Indonesian grammar is unusual: there are no verb tenses, no conjugation, no grammatical gender, no articles and no plural endings. A sentence is built from unchanging words in a fixed order, and everything English does with endings, Indonesian does with a small extra word or with context. The one place the grammar is genuinely demanding is the affix system, where prefixes and suffixes turn one root into a family of words. This guide covers what a beginner needs, in the order it comes up, with the spoken form next to the textbook one wherever they differ.
1. Word order: subject, verb, object
Indonesian is subject, verb, object, like English. The subject can be dropped when it is obvious.
- Saya makan nasi. I eat rice.
- Dia minum kopi. She drinks coffee.
- Makan dulu! Eat first! (subject dropped)
Questions keep the same order. A statement becomes a yes/no question with rising intonation, with apakah in front in formal Indonesian, or with nggak? at the end in speech.
- Kamu mau kopi? Do you want coffee? (spoken)
- Apakah Anda mau kopi? Do you want coffee? (formal)
- Mau kopi, nggak? Want coffee or not? (very common in speech)
2. No tenses: time comes from time words
Verbs never change. Makan is eat, eats, ate, eaten and will eat. Time is given by context or by a word placed before the verb.
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| sudah (spoken udah) | already, have done | Saya sudah makan. I have eaten. |
| belum | not yet | Saya belum makan. I haven't eaten yet. |
| sedang (spoken lagi) | in the middle of | Dia sedang tidur. He is sleeping. |
| akan (spoken mau or bakal) | will | Kami akan pergi. We will go. |
| baru | just now | Aku baru sampai. I just arrived. |
| pernah | ever, have at some time | Kamu pernah ke Bali? Have you ever been to Bali? |
| masih | still | Dia masih kerja. She is still working. |
A time expression also does the job: kemarin (yesterday), besok (tomorrow), tadi (earlier today), nanti (later). Saya makan kemarin is "I ate yesterday" with the verb untouched. Our page on udah and belum covers the two time words beginners misuse most.
3. No plural endings: double the word or add a number
A noun does not change for plural. Buku is book or books. When the number matters, either say it or double the noun.
- dua buku two books
- banyak buku many books
- buku-buku books (in general, several)
Do not double a noun that already has a number: dua buku, never dua buku-buku. Doubling has other jobs too: jalan-jalan (to go for a walk, from jalan, road), pelan-pelan (slowly), hati-hati (careful).
4. No articles, no gender
There is no "a" or "the". Buku is "a book" or "the book". When you need to point at one in particular, use ini (this) or itu (that), or the suffix -nya (section 10).
- Buku itu mahal. That book is expensive.
- Bukunya mahal. The book is expensive.
Dia means he or she; the language does not distinguish. Nouns have no gender either.
5. Adjectives come after the noun
The describing word follows the thing it describes, the reverse of English.
- rumah besar a big house
- kopi panas hot coffee
- orang baik a good person
"Very" is sangat before the adjective in writing, and banget after it in speech: sangat mahal / mahal banget, very expensive. Comparisons use lebih (more) and paling (most): lebih murah (cheaper), paling enak (the tastiest).
6. "To be" is usually missing
Indonesian has no verb "to be" between a subject and an adjective or a place.
- Saya lapar. I am hungry.
- Dia di rumah. She is at home.
- Kopinya enak. The coffee is tasty.
Adalah exists, and joins two nouns in formal writing: Jakarta adalah ibu kota Indonesia. In speech it is dropped: Jakarta ibu kota Indonesia. "There is / there are" is ada: Ada kopi? Is there coffee? Ada. There is.
7. Negation: tidak, bukan and jangan
Three words for "not", and which one depends on what follows.
| Word | Negates | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tidak (spoken nggak) | verbs and adjectives | Saya nggak tahu. I don't know. Nggak mahal. Not expensive. |
| bukan | nouns and pronouns | Ini bukan kopi. This isn't coffee. Bukan saya. Not me. |
| jangan | commands | Jangan lupa. Don't forget. |
Belum (not yet) replaces tidak for anything that could still happen: Udah makan? Belum. Our nggak page goes through nggak, tidak and bukan in detail.
