Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Jason:Jason here! This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 6 - Puppets Aren’t Just for Kids in Indonesia!
Fira:Hello everyone! I'm Fira, and welcome back to IndonesianPOD101.com.
Jason:In this lesson, you’ll learn how to talk about what you have and haven’t done so far.
Fira:So, where does this conversation take place?
Jason:Well, it takes place in a hotel lobby, and it’s between Edi and Tuti. They talk about plans for the evening. They will be speaking in informal Indonesian.
Jason:Let's listen to the conversation.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Jason:Alright, so Edi’s been invited to a pretty special event – wayang kulit or “shadow play”.
Fira:Yes! A play with shadow puppets.
Jason:And these aren’t the same puppets you would make out of your hands when you were a kid, right?
Fira:(laughs) Not at all! No, actually, these puppets are made out of water buffalo hide and supported by sticks made of buffalo horn.
Jason:I was told that these puppets are quite expensive.
Fira:Yes, that’s very true.
Jason:So what is one of these performances like?
Fira:Actually, they can be quite funny to watch. And they can be a nice experience in general -- especially a full-length wayang kulit performance.
Jason:How long is a full-length performance of Javanese shadow play?
Fira:If we’re talking about a full performance, then it can last about nine hours – from 9 PM to about 6 AM in the next day!
Jason:Wow, that’s a long time! But most performances are not that long. They only about three hours at the most, right?
Fira:Yeah. But you know, we don’t always have to stay up during the performance – we can fall asleep, we can eat, chit-chat with our neighbors – it’s a relaxed atmosphere. It’s only the dhalang – the “puppeteer” – who must stay awake the entire time of the performance.
Jason:It’s considered a major test of his physical and spiritual endurance, right?
Fira:That’s right.
Jason:Okay, let’s move on to the vocab.
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Jason:Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Fira:The first word is belum. It means ‘not yet’.
Jason:You can use this to indicate you haven’t done something, or are planning to do something at some point. So, let’s practice this with some of the verbs we’ve learned already. How do we say, “I haven’t walked around yet?”
Fira:Saya belum putar-putar. Sa-ya be-lum putar-putar. (Pause.) Here, Saya means “I”, and belum means “not yet.
Jason:So literally you say the subject first, then the adverb in Indonesian.
Fira:Then you can say “putar putar” meaning ‘to walk around’
Jason:So all together, you can say
Fira:Saya belum putar-putar
Jason:But listeners, remember, if you’re talking about yourself, you can often omit the pronoun for “I”, which is “saya”. When you omit that, the resulting sentence becomes...
Fira:Belum putar-putar. Be-lum putar-putar. (Pause.) And in the dialogue, we had this sentence; Belum pernah. It has the same format. You can say the adverb Belum first, then say pernah, meaning ‘to have’
Jason:So it means ‘to not have it yet’, right?
Fira:Yes, that’s correct. You can simply add Belum in front of any verb.
Jason:Okay, now on to grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Jason:In this lesson, we're going to learn how to say what you have and haven’t done so far. What is that word that we use in Indonesian to indicate the experiential?
Fira:It’s this: pernah. Per-nah. (Pause) Pernah.
Jason:And how do we use this?
Fira:Well, in the dialogue, remember that Tuti asks Edi whether he’s seen a wayang kulit performance before.
Jason:Right – so what does Tuti ask?
Fira:Well, she asks him Pernah nonton? Per-nah non-ton? Here, we have the word pernah
Jason:It is the experiential in Indonesian, and would correspond most with the word “ever” in English.
Fira:And then you have the main verb, nonton, which means ‘to watch’.
Jason:So you have the experiential pernah followed by the main verb. Okay, now try with a few more examples. Fira, how do we say “have you ever been to the Keraton?”
Fira:Pernah ke Keraton? Per-nah ke Ke-ra-ton?
Jason:Very good. Let’s do another one. How do we say “have you ever lived in Jakarta?”
Fira:The verb ‘to live’ is tinggal. So you can say, Pernah tinggal di Jakarta? Per-nah ting-gal di Ja-kar-ta?
Jason:And how can we answer this?
Fira:You can just simply say pernah, which is “I have”. Or if you want to say that you haven’t done something yet, you say belum – “not yet”.
Jason:Okay, and let’s have another sentence. How do you say ‘Are you married already?’
Fira:You can say “sudah kawin?”. Sudah means ‘already’. We’ll look at it further in another lesson, but basically this marks that you have experienced something already. And Kawin means ‘to be married’
Jason:Oh, I see. In that case, what should I answer if I’m not married?
Fira:You can simply say belum. Even if you’re not planning to get married, you should say ‘not yet’.
Jason:Right. In Indonesian society, there is this great expectation that everyone should get married at some point in their life.
Fira:In a way, yeah. But in any case, this is considered the most polite and considerate way of saying “no” for this type of question.

Outro

Jason:Okay, that’s it for this lesson.
Fira:See you next time!

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