Indonesian Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Indonesian grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Indonesian and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Indonesian and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Indonesian.

Prepositions - Indonesian
and dan
above atas
under bawah
before sebelum
after setelah
in front of di depan
behind di belakang
far from jauh dari
near dekat
in di
inside dalam
outside di luar
with dengan
without tanpa
about tentang
between antara
but tapi
for untuk
from dari
to untuk

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules - Indonesian
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun] saya makan tanpa pisau
she lives near the church [verb + preposition] dia tinggal di dekat gereja
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition] dia lebih tinggi daripada dia
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun] ia datang dengan anjing kecil nya
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun] dapatkah anda datang dengan saya?

Negation in Indonesian

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules - Indonesian
I understand you [affirmative form] saya memahami anda
I don't understand you [negation + verb] saya tidak mengerti anda
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective] ini bukan kata yang benar
don't leave me [imperative negation] jangan tinggalkan aku
no problem [negation + noun] tidak ada masalah

Negative Sentences - Indonesian
I don't speak French [negation + present tense] saya tidak bisa bahasa prancis
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense] dia tidak mengunjungi jerman
he cannot see us [negative modal verb] dia tidak bisa melihat kita
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation] bisakah dia bermain catur?
we will not come late [negation + future tense] kami tidak akan datang terlambat

Questions in Indonesian

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English - Indonesian
how? bagaimana?
what? apa?
who? siapa?
why? mengapa?
where? dimana?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules - Indonesian
where do you live? [interrogative + verb] di mana anda tinggal?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb] apakah dia berbicara bahasa cina?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition] berapa harga barang ini?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb] bisakah saya bantu kamu?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition] siapa nama anda?

Adverbs in Indonesian

It's time to learn the adverbs in Indonesian. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs - Indonesian
now sekarang
yesterday kemarin
today hari ini
tonight malam ini
tomorrow besok
soon segera
quickly segera
slowly pelan-pelan
together bersama
very sangat
almost hampir
always selalu
usually biasanya
sometimes kadang-kadang
rarely jarang
never tak pernah

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules - Indonesian
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb] anda mengerti saya sekarang?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb] saya perlu bantuan segera
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective] dia sangat cerdas
I will always love you [verb + adverb] aku akan selalu mencintaimu
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question] dapatkah kita belajar bahasa german bersama ?

Pronouns in Indonesian

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Indonesian. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns - Indonesian
I aku
you kau,kamu
he dia
she dia
we kita
they mereka

Object Pronouns - Indonesian
me saya
you kamu
him dia
her dia
us kami
them mereka

Possessive Pronouns - Indonesian
my saya
your anda
his dia
her dia
our kami
their mereka

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns - Indonesian
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb] saya teman anda
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb] anda berbicara sangat cepat
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb] dia memiliki tiga anjing
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb] ia dapat berbicara bahasa jerman
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun] kami tidak akan datang terlambat
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun] mereka membeli susu dan roti

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns - Indonesian
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun] dapat anda katakan pada saya nama anda?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun] saya akan memberi anda uang
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun] ia menulis surat kepadanya
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun] mereka mengunjunginya kemarin
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun] dia bisa membantu kami?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun] dia memberi mereka makanan

Possessive Pronouns - Indonesian
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun] nama saya adalah maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun] saudaramu tinggal di sini
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun] ibunya memasak untuk kami
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun] hobinya adalah membaca buku
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun] mimpi kami adalah untuk mengunjungi paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun] rumah mereka tidak jauh

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns - Indonesian
this is my house ini rumah saya
that restaurant is far restoran itu jauh
these apples are delicious apel apel ini sangat lezat
those stars are shiny bintang-bintang itu berkilau

I hope you learned a lot about the Indonesian grammar in this lesson. Please check out our main menu here for more lessons: homepage. The next lesson is below, have fun!