u is like the u in “humor”:
| tujuh seven | untuk for |
ai is pronounced like the word “eye”:
| pantai beach | sampai to reach |
au is like the ow in “how”:
| atau or | pulau island |
Notes:
Under the influence of Javanese, final ai is often pronounced like é in “passé”:
sampai
Similarly, final au often becomes o:
hijau
Under the influence of the Jakarta dialect, final syllable a between consonants often becomes a short e (shwa):
pintar
benar
malas
1.02
Greetings
When greeting and taking leave of one another, Indonesians shake hands lightly (not firmly, the way Americans do). Muslims touch the right hand to their heart afterwards as a gesture of goodwill. (Never use the left hand to greet or touch someone.) Kissing, hugging or other physical greetings are rarely practiced in public.
Selamat is a word used in most Indonesian greetings. It comes from the Arabic salam, meaning “peace, safety or salvation”. By itself, the exclamation Selamat! means “Congratulations!” Like English “good,” it is followed by the time of day and other words to form most common greetings:
| Selamat datang | Welcome (datang = to come) |
| Selamat pagi | Good morning (pagi = morning, until 11 am) |
| Selamat siang | Good day (siang = midday, from 11 am to 3 pm) |
| Selamat soré | Good afternoon (soré = late afternoon, 3 pm to nightfall) |
| Selamat malam | Good evening (malam = night, after dark) |
| Selamat tidur | Good night (tidur = to sleep) |
Apa kabar is another common greeting which literally means “What news?” (apa = what, kabar = news), or in other words “How are you?” The standard answer is “Kabar baik,” meaning “I’m fine” (baik = well, fine).
You will also find yourself greeted with the following questions, even by complete strangers:
| Mau ke mana? (lit: Want-to-where?) | Where are you going? |
| Dari mana? (lit: From-where?) | Where are you [coming] from? |
This is said out of curiosity, and the person is usually not all that interested where you are actually going or coming from. This is just another way of saying “Hello!”
You may answer:
| Dari [+ place] | From [+ place] |
| Saya mau ke [+ place] | I am going to [+ place] |
| Jalan-jalan saja. (lit: Walk-walk-only.) | Just going for a walk. |
| Tidak ke mana-mana. (lit: Not-to-where-where.) | Not anywhere in particular. |
When taking leave of someone, it is polite to excuse oneself by saying:
| Mari. Saya pergi dulu. (lit: Let’s. I-go-first.) | I am going now.(= Goodbye for now!) |
| Sampai jumpa lagi. (lit: Until-meet-again.) | See you again. |
More informally, you can also say:
| Da! or Bye! | Goodbye (so long!) |
Note: Da! comes from the Dutch dag meaning “day” (also used as a farewell). Bye is from English.
If you are the one staying behind, you respond by saying:
| Selamat jalan. (lit: Safe-journey.) | “Bon voyage” |
1.03
Forms of Address
As in any language, there are many ways of addressing someone in Indonesian. Because Indonesians have a strong sense of social hierarchy, these forms of address often carry with them certain class and other distinctions. It is important therefore to use the appropriate term. Some forms of address are quite “safe” or “neutral” in this regard, and may be used in a wide variety of situations; these are the ones that should be learned first and used most often.
Bapak or pak (literally: “father”) is the most common way of addressing an adult male in Indonesian. It is used very much like “Mr.” or “sir” in English. Bapak is always used when addressing older men, and may also be used to address a contemporary or a younger man (although other forms may be used in this case as well, see below).
Ibu or bu (literally: “mother”) is similarly used to address all women, particularly older, married women.
Note: Bapak and ibu are often used followed by the person’s first name, meaning Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so. This is quite universal throughout Indonesia, and you can almost never go wrong addressing someone in this way (except when you are much older than the person you are addressing).
Anda is a term of fairly recent coinage, intended to mean “you” in a neutral way. It is also considered to be rather formal and is likewise used among educated adults who meet for the first time (also in television commercials, etc.).
Kamu and engkau are pronouns that both mean “you” in a familiar sense (equivalent to Du in German or tu in French). They are used in informal situations to address close friends, children or social inferiors, but should not generally be used as a substitute for English “you.” Once you get to know someone well, you can use their name or the form kamu (“you”). Generally speaking, personal pronouns such as “you” equivalents can be left out in colloquial Indonesian.
Tuan (“sir”), nyonya (“madam”), and nona (“miss”) are forms that Indonesians may use to address you. Tuan means “master” and was used to address aristocrats and Europeans