8. Pronouns, and which "you" to use
| Person | Formal | Spoken | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| I | saya | aku, gue (Jakarta) | saya is safe everywhere |
| you | Anda, Bapak, Ibu | kamu, lu (Jakarta) | see below |
| he, she | dia / beliau (respectful) | dia | no gender |
| we (including you) | kita | kita | |
| we (not you) | kami | kami | |
| you (plural) | kalian | kalian | |
| they | mereka | mereka |
The word for "you" is the one grammar choice that carries social weight. Kamu is for friends and people your age or younger. For anyone older, in authority or serving you, Indonesians use a title instead: Bapak or Pak (sir, for a man), Ibu or Bu (ma'am), Mas and Mbak (young man, young woman, in Java), Kak (older sibling, for anyone slightly older). Anda is formal and written; in speech it sounds distant. When in doubt, Pak or Bu and a smile.
Possession is the pronoun after the noun: buku saya (my book), rumah dia (her house). Spoken Indonesian shortens aku and kamu to suffixes: bukuku (my book), bukumu (your book), and -nya for his, her, its or the: bukunya.
9. Questions: the question words
| Word | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| apa | what | Ini apa? What is this? |
| siapa | who | Siapa nama kamu? What is your name? (literally who) |
| di mana | where | Toiletnya di mana? Where is the toilet? |
| ke mana | where to | Mau ke mana? Where are you going? |
| kapan | when | Kapan datang? When did you arrive? |
| kenapa | why | Kenapa telat? Why late? |
| bagaimana (spoken gimana) | how | Gimana caranya? How do you do it? |
| berapa | how much, how many | Berapa harganya? How much is it? |
The question word usually sits where the answer would go: Kamu dari mana? (You from where?), not at the front as in English. Our page on gimana covers the spoken "how".
10. The suffix -nya
-nya is the most useful piece of Indonesian grammar and the hardest to translate. Attached to a noun it means his, her, its, their, or simply "the one we both know about".
- Rumahnya besar. His house is big. / The house is big.
- Harganya berapa? How much is it? (literally: its price how much?)
- Enaknya! How delicious! (turns an adjective into an exclamation)
Attached to an adjective or verb it makes a noun (enaknya, the deliciousness; datangnya, the arriving), and it softens questions: Toiletnya di mana? is more natural than Di mana toilet?
11. Prepositions: di, ke, dari
Three cover most situations: di (at, in, on), ke (to), dari (from).
- di Bali in Bali, di rumah at home, di atas meja on the table
- ke Bali to Bali, ke rumah home (going)
- dari Bali from Bali
Others you will need early: untuk (for), dengan (with, spoken sama), sama (with, to, in speech), pada (at, formal), tentang (about).
12. Affixes: the real grammar of Indonesian
This is where Indonesian spends the complexity it saved elsewhere. Words are built from a root by adding prefixes and suffixes, and a learner who knows the patterns can guess hundreds of words from a few roots.
| Affix | What it does | From root ajar (teach / learn) |
|---|---|---|
| ber- | to have, to do (intransitive) | belajar to study |
| me- | active verb (the subject does it) | mengajar to teach |
| di- | passive (it is done) | diajar to be taught |
| pe- | the person who does it | pelajar student, pengajar teacher |
| -an | the result or thing | ajaran a teaching |
| pe- -an | the process or place | pelajaran a lesson |
| -kan | do it to or for something | mengajarkan to teach (something) |
| -i | do it to a place or repeatedly | mengajari to teach (someone) |
| ke- -an | abstract noun, or "affected by" | kehujanan caught in the rain (from hujan) |
Two things make this manageable. First, me- changes shape to match the first letter of the root (me- + baca = membaca, me- + tulis = menulis, me- + sapu = menyapu), which looks random but follows a short table you learn once. Second, spoken Indonesian drops most prefixes: membaca becomes baca, menulis becomes nulis, mengajar becomes ngajar. Textbooks introduce the full forms first; conversations use the short ones. JADI teaches roots as families, which it calls Word Trees, for this reason: 128 roots give more than 900 words.
