Welcome~
In this post, I will try to explain the words’ order to make a simple sentence in Bahasa Indonesia.
The one thing that make sentences in Bahasa Indonesia easier to make is the absence of tenses. For example, the verbs ‘eat’, ‘eats’, ‘ate’, and even ‘eaten’ all translated as ‘makan’. If you want to indicate that you have ate in the past, simply put the word ‘sudah’ before ‘makan’. You can also add an adverb of time at the end of the sentence to further tell the specific time.
The verbs also don’t change according to the subject. This condition might make some people feel the sentences can be quite ambiguous, but that is the wonder of learning Bahasa Indonesia! In another post, I’ll explain about affixes, as adding affixes can change the meaning of the word quite a bit. For now, let us proceed our discussion about sentence structure.
Simply put, the sentence structure in Bahasa Indonesia is basically:
Subject + Verb + Object + Adverb
Or what we call as SPOK (Subjek – Predikat – Objek – Keterangan).
Of course, one of these components can be omitted and more complex sentences also exist. I have some bad memories from my junior high days about these complex sentences structures. My Bahasa Indonesia teacher during 9th grade was a strict and, to be blunt, scary teacher. One time, she tested us about this topic, with even one mistake would make your test be graded as zero. To be fair, it is effective in drilling into our heads the sentences’ structures, but this Spartan way of testing really scarred us for life (─‿─).
Well, whatever past trauma I have, let me explain in detail about each component of a sentence.
SUBJEK
Subjek is what we use to refer to the one or the person doing the action. In other words, it has the same usage as I or you or we or they in English.
First person pronouns (kata ganti orang pertama):
I » Aku, Saya
We » Kami, Kita
Aku is more casual than saya. If compared to Japanese, then aku is the same as ‘boku’ and saya is the same as ‘watashi’. To refer to oneself, there are also other pronouns that can be used, such as beta or daku (has a poetic nuance) or gue (used mostly by those living in the city of Jakarta) or even saying your title/position (usually done by teachers or parents to make children know how they should address their elders), though these are rarely used by people outside the specific prefecture or occupation. And as far as I know, we very rarely refer to oneself by saying our name straight out though.
Kami is used when the subject includes the speaker and those around him/her, but not including the listener.
Kita is used when the subject includes the speaker and those around him/her, including the listener. It can also be used when the subject is only the speaker and the listener (not necessarily has to include other people).
Second person pronouns (kata ganti orang kedua):
You (singular) » Kamu/Kau, Anda, Engkau
You (plural) » Kalian, Anda sekalian
Kamu (or sometimes shortened as kau) is more casual than Anda. Anda is much more formal than kamu and is usually only used in formal occasions or in literature. To use Anda in everyday life is highly uncommon, and can sometimes be taken as sarcasm instead. Whilst Engkau is usually used in biblical works, like in the Holy Bible, though it can be used in other occasions too, like during a seminar or when leading a meditation. To refer to a single listener, other pronouns than can be used include dikau (has a poetic nuance), lu (used mostly by those living in the city of Jakarta), and the position of the listener (such as using kakak when talking to those perceived as an older sibling or using Pak/Bu when talking with an older person in general).
Kalian is more casual than Anda sekalian, which is used mostly during formal speeches. It is used when the subject is the listener and those around him/her, not including the speaker.
Third person pronouns (kata ganti orang ketiga):
He/She/It » Dia/Ia, Beliau
They » Mereka
*In Bahasa Indonesia, we do not differentiate between genders (and even between human and non-human) to refer to another person. Dia is more casual, and is the one most commonly used, with ia as its shortened version but more seldom used as it has a poetic nuance. On the other hand, beliau is used to refer to people way older or with a position way above your own. Using beliau shows politeness and respect towards that person, either because of his/her age, achievement, or position.
Mereka is used to refer to a group of people not including the speaker and listener.
PREDIKAT
Predikat or kata kerja is the term we used to call verbs. In short, it is the action that is done by a subject. And as I said before, verbs in Bahasa Indonesia don’t change following the subject or tenses, though it will change a bit when it’s a passive sentence.
The words in Bahasa Indonesia could change meaning depending on the affixes attached (or not attached) to the word. I will explain the affixes in detail in another post. For now, just make yourself content with knowing that the verbs have no second or third form that changed with a, frankly, strange rule like in English.
On another note, a special rule applies where when the pronoun aku meets a verb, the word aku can change into ku-. For example, aku minum (I drink) can become kuminum. However, the nuance changes a bit too. In aku minum, the emphasis lays more on the subject, or in ‘I’. In kuminum, the emphasis lays on the action, or in ‘drink’.
