Are you learning Indonesian? Great. Today we are excited to share some tips on how to learn Bahasa Indonesia for beginners.
We’ll be learning the basic sentence patterns in Indonesian and basic expressions that are often spoken alongside the adverbs of time for present, past and future sentences.
Indonesian for beginners has two elements that you should notice to create basic sentences. First, the basic sentence pattern or basic formula in formulating active sentences.
Read: How to Say Religious Greetings in Indonesia.
Second, adverbs of time to explain the present, past, continuous and future tenses. Alright, let’s learn Indonesian with EnglishQu!
Learn Bahasa Indonesia for Beginners: Basic Sentence Patterns
The sentence structure pattern in Bahasa Indonesia is exactly the same as in English, which is Subject + Verb + Object/Complement.
In Indonesian, we call it Subyek + Predikat + Objek. Subyek is subject, Predikat is verb, and Objek/obyek is object.
Have a look at the following comparison of sentence patterns between basic English and Bahasa Indonesia sentences.
- English: I (subject) play (Verb) piano (object) every Saturday (adverb of time).
- Bahasa Indonesia: Saya (Subyek) bermain (Predikat) piano (Obyek) setiap hari Sabtu (Keterangan waktu)
Notes:
- Indonesian doesn’t recognize Past Tense and Past Participle verbs. Whether to show past tense or past perfect tense, we use one verb form, present.
- The use of Third Singular pronouns is different from English. For he, she, or it, we simply pronounce Dia in bahasa Indonesia.
Subjects/Pronouns
- I = Saya
- You (singular) = Kamu
- He, She, It =Dia
- We = Kami, Kita
- You (plural) = Kalian
- They = Mereka
Adverb of Times in Bahasa Indonesia
To learn bahasa Indonesia for beginner, you need to know that for Present Tense, Past Tense/Past Participle, and Future Tense sentences, Indonesians use one single verb form (present).
Therefore, it is important to be familiar with the following Adverb of Time to distinguish the sentences:
- Today = Hari Ini
- Now = Sekarang
- On (Monday…) = Hari (Minggu…and so on)
- Yesterday = Kemarin
- Two days ago = Dua hari lalu
- Last week = Minggu lalu (Week means Minggu in Indonesian)
- Last month = Bulan lalu (Month means Bulan in Indonesian)
- Last Year = Tahun lalu (Year is Tahun in Bahasa Indonesia)
- Tomorrow = Besok
- Two days later = Besok Lusa
- Next week = Minggu depan
- Next month = Bulan Depan
- Next Year = Tahun Depan
Learn Indonesian for Beginners: Sentence Examples
Indonesian people only use one type of verb in making sentences. This verb does not change for all types of Tenses.
To learn Indonesian for beginners, please note that the one verb form needs to be followed by an adverb of time to clarify the sentence.
Read: Level of Education in Indonesia
Take a look at the examples of Present Tense, Past Tense and Future Tense sentences in Bahasa Indonesia in the table below.
Present Tense Past Tense Future Tense Saya bermain piano setiap hari
(I play piano everyday)Saya bermain piano kemarin
(I played piano yesterday)Saya akan bermain piano besok
(I will play piano tomorrow)Saya berkunjung ke Bali setiap tahun
(I visit Bali every year)Saya berkunjung ke Bali tahun lalu
(I visited Bali last year)Saya akan berkunjung ke Bali tahun depan
(I will visit Bali next year)Lisa selalu bertemu teman-temannya pada hari Sabtu
(Lisa always meet her friends on Saturday)Lisa bertemu teman-temannya pada Sabtu lalu
(Lisa met her friends on last Saturday)Lisa akan bertemu teman-temannya lusa
(Lisa will meet her friends in two days )
Note:
- Use adverb of time to clarify the situation.
- For Future Tense sentences in Indonesian, use word akan (will/be going to) followed by the verb and adverbs of times.
You’ve read the information on how to learn Bahasa Indonesia for beginners. To make it more practical, you can make your own sentences in Indonesian like the example above.
