Learning Indonesian - Measure Words

Have you ever heard about "Measure Word"  ?

If Your mother tongue is english or other Germanic language then you probably never heard about Measure Word.

On this article we're not only going to learn what Measure Word is in bahasa indonesia, but also other subjects related to, i.e

1) Types of Measure Word
2) The Differences Between "se and satu"
3) The Reasons Why Measure Words Are important in Bahasa Indonesia (indonesian language)

1. Measure Words 

indonesian has a unique feature for classifying nouns, especially countable nouns should take what's called measure words, Measure words are also found in English such as two head of cattle, a loaf of bread, this sheet of paper,  a bunch of banana and so on.

Measure words are also called classifiers (or Kata penggolong). In this way, it is similar to Mandarin language. so if you know mandarin language you would be easy to get used to this feature, it's similar to liàngcí （量词）in Mandarin. 

Measure words in Indonesian are predictable, they are divided into three groups :

1.1 - MW for measuring human beings.

: orang

orang is used for measuring : human being

the literal meaning of this measure word is "person"

example :

seorang kesatria (a knight)

dua orang pelajar (two students)

sembilan orang wali (nine saints)

1.2 - MW for measuring animals : ekor

it is used for measuring "animals and/or insects"

the literal meaning of this measure word is "tail"

example :

seekor lebah (a bee)

dua ekor gajah (two elephants)
seratus ekor unta (one hundred camels)

ratusan ekor harimau  (hundreds of tigers)

1.3 - Measure Words for measuring things or inanimate nouns are divided into many categories, there are 11 types of measure words for measuring different things :

buah, keping, utas, carik, bilah, butir, batang, helai, pucuk, bidang, petak.

But if you are not sure about which noun takes which MW, for now you can use "buah" for any kind of things.

for example, you can either say :

sebuah koin emas
a golden coin

or

sekeping koin emas
a golden coin

 
another example 

sebuah pedang kuno
an ancient sword
                            

or

sebilah pedang kuno (means the same)
an ancient sword

Here are the measure words (of group number 3) for inanimate nouns :

a) buah

it is used for measuring :

things (in general), large things, abstract nouns

such as houses, cars, ships, mountains; books, rivers, chairs, some fruits, thoughts, etc.

the literal meaning of this measure word is "fruit"

example :

dua buah meja

two tables

lima buah rumah

five houses

sebuah cinta

love

sebuah ide

an idea

b) carik 

it is used for measuring :

things easily torn, like paper.

literal meaning of this measure word is "shred"

example :

secarik kertas 

a piece of paper

c) utas

it is used for measuring :

nets, cords, ribbons.

literal meaning of this measure word is "thread"

example :

seutas tali
a rope

d) potong

it is used for measuring :

bread, cake, pizza and something like that

literal meaning of this measure word is "cut/piece"

example :

sepotong roti
a piece of bread

e) bilah

it is used for measuring :
things which cut lengthwise and thicker.

literal meaning of this measure word is "blade".

example :

sebilah kayu
a piece of wood 

dua bilah kapak
two axes      

f) bidang / petak

either bidang or petak is used for measuring :
the surface of the earth.

literal meaning of this measure word is "field"

example :

sebidang tanah
an area of land

dua petak sawah
two fields of rice

g) keping :

it is used for measuring :
flat fragments slabs of stone, pieces of wood, pieces of bread, land, coins, paper.

literal meaning of this measure word is "chip"

example:

sekeping uang logam
a coin

sekeping batu
a piece of stone

h) pucuk

it is used for measuring :
letters, firearms, needles.

literal meaning of this measure word is "sprout".

example :

sepucuk senjata
a weapon

sepucuk senjata api
a gun

i) helai

it is used for measuring :
things in thin layers or sheets.

such as paper, cloth, feathers, hair.

literal meaning of this mw is
"leaf".

example :

sepuluh helai pakaian
ten pieces of clothes

j) batang

it is used for measuring :
long stiff things

like trees, walking sticks, pencils.

literal meaning of this Measure Word is
"trunk, rod"

example :

sebatang tongkat
a stick

k) biji/ butir

it is used for measuring :
smaller rounded objects

most fruits, cups, nuts.

literal meaning of this mw is
"grain".

example :

se/satu biji telur /
sebutir telur
an egg

sebutir beras
a grain of rice

2. The Differences Between "se and satu"

the prefix "se" on the measure words are equal to the indefinite article a/an.

while "satu" is used for emphasis to mean ‘a singleʼ or ‘just oneʼ

example :

seorang teman baik itu adalah saudara
a best friend is a brother

satu orang teman baik lebih baik dari pada sepuluh penjilat
one best friend is better than ten bootlickers

Bakri melihat seekor ikan yang indah di danau itu
Bakri saw a beautiful fish in the lake

Tadi sore Bakri menangkap satu ekor ikan
Bakri caught one fish this afternoon

3. The Reasons Why Measure Words Are important in Bahasa Indonesia

As you have learned that human, animal, and inanimate noun, each of them takes different measure word.

