Indonesian grammar

Every grammar guide of Lingora’s Indonesian A1 course, with examples you can listen to.

01The Prefix 'se-' and 'satu'The number satu means one. However, in natural speech and writing, it is frequently shortened to the prefix se-. While satu stands alone as a separate…
02Pronouns: Politeness & FamiliarityIndonesian pronouns rely heavily on social context. Choosing the correct word depends on your relationship with the listener, their age, and their social…
03Suffixes -ku, -mu and -nyaTo indicate possession, place the pronoun immediately after the noun. There is no equivalent to the English apostrophe-s ('s) or the word "of". The word…
04The Usage of 'yang'Yang functions primarily as a relative pronoun, similar to the English words who, which, or that. It serves as a grammatical bridge to connect a noun…
05Transitive Verbs with '-kan'The suffix -kan is a versatile tool used to modify the meaning and grammatical function of base words. Its primary function is to make a verb transitive,…
06Transitive Verbs with '-i'The suffix -i is a transitive suffix used to modify verbs, adjectives, or nouns. Its primary function is to indicate that the action is directed toward a…
07Verbs: AspectsIndonesian verbs do not change their form to indicate tense, person, or number. There are no conjugations. Instead, the language uses specific auxiliary…
08ClassifiersClassifiers are counter words used along with numbers to quantify nouns. While English uses these primarily for uncountable nouns (e.g., a slice of…
09ReduplicationNouns in this language do not strictly distinguish between singular and plural forms. A single word like buku can mean "a book" or "books" depending…
10The Verbal Prefix 'ber-'The prefix ber- is used to form verbs that focus on the subject of the sentence. Unlike verbs with the prefix me-, which usually require an object…
11The Verbal Prefix 'me-'The prefix me- is the primary marker for active voice verbs in formal and standard language. It indicates that the subject of the sentence is the one…
12Expressing Existence with 'ada'The word ada is a versatile verb that primarily conveys the concept of existence. Depending on the sentence structure and context, it corresponds to the…
13to be with 'adalah'In Indonesian, the concept of "to be" (am, is, are) functions quite differently than in English. Most of the time, no verb is used at all to link a…
14Inclusive vs. Exclusive 'we'English uses the single word "we" for all plural first-person situations. Indonesian splits this into two distinct pronouns based on whether the listener…
15Passive Prefix 'di-'The prefix di- is used to convert a transitive verb from active voice to passive voice. In a passive sentence, the focus shifts from the "doer" (the…
16Comparatives with 'lebih'To express that a quality is present to a greater degree, place the word lebih before the adjective. This construction is consistent regardless of the…
17The Prefix 'ter-'The prefix ter- has two sides. On a verb it says that something happens by itself, or describes the state something is in. On a describing word it forms…
18Negation: 'tidak' vs. 'bukan'Negation relies heavily on the type of word you are trying to negate. There are two primary words for "no" or "not": tidak and bukan. Choosing the wrong…
19Suffixes: kah & lahSuffixes are attached to the end of base words to alter their grammatical function or to add specific nuances, such as emphasis or politeness. Two of the…
20Demonstratives: 'ini' and 'itu'Ini (this) and itu (that) work both as standalone pronouns and as determiners. As pronouns they start a sentence: Ini buku (This is a book). As…
21Question WordsIndonesian question words do not change the sentence's word order. Place the question word where the answer would go: Dia tinggal di sini becomes Dia…
22Locative Prepositions: 'di', 'ke', 'dari'Three core prepositions handle location and direction: di (at/in — static location), ke (to/toward — movement to), and dari (from — origin or source).…
23Adjective PlacementAdjectives come after the noun they describe: rumah baru (new house), tas berat (heavy bag), air dingin (cold water). This is the reverse of English word…
24Modal VerbsModal verbs go directly before the main verb and never change form. The key modals are bisa (can/able to), boleh (may/allowed to), perlu (need to), mau…
25Conjunctions: 'dan', 'tetapi', 'atau'The three basic conjunctions work like their English counterparts: dan (and), tetapi (but), and atau (or). They connect words, phrases, or clauses in the…
26Nouns with 'peN-' and 'peN-...-an'Put pe- in front of a word and you get a noun for the person who does something, or who is something. It is the noun partner of me-: the two change shape…
27'per-' and 'per-...-an'The prefix per- is far rarer than me- or ber-. You will mostly meet it in two places: inside a few me- verbs, and in nouns that end in -an.
28Nouns and States with 'ke-...-an'Some words take ke- at the front and -an at the end at the same time. The two parts belong together, and ke-...-an has two everyday jobs.
29The Suffix '-an'Adding -an to the end of a word usually makes a noun: the thing an action produces, or the thing it is done with or to. makanan food pilihan choice
30The Prefix 'ke-': Ordinal NumbersPut ke- in front of a number and it becomes an ordinal: second, third, fourth. dua two - kedua second tiga three - ketiga third empat four - keempat…