Indonesian/Lessons/This and that

^ Indonesian ^ | << Lesson 1: Greetings  | Lesson 2: This, That | Lesson 3: Pronouns >>

Arti Umum (General Meaning)
The word "ini" means "this" or "these".

The word "itu" means "that" or "those".

Penggunaan Pertama: Ini buku (First Usage: This [is a] book)
Contoh (Example):
 * Ini buku. ("This is a book" or "These are books")
 * Ini pensil. ("This is a pencil" or "These are pencils")
 * Itu apel. ("That is an apple" or "Those are apples")
 * Itu jeruk. ("That is an orange" or "Those are oranges")

From the examples above, you can see that there is no explicit word for "to be" as in English. It is already implied by the structure or the vocabulary used in the sentence.

In addition, when using a noun, the meaning can be either singular or plural. It depends on the context. When the context does not make it clear, the noun is assumed to be singular.

The reader might ask: If ini buku means this is a book while when naively translated sounds like "This book." Then how to say "this book" in Indonesian? Answer: buku ini. When learning Indonesian, or when Indonesian learning English, people usually realized that the order of words, especially adjective and noun, are usually swapped.

Penggunaan Kedua: Buku ini merah (Second Usage: This book [is] red)
Contoh (Example):
 * Buku ini merah . ("This book is red " or "These books are red ")
 * Apel ini hijau . ("This apple is green " or "These apples are green ")
 * Pensil itu hitam. ("That pencil is black" or "Those pencils are black")
 * Jeruk itu jingga . ("That orange is orange " or "Those oranges are orange ")

Notice the difference between the first pattern and the second one:
 * The first pattern is '(Ini/Itu) + Noun', which means 'This/That is/are Noun'.
 * The second pattern is 'Noun + (Ini/Itu) + Adjective', which means 'This/That Noun is/are Adjective'

Bentuk Negatif (Negative Form)
There are two words in Indonesian used to indicate negatives:
 * Bukan → Not, referring to nouns, pronouns, or states (it may be easiest to remember the meaning of bukan as "not a", since only nouns would follow "a" in English)
 * Tidak → Not, referring to adjectives or verbs

In some cases, we can use either bukan or tidak, but we'll discuss this later.

Contoh (Example):
 * Ini bukan buku. ("This is not a book" or "These are not books")
 * Ini bukan pensil. ("This is not a pencil" or "These are not pencils")
 * Itu bukan apel. ("That is not an apple" or "Those are not apples")
 * Itu bukan jeruk. ("That is not an orange" or "Those are not oranges")

Here, we use bukan, because we're negating the nouns. However, look at the following example:
 * Ini tidak benar. ("This is not right")

This time, we are negating the adjective "right". (Benar = right / correct)

Likewise, look at the following examples: Contoh (Example):
 * Buku ini tidak merah . ("This book is not red " or "These books are not red ")
 * Apel ini tidak hijau . ("This apple is not green " or "These apples are not green ")
 * Pensil itu tidak hitam. ("That pencil is not black" or "Those pencils not are black")
 * Jeruk itu tidak jingga . ("That orange is not orange " or "Those oranges are not orange ")

In these examples, we use tidak because this time we're negating the adjectives.

Bentuk Interogatif (Interrogative Form)
The word "apa" (= "what") can be used to form questions using "ini" or "itu".
 * Apa ini? ("What is/are this/these?")
 * Apa itu? ("What is/are that/those?")

Contoh (Example):
 * Q: Apa ini?
 * A: Ini buku.

You can use "apa ini" or "apa itu" to ask what something is called in Indonesian (by pointing to the object).

^ Indonesian ^ | << Lesson 1: Greetings  | Lesson 2: This, That | Lesson 3: Pronouns >>

Enseignement de l'indonésien/Leçons/Ceci et cela