So if you take wrong measure word, it could sound weird or even insulting.

for example you say :

seekor guru yang baik
a good teacher

you know that "ekor" is not the correct measure word for human being whereas "guru/teacher" is human being, so this phrase would be considered as insulting or making a joke of somebody.

Remember that you must use "orang" for measuring "human being" and "ekor" for animal.

As for inanimate noun, you can use "buah" for measuring any types of inanimate noun. well, it is not correct. but it still sounds ok to say :

sebuah telor  ❌  but  🆗
sebutir telor  ✅
an egg

sebuah pedang   ❌  but  🆗
sebilah pedang   ✅
a sword

sebuah beras    ❌  but  🆗
sebutir beras    ✅
a grain of rice

      For now dont worry too much about this rule, even some native Indonesians sometimes can make mistake too.

so the point is You can learn languages in your own way and at your own pace.

Remember one important thing, to learn a foreign language without interacting with native speaker is not enough.

I suggest you to find Indonesian native speaker on any Indonesian forum on the internet to communicate with, and you're also welcome to speak with me on whatsapp. I will be so glad to help you speak Indonesian.

P.S : You can find my whatsapp number on my YouTube Channel Here

         

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All You Need To Know About Verbs In Bahasa Indonesia

Verbs in bahasa indonesia take different forms. Some have no affix, some have
the ber- prefix, some have the me/meN- prefix and some have the ter- prefix.

no affix

datang : to come
pergi    : to go
pulang : to go home
hidup   : to live
keluar  : to exit

ber-verb

berenang : to swim
berubah   : to change
bertemu   : to meet
berjalan   : to walk
berlari      : to run

me/meng-verb

me-rusak       : to ruin
mem-bawa    : to bring
meng-asah     : to sharpen
men-campur : to mix
me-lihat          : to see

    But dont worry about it, you dont have to memorize all of these rules , well I know this is a boring task, so all you need to do is just to understand this basic rule, so that u can look up a word in your indonesian dictionary easily. and you can recognize which is which.

active verbs, me-verbs

in me-verbs, A prefix "me" is attached before the base or root word. A number of sound changes can occur, like me becomes "men" or "mem when the prefix "me" is combined with some root words in order to facilitate a smooth transition in pronunciation.

bual - membual        : to boast
lompat - melompat  : to jump
rokok - merokok      : to smoke
tangis - menangis     : to cry
tari - menari.             : to dance
uap - menguap.         : to yawn

As a native Indonesian, I never bothered to memorize this rules, which verb should take which prefix "me", "men" or "mem" or meng, all I did is just to copy what I heard and that's it. so it's easy to master bahasa Indonesia, just do like I did, and do not waste your time memorizing these rules.

ber-verbs

basically ber-verbs are intransitive verbs but it can also be pseudo transitive meaning verbs.

and Some verbs can take either the ber- or the me-  prefix with no difference in meaning.

bernyanyi / menyanyi - to sing
berbekas / membekas - to leave a mark or trace

Some other intransitive verbs take what are sometimes called
pseudo-objects [nouns that look like objects, but are not perceived as being affected by the action].

bermain gitar -  to play guitar

bersepatu roda - to roller-skate

bernyanyi sebuah lagu - to sing a song

in this sentence "sebuah lagu/a song" is the
pseudo-object (it looks like object, but is not being affected by the action)

well u know everybody sings a song, and no body sings a gitar.

passive verbs - di-verbs

in english we form passive voice using "to be + V3" and in bahasa indonesia it is much simpler, you only need to add a prefix "di" to the verb.

makan       : to eat

dimakan    : to be eaten

memukul  : to beat

dipukul     : to be beaten

saya memukul dia
I beat him

saya dipukul oleh dia
I am beaten by him

Terri makan sepotong roti
Terri eats a piece of bread

rotinya dimakan Terri
the bread is/was eaten by Terri

ter- verbs

Ter verbs behave like basic intransitive verbs
except that they explicitly state that the subject undergoes
something unintentionally, the action often occurs suddenly
and unexpectedly.

Paijo tertidur di kelas.
Paijo fell asleep in the class.

dia tergelincir di jalan.
he slipped on the road.

Tadi pagi saya terbangun jam lima.
This morning I woke up (suddenly and unintentionally) at
five o'clock.