13. Spoken grammar: the forms the textbook leaves out
Most grammar guides stop at standard Indonesian. These are the everyday spoken forms, and you will hear them in the first minute of any conversation.
| Standard | Spoken | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tidak | nggak, gak | not |
| sudah | udah | already |
| saja | aja | just, only |
| bagaimana | gimana | how |
| begitu | gitu | like that |
| begini | gini | like this |
| sedang | lagi | in the middle of |
| akan | mau, bakal | will |
| dengan | sama | with |
| memberi | kasih | to give |
| -kan (suffix) | -in | bersihkan becomes bersihin, clean it |
Three particles carry the tone of a sentence: ya (OK?, right?), kok (surprise, or "actually"), dong (come on, obviously) and sih (softens a question or marks "as for"). Mahal, ya? (Expensive, isn't it?) Nggak kok. (No, not really.) Ayo dong. (Come on.) None of them changes the grammar; all of them change how you sound.
14. Sentence patterns to copy
Ten patterns cover most of a beginner's conversations. Swap the nouns and verbs.
- Saya mau + noun or verb. I want... Saya mau kopi. Saya mau makan.
- Boleh + verb? May I...? Boleh duduk di sini?
- Ada + noun? Is there...? Ada kamar kosong?
- Di mana + noun? Where is...? Di mana stasiun?
- Berapa + noun? How much...? Berapa harganya?
- Saya suka / nggak suka + noun. I like / don't like... Saya suka pedas.
- Bisa + verb? Can you...? Bisa bahasa Inggris?
- Udah + verb? Have you... yet? Udah makan?
- Tolong + verb. Please... Tolong pelan-pelan.
- Saya dari + place. I'm from... Saya dari Australia.
For the phrases that go into these patterns, see our 50 basic Indonesian phrases.
Common mistakes
Translating "is" and "are". Saya adalah lapar is wrong. Saya lapar.
Conjugating. There is nothing to conjugate. Makan never changes.
Adjective before the noun. Besar rumah is wrong. Rumah besar.
Tidak before a noun. Ini tidak kopi is wrong. Ini bukan kopi.
Kamu to an elder. Use Bapak or Ibu.
Doubling a noun after a number. Tiga buku, not tiga buku-buku.
Learning only the long verb forms. You will say membaca and hear baca. Learn both.
FAQ
Is Indonesian grammar easy?
The basics are among the easiest of any major language: no tenses, no conjugation, no gender, no plural endings, and subject-verb-object order like English. The demanding part is the affix system, which takes months to feel natural.
Does Indonesian have tenses?
No. Verbs never change. Time is shown by words such as sudah (already), sedang (in the middle of), akan (will) and belum (not yet), or by a time expression such as kemarin (yesterday).
Does Indonesian have grammatical gender?
No. Nouns have no gender and dia means both he and she.
What is the hardest part of Indonesian grammar?
The prefixes and suffixes: me-, ber-, di-, pe-, -kan, -i, -an and their combinations, plus the sound changes me- makes. Second hardest is the gap between the standard forms and the spoken forms.
Is Bahasa Indonesia grammar the same as Malay grammar?
Almost. The two languages share their grammar and most core vocabulary; the differences are in everyday words, pronunciation and slang.
How do you make a plural in Indonesian?
Usually you do not. Buku covers book and books. Add a number (dua buku) or double the noun (buku-buku) when the plural matters.
Grammar you hear, not grammar you memorise
Everything above fits on a few pages, and that is the good news about Indonesian. The bad news is that the forms you will actually hear, nggak, udah, baca for membaca, bersihin for bersihkan, are the ones most courses leave for later. JADI's lessons teach the grammar point of the day inside real sentences from Yohana, a native teacher, with both forms from the start, and the JADI Indonesian course runs through all of it over 132 lesson days. Starting from zero? The beginner's guide to learning Indonesian lays out the first three months. The first 6 lesson days are free.
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