OBJEK
Objek is, simply put, the one who received the action or the one which the action applied to. It can actually be either a thing or a human, depending on the verb, so calling it a noun is not 100% correct. Though you can just think of it as a noun to make it easier.
To describe an object better, an adjective can be inserted after the object. The order is reversed from English where adjectives are placed before the noun.
To profess an object as someone’s, we can add possessive pronouns, or kepemilikan, after the object or after the adjective following the object, though the meaning will be different. Anyway, here are the pronouns:
My … » …-ku
Your … » …-mu
Her/His/Its … » …-nya
Their … » … mereka
This/these … (one/ones) » … (yang) ini
That/those … (one/ones) » … (yang) itu
For example, let us use pencil, or, in Bahasa Indonesia, pensil.
My pencil = pensilku
Your pencil = pensilmu
Her/His/Its pencil = pensilnya
Their pencils = pensil mereka
This red pencil (one) = pensil merah (yang) ini
Those black pencil ones = pensil hitam (yang) itu
Now for the difference between placing the pronouns. To put it simply, when you say pensil kuningku (the possessive pronoun is located after the adjective), it means ‘my yellow pencil’. However, when you say pensilku kuning (the possessive pronoun is located after the object), it meaning changed into ‘my pencil is yellow’. In short, the possessive pronoun explains the word it attached to. In the first case, because the word ‘yellow’ explains the object, ‘pencil’, it become one object. But in the second case, because the word ‘pencil’ does not explain the word ‘yellow’, at that time the two does not have a connection yet and the possessive pronoun only explain the pencil.
KETERANGAN
Keterangan is the additional details added at the end of the sentence. Similar to how in English there are adverbs of time or adverbs of place, Bahasa Indonesia also categories its keterangan into different groups.
Keterangan waktu (pada … / kemarin / besok) = description of time (at …[time] / yesterday / tomorrow)
Keterangan tempat (di … / ke … / dari …) = description of place (at … / to … / from …)
Keterangan cara (dengan … / secara …) = description of way/how (with …. / …-ly)
Keterangan alat (dengan … / menggunakan …) = description of device used (with … / using …)
Keterangan tujuan (agar … / untuk … / supaya …) = description of purpose/intent (so that … / to … / in order to …)
Keterangan sebab (karena …) = description of cause (because …)
Keterangan akibat (sehingga …) = description of effect (so that …)
Keterangan derajat (… kali per … / sebesar …) = description of quantity (… times per … / which amounts to …)
Keterangan perlawanan/perbandingan (tetapi/namun …) = description of contrasting information (but/however, …)
Keterangan pelaku (dari … / oleh …) = description of concerned parties (from … / by …)
Keterangan syarat (jika …) = description of terms (if …)
Keterangan kepastian (mungkin …) = description of likelihood (perhaps …)
Keterangan pembatasan (kecuali/selain …) = description of exception (except/other than …)
Keterangan aspek (sedang … / mulai … / sudah …) = description of continuity (is currently … / starting to … / already …)
Alright, that might seem a lot and quite complicated, but the usage is similar to adverbs in English. And when speaking or writing, you don’t have to care what the name of the keterangan you use is, so relax a bit (✿◠‿◠)
Alright, now that we’ve discussed each component of a simple sentence in Bahasa Indonesia, I’ll give you some simple sentences as examples.
The format will be:
Sentence in Bahasa Indonesia
Sentence translation in English
Sentence’s component breakdown
Let’s try together!
Aku makan nasi tadi pagi
I ate rice this morning
Subjek Predikat Objek Keterangan waktu
Kita minum tehmu dengan santai
We drank your tea leisurely
Subjek Predikat Objek+Kepemilikan Keterangan cara
Mereka pinjam buku catatan bergambarmu untuk dipelajari
They borrowed your illustrated notebook to be studied
Subjek Predikat Objek Kata Sifat+Kepemilikan Keterangan tujuan
*The word bergambar derived from the word gambar which means picture.
*The word dipelajari derived from the word ajar which means to teach.
These are examples of how adding some affixes can change the meaning of a word.
Right, those are the explanation and some examples of a simple sentence in Bahasa Indonesia. To be honest, I feel the sentence examples are lacking because I try to not use any affixes, but it proves to be futile (╥﹏╥).
Anyway, I’ll try to make a post about affixes as soon as possible. By adding affixes, your ability to string together more meaningful sentences will increase!
And this is the conclusion of today’s lesson:
That’s it for today’s post. If any of my explanation is lacking, please contact me so we can better this post together. Thank you for reading!
Bonus:
To make a sentence became negative, simply add ‘tidak’ after the subject. Tidak means no or not. Another way to say it is tak (the shortened version of tidak), bukan (be + not), jangan (do not), belum (not yet), or nggak/gak (means ‘not’ too but very casual and usually used around Java).
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