Other verbs in this group include

terdiam    : to fall silent
tertegun   : to stop suddenly
tertelan    : to be swallowed accidentally
terjadi       : happen / take place
terkejut     : to be startled / to be shocked
terciduk    : to be caught
terbakar   : to be burnt
terpekik    : to scream suddenly

another feature of indonesian verb is that verb can indicate a Repeated action

to indicate that the action is done repeatedly to one or more objects. we must add suffix "i" to some me-verbs, di-verbs or ter-verbs but this rule cannot be applied to ber verbs.

let's take some examples
              
mereka memukuli dia
they beat him many times

dia menciumi gitar itu
she kissed the guitar (repeatedly or several times)

mereka terpukuli
they were beaten several times (suddenly)

mereka dipukuli
they were beaten several times

gitar itu diciumi
the guitar is kissed repeatedly

those are the main rules of indonesian verb that you must understand, I hope now you understand about the characteristics of verb in bahasa indonesia. then if you have some questions about this rules, please feel free to ask me on the comment down below

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Question Words In Bahasa Indonesia [LEARNING INDONESIAN]

How to form an interrogative sentence using seven (7) question words in Bahasa Indonesia ? including its formal form and the slang form.

apakah / apa

kapan

bagaimana / gimana

berapa

mana

mengapa

siapa

Question formation and the use of question words in indonesian are not complex.
In general, the interrogative word is placed at the beginning of a sentence.
but inversion of word order is still considered to be correct for some Question Words.
so we're going to refer them as invertable Question word and uninvertable Question word
ok let's check out how these QUESTION WORDS occur in the sentence.

1. apa = what

1.1 apa as a question word

apa ini ?
what is this ?

apa itu ?
what is that ?

apa can function as a question word same like "what" in english and you need to add "yang" after "apa".

apa yang anda makan ?
what do you eat ?

bahasa apa yang dia suka ?
what language does he like ?

in such a sentence "yang" is equal to auxiliary verb "do/does" that is placed after "what"
but this question formation actually sounds too formal in daily conversation with friends and family.
you can use this formation instead, if you wanna sound friendly

kamu suka bahasa apa ?
what language do you like?
(you like language what ?)

literally it means (you like language what ?)

kamu makan apa ?
what do you eat ?
(you eat what ?)

literally it means (you eat what ?)
so apa is invertable Question word
and note that "yang" is no longer used as in the informal form.

1.2 apa as an interrogative marker in yes no question

apa kamu lapar ?
are you hungry ?

apa kamu suka musik ?
do you like music ?

here apa is the same like the auxiliary verb and modal verb that is placed in the beginning of the sentence
so if apa is used in yes no question, apa is uninvertable
in the formal form "kah" is attached to apa

apakah kamu lapar ?
are you hunggry

apakah kamu suka musik
do you like music

apakah is uninvertable, you cannot place it at the end of the sentence.

2. kapan = when

here the use of kapan is the same like "when" in english, but it's used only as an interrogative, not as a connective adverb meaning.

kapan kamu pulang ?
when did you come home ?

kapan kamu akan mengakatakan-nya ?
when are you going to say it ?

kapan is invertable, you can say

kamu pulang kapan ?
when did you come home ?

and we use ketika for connective adverb meaning "when" in english.
ketika saya lapar, saya makan
when I'm hungry, I eat.

3. bagaimana - how

Bagaimana is used exactly the same like "how" in english, it always comes on the beginning of the sentence.

bagaimana kabar anda ?
how are you ?
(how is your news ?)

bagaimana kamu melakukannya/itu ?
(how did you do that ?)

bagaimana is invertable, so you can say

kabar anda bagaimana ?
how are you ?
(your news how ?)

bagaimana in the slang expression

you can replace bagaimana with gimana if you wanna sound more friendly. and the question formation is just the same.

gimana kabarnya ?
how are you ?
(how is the news/ what's the news)

gimana kamu ngelakuin itu ?
how did you do that ?

here "ngelakuin" is the slang word of melakukan.

4. berapa = how much/ how many / how+adjective

the question word "berapa" can occur either on the beginning or at the end of the sentence (invertable QW)

berapa rumah kamu ?
how many houses do you have ?
(how many house of yours )

berapa harga gitar ini ?
how much does this guitar cost ?
(lit. whats the price guitar this)

you can invert "berapa" by placing it at the end of the sentence.

uang kamu berapa ?
how much money do you have ?
(you how much money)

harga gitar ini berapa ?
how much does this guitar cost ?
(the prise of this guitar how much)

5. mana = where / which / which one

5.1) di + mana - where

dimana is for asking location of something (in/at what)

dimana kamu tinggal ?
where do you live ?

dimana teman saya ?
where is my friend ?

dimana is invertable so you can say

teman saya dimana ?
where is my friend

5.2) ke + mana - where (to)

kemana is used when you are asking about the direction of something

kemana kamu pergi kemarin ?
where did you go yesterday ?

kemana kamu akan mencarinya ?
where are you going to look for it ?

