Saturday, January 20, 2007

Bahasa Indonesia Lesson 2

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In the first lesson, we went through Indonesian pronunciation and learned how to say "I" and "you". In this lesson we will learn some words and phrases that will be helpful for building basic sentences.

Apa

Apa - means "what, which"

"Apa" is also used as a question marker. You would use "Apa" to form sentences such as: "What is that?" "Are those...?"

* Note that "Apa" can also mean "Are...?, Is...?"


Apa kabar? - is the Indonesian equivalent of "What's up?".

Kabar
means "news", so "Apa kabar?" literally means "What (is your) news?".

Notice that the pronoun identifying who this question is directed to is implied, not stated. This is a very common pattern that you'll encounter again and again. Indonesians tend to be quite minimalist when it comes to speaking.

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Siapa

Siapa - means "who?"

When you want to ask something about a living being, use "Siapa" instead of "Apa". "Apa" is used for nonliving things. So if wanted to ask somebody's name, you would say:

"Siapa nama anda?" - means "What is your name?"


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Nama

Nama - means "name"

"Nama saya Peter." - means "My name is Peter."

This simple sentence demonstrates a common rule for modifiers in Indonesian. A modifier is a word that describes another word. Modifiers can tell us who something belongs to, what it looks like, etc. In Indonesian, modifiers are almost always placed after the word they describe, instead of before it. In English we might say "fast car", but in Indonesia they would say "car fast" to express the same idea.

"Nama saya Peter" literally translates as "Name I Peter".

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Dari

Dari - means "from"

"Saya dari Java." - means "I'm from Java."

"Anda dari Bandung?" - means "Are you from Bandung?"

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Ini

Ini - means "this"

"Apa ini?" - means "What is this?"

"Ini apa?" - means the same as above. You can use either word order when asking about something.

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Itu

Itu - means "that"

How would you say: "What is that?"?

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Mana

Mana - is combined with various other words to ask about: origin - "Where from?", location - "Where at?", and destination - "Where to?"

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Dari mana? - means "Where from?" This is a common way to ask somebody where they're from.

"Dari mana ini?" - means "Where is this from?"

Respond to this question in Indonesian: "Dari mana anda?"

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Di mana? - means "Where at?"

* Di
- means "At, in, on" (specifying location)

How would you say: "Where is that?"

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Ke mana? - means "Where to?" (or sometimes "where [are you] going to?")

* Ke - means "to", or somtimes "going to (somewhere)"

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Dialogue


Reza - Nama saya "Reza". Siapa nama anda?

Ken - Nama saya "Ken".

Reza - "Dari mana?"

Ken - "Saya dari Denver."

Reza - "'Denver?" Di mana itu?"

Ken - "Di Amerika." (Amerika = America)

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In the next lesson we'll cover some basic Indonesian greetings and farewells. Until then... Selamat belajar!

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