Sentence Structure

Building a basic sentence

Building a sentence in Indonesian language is similar to English language.

I go to the market

Saya pergi ke pasar

Genitive / Possessive Case:

To build a possessive sentence in Indonesian language you have to follow this rule:

Noun + possesive pronoun

Now let’s try to build a genitive sentence using the word “rumah”, which means house in English.

Example:

Note:

Instead of saying “rumah saya” or “rumah dia”, it is also possible to say

- rumahku

- rumahnya

Now how to say cat’s house in Indonesian? Very simple, the word order is exactly the same:

Noun + possesive noun

So :

Rumah kucing

And how to say my cat’s house?

Rumah kucingku

It’s very simple. Now try this, let’s see if you understand the rule!

Kuku kaki kakek kakakku kaku-kaku !

Pronounciation:

(kookoo kakee kaka kakakoo kakoo-kakoo) !

Hints:

Kuku = nail

Kaki = foot

Kakek = grandfather

Kakakku = my older brother/ my older sister

Kaku-kaku = stiff

Compound noun (kata gabungan)

The structure of a compound noun in Indonesian language is the opposite in English language.

In Indonesian language the words order is following:

Main noun + explaning noun

Example:

Compound nouns are commonly used in Indonesia, sometimes after merging the nouns together, the compound nouns has different mearning than the root word

Examples:

Negative and Question Sentences:

Questions sentences:

In Indonesian language the word order in questions sentences doesn’t change. Here are some examples how to build a question sentence.

Examples:

Negative sentences

To indicate a negative just use the negation word tidak or enggak for informal situation.