5.3) yang + mana - which

yang + mana means which or which one

buku yang mana yang kamu beli ?
which book did you buy ?

yang mana ayah kamu ?
which one's your father ?

you can place "yang mana" at the end of the sentence for the informal form

kamu beli buku yang mana ?
which book did you buy ?
(lit. you buy which book ?)

6. mengapa - kenapa - ngapain = why

The use of mengapa and kenapa is the same like "why" in english. mengapa is used in the formal situation and kenapa is in the less formal situation. while ngapain is used in the very informal situation.

mengapa/kenapa kamu menangis ?
why do you cry ?

ngapain kamu nangis ?
why do you cry ?

"ngapain" it self can also mean "what are you doing" usually lagi is added before (ngapain).

hei lagi ngapain disini ?
hei what are you doing here ?

7. siapa = who

again, the word "yang" must be inserted if you are asking about who the subject or the object is, especially in verbal sentence.

siapa yang mereka suka ?
who/whom do they love ?

siapa yang (tadi) memukul kamu ?
who beat (V2) you ?

siapa yang di dalam ?
who's inside ?

in nominal sentence "yang" is no longer used if you are asking about subject pronoun.

siapa mereka ?
who are they ?

siapa kamu
who are you

siapa dia
who is she

siapa is invertable question word, so you can say

yang tadi memukul kamu siapa ?
who beat (V2) you ?
(lit. the one who beat you, who ?)

mereka siapa ?
who are they ?
(they are who ?)

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Learning a language is not enough by only reading it,
watch our videos on YouTube here to make the indonesian language transferred into your stream of consciousness.

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How To Start Learning Indonesian Language

how to start learning Indonesian language or Bahasa Indonesia ?

you wanna learn Indonesian becoz you wanna live or find a job and carrier in Indonesia ?

well learn the differences first and then you'll find the similarities automatically !

If you start learning Indonesian, then you have to know these four differences between Indonesian and English. So that you can get a grasp of indonesian grammar easily.
this article is intended for learners of indonesian as a
practical guide for mastering Indonesian in a quick and easy way.

the difference number 1

Indonesian alphabet is just like english alphabet, it consists of the 26 letters of the ISO basic latin alphabet without any diacritics.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z
(26)

But unlike in english. The indonesian alphabet has a phonemic orthography ; means that words are spelled the way they are pronounced.
for example

b + a = ba, c + a = ca

= baca (read)

b + u : bu, k + u : ku

= buku

so even a beginner will find it easy to read indonesian.

the difference number 2

let's take a look at the basic Indonesian sentence structure

saya punya mimpi
S P O

I have a dream
S V O

as you see here, the Indonesian sentence structure is S P O subyek predikat obyek, while in english it is S V O subject verb object.
why is that ?
becoz in indonesian the predicate is not always verb. predicate can be from verb, noun, adverb of place or adjective.
let's take some examples

saya tertidur
I fall asleep

saya gembira
I am glad

saya di rumah
I am at home

so it is really easy to form a sentence in indonesian. becoz there's no such an auxiliary verb in indonesian. you just place any word directly in front of the subject as a predicate and you have an Indonesian correct sentence.

difference number 3

in Indonesian sentence verb doesnt change due to the subject and it doesnt conjugate for tense.

saya makan nasi
I eat rice

dia 🚹 makan nasi
he eats rice

kemarin saya makan nasi
yesterday I ate rice

kita sudah makan nasi
we have eaten rice

saya makan nasi
I eat rice

dia 🚹 makan nasi
he eats rice

look at the verb makan, it doesn't change due to the subject, while in English the verb must take S/es for singular subject marker.

exempli gratia :

kemarin saya makan nasi
yesterday I ate rice

kita sudah makan nasi
we have eaten rice

In indonesian the verb makan remains the same at any time and in any aspect, while in english the verb eat conjugate for tenses.

the difference number 4

in an adjective phrase, the adjective always comes after the noun. while in english it comes before the noun.

kerja bagus !
good job !

orang baik
good person

nice guitar
gitar yg indah

By knowing the four differences between Indonesian and english. Now you've probably gained 40% of indonesian grammar understanding.

I hope this article help you start to learn indonesian grammar easily.

I'll always try my best to write usefull article about how to hack Indonesian langauge.

Let's help people hack Foreign Languages.

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