Indonesian grammar, in plain English

30 rules that cover most of what a beginner needs. Indonesian has no verb conjugation, no grammatical gender and no articles, so this is a shorter list than you are expecting.

Level A1

• Sentence Structure (SVO) Indonesian follows Subject-Verb-Object, just like English. No articles, no conjugation.
• Pronouns Indonesian has formal and informal pronouns, and two words for 'we'.
• No verb 'to be' Indonesian skips 'am/is/are' in most sentences.
• Negation: tidak, bukan, belum, jangan Four different words for 'no/not'. Which one to use depends on what you are negating.
• Asking Questions Question words can stay in place. No word reordering needed.
• Time: sudah, sedang, akan, belum Indonesian has no tenses. Instead, small words mark time.

Level A2

• Plurals & Reduplication Usually you don't mark plurals. When you want to, repeat the word.
• Possession (word order) Put the owner after the thing owned: 'book me' = 'my book'.
• The ber- prefix ber- turns a word into 'doing/being/having' something.
• Telling time Use jam + number. Add lewat (past) or kurang (to) for fractions.
• The yang particle 'yang' connects a noun to a description or relative clause. Similar to 'which' or 'that' in English.
• Must, should, need to harus, perlu, mesti, wajib, sebaiknya. How to pick the right one.
• Let's, come on: ayo, mari, yuk Three words for 'let us'. Which one to pick depends on formality.
• Asking permission: boleh, bisa, mohon Different ways to ask 'may I'. Picking the right one is polite.
• Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) Add ke- before the number: kedua, ketiga, kesepuluh.

Level B1

• The me- prefix (active verbs) me- makes a root into an active transitive verb. The form depends on the first letter.
• Classifiers (measure words) When counting things, use a classifier: 'orang' for people, 'ekor' for animals, 'buah' for objects.
• Joining sentences Combine ideas with dan, tapi, karena, kalau, supaya.
• Comparisons: bigger, biggest Use lebih for comparatives, paling (or ter-) for superlatives.
• The versatile -nya suffix -nya can mean his/her/its, the, or act as an emphasis marker. Context decides.
• The ke- -an abstract noun Wrapping a root with ke- and -an often forms an abstract noun.
• Passive voice with di- Prefix di- on a verb makes it passive. Common in formal and written Indonesian.
• Colloquial vs formal Spoken Indonesian drops affixes and uses shorter forms. Know both.
• If... then: kalau, jika, seandainya Real conditions use kalau/jika. Hypotheticals use seandainya.
• Reporting what someone said kata, bilang, menurut. Reporting other people's words.
• Making someone do: -kan suffix Adding -kan to a verb makes it causative or transitive.
• When, while, until: ketika, selama, sampai Connect events in time with these conjunctions.
• The ter- prefix ter- marks accidental actions, completed states, or superlatives.
• The pe- prefix (agent nouns) pe- on a verb root forms 'a person who does X'. Similar to the English -er ending.
• Casual particles: dong, sih, kok, deh, lah Tiny words that add tone: pleading, mild irritation, surprise, persuasion.