see you
Senang bertemu dengan Anda – nice to see you
Sampai ketemu – good bye, see you later

In the greetings you see “selamat” which is equal to “good”. “Selamat” literarily means “safe”. You also see “-mu”. It is a suffix of “kamu” (you). I will explain it in detail later. Then, there is also “Anda”. It is the formal form of “kamu”.

Now you can read the greetings aloud.

LESSON 5: PRONOUNS

One of the reasons why Indonesian is easy to be leant is that we have only a few rules in the grammar. You recognize me, you, us, him, her, etc., in English, hu, ha, hum, hunna, etc., in Arabic, and me/mij, je/jou/u, hem, haar, etc., in Dutch, we just have saya (I), kamu/anda (you), dia (she/he), kami (we), kalian (pl. you), kita (we), and mereka (they). These pronouns are used either as a subject, object, adjective, or others.

Look at these examples:

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1. Saya pergi ke perpustakaan (I go to the library).
2. Dia memukul saya (She/he hits me).
3. Buku itu punya saya (That book is mine).

In Indonesia we do not differentiate between “she” and “he”. They are the same, “dia” or “ia” in short. Be careful, we do not differentiate between “she” and “he”, but we do between “kami” (we) and “kita” (we). When someone says “kami, it means that you are not a part of them and when she/he says “kita”, it means that you are a part of them.

To be clear, pay attention to the following situation. Imagine you are a father of four children. You are talking with them. One of them says:

1. Kami akan bermain sepak bola di lapangan = We will play football in the yard. It means that they will play football in the yard, but you will not. But, if she/he says:
2. Kita akan bermain sepak bola di lapangan = we will play football in the yard, it means they and you will play football in the yard.

This is the pronouns in Indonesian:

Saya/aku (I), kamu/anda (you), dia/ia (she, he), kami (we), kita (we), kalian (pl. you), mereka (they). Unfortunately, we don’t have “it”. When we talk, we mention the thing of it.

1. Ibu saya membeli kucing. Kucing itu berwarna hitam.
2. My mother buys a cat. The cat (it) is black.

LESSON 4: COUNTING (2)

So, if you want to count from 11-19, you just add “belas” after each number. 11 is sebelas. Se- in Indonesian means one. For example, sepuluh (10), seratus (100), seribu (1000), etc. Look at these examples: 11 (sebelas), 12 (dua belas), 13 (tiga belas), 14 (empat belas), and so on.

Now, if you want to count numbers with one zero behind the numbers, you just add “puluh” behind them. For example: 10 (sepuluh), 20 (dua puluh), 30 (tiga puluh), 40 (empat puluh), etc. See this number, 25. How do you say it in Indonesian? It is 20 and 5, dua puluh lima. 34=tiga puluh empat, 44, empat puluh empat, 73=tujuh puluh tiga, etc.

The same rule is applied to the form of -00, 1000-, etc. Just mention one by one, from the left to the right. 100 is seratus, 120=seratus dua puluh, 134=seratus tiga puluh empat, 200=dua ratus, 300=tiga ratus, 333=tiga ratus tiga puluh tiga.

For a further lesson on counting, look at thins link.

LESSON 3-NAMES

In the second lesson we learn how to pronounce the letters in the alphabet. Now we will learn how Indonesian words are pronounced. Different from English, almost Indonesian words are pronounced like what they are. The exeptional examples will be given later. Now, hear me and look at the words from A to Z.

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Anak=Son, daughter
Bapak=Father
Buku=Book
Baju=Clothes
Cantik=Beautiful
Cukup=Enough
Duduk=To sit
Dari=From
Engkau=You
Empat=Four
Elang=Eagle
Hari ini=Yoday
Huruf=Letter (of the alphabet)
Ibu=Mother
Ikan=Fish
Jalan=Road, way
Jum’at=Friday
Kalimat=Sentence
Kantor=Office
Kebun =Garden
Kemarin=Yesterday
Kiyai=Islamic religious teacher
Komputer=Computer
Lagu=song
Lantai=Floor
Lusa =The day after tomorrow
Makan=To eat
Manusia=Human being, people
Membaca=To read
Musik=music
Negara=State, country
Nama=Name
Nelayan=fisherman
Oleh=By
Orang=person
Oleh-oleh=Gift, present
Pelajar=Student
Pensil=Pencil
Presiden=president
Pulpen=Ballpoint
Radio=Radio
Rahasia=Secret
Rakyat=people
Rumah=House
Sawah=rice field
Sekolah=School
Siswa=Student
Taman=Garden
Tangga=Stair
Tidur=To sleep
Upah=Salary
Usaha=Effort, trial
Untuk=For
Vital=Vital
Vitamin=Vitamin
Xanana (pr.n) =Xanana
Yang=Which, that, who
Yunus=Yunus
Yaitu=namely
Zaman=Age

LESSON 2: ALPHABET

Before I teach to count numbers in the forms of 100 and 1000, and so on, I think it is better for you to know how the alphabet is pronounced. If you have heard Dutch people pronounce the alphabet in Dutch, it is almost the same as an Indonesian does.

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This is the list of letters in the alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z. Now, listen to me:

LESSON 1: COUNTING (1)

My friends said that they could understand and speak Indonesian after they learnt it within six months. It is amazing. I need years to understand English and Arabic, but still my English and Arabic are not good. The languages that I can understand well are Sundanese, Javanese, and Indonesian. But now I am also learning Dutch. Inspired by Lauraspeaksducth, I created this blog for you. I will post the lessons regularly. Don't worry, Indonesian is very easy. My friends prove it. Now, we begin our lesson by counting from 0-31.

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0 Nol [] 17 Tujuh belas
1 Satu [] 18 Delapan belas
2 Dua [] 19 Sembilan belas
3 Tiga [] 20 Dua puluh
4 Empat [] 21 Dua puluh satu
5 Lima [] 22 Dua puluh dua
6 Enam [] 23 Dua puluh tiga
7 Tujuh [] 24 Dua puluh empat
8 Delapan [] 25 Dua puluh lima
9 Sembilan [] 26 Dua puluh enam
10 Sepuluh [] 27 Dua puluh tujuh
11 Sebelas [] 28 Dua puluh delapan
12 Dua belas [] 29 Dua puluh sembilan
13 Tiga belas [] 30 Tiga puluh
14 Empat belas [] 31 Tiga puluh satu
15 Lima belas [] etc Dan seterusnya
16 Enam belas


It is very easy, isn't it? In the next lesson I will teach you how to count 100-s, 1000-s, etc. See you in the next sessions.