Learn how to tell time in Indonesian
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Intro |
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| Michael: How do you ask for the time in Indonesian? |
| Blanca: And how do you tell the time? |
| Michael: At IndonesianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha, a highschool student, doesn't want to be late for her next class and asks her classmate |
| "What time is it?" |
| Sasha Lee: Jam berapa sekarang? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Jam berapa sekarang? |
| Gundar Gunawan: Tiga seperempat. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Jam berapa sekarang? |
| Michael: "What time is it?" |
| Gundar Gunawan: Tiga seperempat. |
| Michael: "It's a quarter past three." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Asking for the time is one of the most fundamental skills in Indonesian. In this lesson, you will learn how to ask for the time and answer questions about it. But, before this, we need to discuss some basics. As with any language, you cannot learn how to talk about the time without first knowing the numbers up to twenty-four. Once you know your Indonesian numbers, you also need to learn the basic time words—such as "hours" and "minutes." So, we will cover all of these words and you can get some practice saying them. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: Let us start with a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha Lee says "What time is it?" Can you repeat it from memory? |
| [PAUSE 4 SEC] |
| Blanca as Sasha Lee: Jam berapa sekarang? |
| Michael: This is the most common way to ask about the time in Indonesian. The first word |
| Blanca: jam |
| Michael: means "hour" or "clock." This is followed by |
| Blanca: berapa |
| Michael: which means "how much." Finally, we have the word |
| Blanca: sekarang |
| Michael: meaning "now." So, what you are literally asking is "The hour, how much is it now?" Let's hear it again. |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam berapa sekarang? [SLOWLY] Jam berapa sekarang? |
| Michael: Next, we have to answer the question! To tell the time to the exact hour in Indonesian, first say the word for hour |
| Blanca: jam |
| Michael: As a rule, this word precedes whatever time you are referring to. So, after that, you will say the hour. If it is three o'clock, we say |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tiga. [SLOWLY] Jam tiga. |
| Michael: And nine o'clock will be |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam sembilan. [SLOWLY] Jam sembilan. |
| Michael: Easy, right? The important thing here is to get the word order right! If you say |
| Blanca: Sembilan jam, |
| Michael: it means "nine hours," so just remember this! Next, we should learn how to say the time past the hour, and also before the hour. To do that, we must first learn the word for "minutes," which is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] menit [SLOWLY] menit |
| [PAUSE 3 SEC] |
| Michael: To express any number of minutes, you say the number, followed by the word for minutes. So, five minutes is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Lima menit [SLOWLY] Lima menit |
| Michael: and twenty-eight minutes is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Dua puluh delapan menit [SLOWLY] Dua puluh delapan menit |
| Michael: Again, it's just the number, followed by the word for minutes. |
| Now, before we can learn how to say specific times, we need to know three more words. In Indonesia, time is described as "on the hour," "past the hour" or "until the hour." When the minute-hand is just past the hour, there are two words you can use for this. The first is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] lewat [SLOWLY] lewat |
| Michael: which means "to pass by." The other word is similar |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] lebih [SLOWLY] lebih |
| Michael: and it means "more." You use either one of these words when you want to indicate that some minutes have already passed a certain hour. It doesn't really matter which one—that is up to you. Here is an example: |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tiga lewat dua belas menit. [SLOWLY] Jam tiga lewat dua belas menit. |
| Michael: That means "It is 3:12," or, more literally, "Three o'clock passed by twelve minutes." Does that make sense? We can try another one. If the time is 5:04, you say |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam lima lewat empat menit. [SLOWLY] Jam lima lewat empat menit. |
| Michael: Good! Well, we do not want to confuse you, but we should also practice with the other word. If the time is 6:11, we can say |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam enam lebih sebelas menit. [SLOWLY] Jam enam lebih sebelas menit. |
| Michael: Excellent! Now, to indicate that some minutes remain before the new hour, we have this word: |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] kurang [SLOWLY] kurang |
| Michael: which means "less." To say that the time is 2:57, we would say |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tiga kurang tiga menit. [SLOWLY] Jam tiga kurang tiga menit. |
| Michael: Literally, "Three o'clock less three minutes." Can you see where I am going with this? When the time is closer to the new hour, Indonesians say the new hour first, and then how many minutes remain to get there. We can practice this! If, for example, the time is ten minutes to twelve, you first say twelve o'clock |
| Blanca: jam dua belas |
| Michael: Then, you say "less ten minutes" |
| Blanca: kurang sepuluh menit |
| Michael: Altogether, you will have |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam dua belas kurang sepuluh menit. [SLOWLY] Jam dua belas kurang sepuluh menit. |
| Michael: By now, you might be wondering how to say "half past" or "quarter past." Time to learn two more Indonesian time words! The word for "half" is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] setengah [SLOWLY] setengah |
| Michael: and the word for "a quarter" is |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] seperempat [SLOWLY] seperempat |
| Michael: One of the unique things about Indonesians is that when it comes to expressing half hours, they usually count up to the new hour, rather than counting past the current hour. This is a Dutch influence, dating back to when the Dutch occupied Indonesia. But, how does it work? Well, if the time is half past four, Indonesians say |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam setengah lima. [SLOWLY] Jam setengah lima. |
| Michael: In other words, "half to five." Here is another example: |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam setengah sembilan. [SLOWLY] Jam setengah sembilan. |
| Michael: which means "half past eight." Lastly, we should also know how to express "quarter past" or "quarter to" the hour. |
| [Recall 2] |
| Michael: Let us take a look at our second sentence from the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Sasha's friend says "It's a quarter past three." |
| Blanca as Gundar Gunawan: Tiga seperempat. |
| Michael: This literally means "three and a quarter" and it is a quick way to say "3:15." You may have noticed that we left out the word for "hour" or "clock": |
| Blanca: jam |
| Michael: Not to worry, though! You can say it like that, but you can also say it the typical way, as we have been learning: |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tiga seperempat. [SLOWLY] Jam tiga seperempat. |
| Michael: And if you want to say the time is a quarter to three, what should you say? |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tiga kurang seperempat. [SLOWLY] Jam tiga kurang seperempat. |
| Michael: Literally, "Three o'clock less a quarter." Just to remind you, the word |
| Blanca: kurang |
| Michael: means "less." |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned how to ask the time in Indonesian. You also learned how to say the time in hours and minutes. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: One more thing you should know is that Indonesian does not use the abbreviations AM and PM. Their equivalent of explicitly expressing what time of the day it is is to follow the time with the words for morning, |
| Blanca: pagi, |
| Michael: noon, |
| Blanca: siang |
| Michael: afternoon |
| Blanca: sore, |
| Michael: and night |
| Blanca: malam. |
| Michael: So, 9:00 AM will be |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam sembilan pagi [SLOWLY] Jam sembilan pagi |
| Michael: where the word |
| Blanca: pagi |
| Michael: means "morning." It follows that 7:00 PM is said like this: |
| Blanca: [NORMAL] Jam tujuh malam [SLOWLY] Jam tujuh malam |
| Michael: where the word |
| Blanca: malam |
| Michael: means "night." |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Blanca: Dadah. |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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