Learn how to make questions and question tags in Indonesian
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: How are questions made in Indonesian? |
| Blanca: And what about question tags? |
| Michael: At IndonesianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Juniarti meets her neighbor Mark on the street and asks him, "Where are you going?" |
| Juniarti Gunawan: Kamu mau ke mana? |
| Dialogue |
| Juniarti Gunawan: Kamu mau ke mana? |
| Mark Lee: Saya mau pergi ke kantor. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Juniarti Gunawan: Kamu mau ke mana? |
| Michael: "Where are you going?" |
| Mark Lee: Saya mau pergi ke kantor. |
| Michael: "I'm going to the office." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be looking at how questions are made in Indonesian. In English, when we construct a question, we usually have to change the order of the statement words. Consider how, "He is happy," becomes "Is he happy?" for instance. This is not true of Indonesian. One of the easiest ways to construct a question that requires a yes or no response is to simply place a question mark, and raise the intonation at the end of the sentence. For instance, if one says, "You have been to India" in Indonesian, it sounds like: |
| Blanca: Kamu sudah pergi ke India. |
| Michael: But, if you add the question intonation at the end, it sounds like this: |
| Blanca: Kamu sudah pergi ke India? |
| Michael: Another very easy way to make a polite question in Indonesian is to put a single, very versatile word at the beginning of a sentence. That word is: |
| Blanca: apakah |
| Michael: For example, if I ask, "Have you been to India?" in Indonesian, I can say: |
| Blanca: Apakah kamu sudah pergi ke India? |
| Michael: The words after the question word mean "You have gone to India." You could also, for instance, change the statement, "They live in Jakarta," |
| Blanca: Mereka tinggal di Jakarta. |
| Michael: to the question, "Do they live in Jakarta?" |
| Blanca: Apakah mereka tinggal di Jakarta? |
| Michael: As you can see, the word is very versatile. |
| Let's move on to the next type of question. The information question. In English, we ask for information by using the five "w" question words: "Who?," "What?," "When?," "Where?," and "Why?," Let's explore the Indonesian equivalents by starting with "who?," In Indonesian, that's: |
| Blanca: Siapa? |
| Michael: If I ask, "Who is he?" in Indonesian, I will say: |
| Blanca: Siapa orang itu? |
| Michael: The word "what" is |
| Blanca: Apa |
| Michael: Now, let's hear how to ask, "What is that?" |
| Blanca: Apa itu? |
| Michael: The next question word is "when" |
| Blanca: kapan |
| Michael: This is how one asks, "When will you arrive?" |
| Blanca: Kapan kamu akan tiba? |
| Michael: The Indonesian word for "where" is: |
| Blanca: mana |
| Michael: You heard this word in the main dialogue. Do you remember how Juniarti asks "Where are you going?" |
| [Pause 4 seconds.] |
| Blanca as Juniarti Gunawan: Kamu mau ke mana? |
| Michael: Note the word |
| Blanca: mana |
| Michael: cannot stand on its own. It is always attached to other words, depending on the context. In the example from the dialogue, the question is about someone's destination; this is why we have: |
| Blanca: ke mana |
| Michael: The literal translation of this is "to where" or "towards where," If you want to inquire as to where someone is at the moment, you would say: |
| Blanca: di mana |
| Michael: And, if you want to ask someone where they come from, you can use: |
| Blanca: dari mana |
| Michael: Finally, let's see how you say "why" in Indonesian: |
| Blanca: kenapa |
| Michael: If we ask, "Why are you sad?" it sounds like this: |
| Blanca: Kenapa kamu sedih? |
| Michael: When you want to ask questions in a more formal way, such as when you are in a business meeting, you just have to place a special suffix at the end of the question word. The suffix is: |
| Blanca: kah |
| Michael: So, if you add it to the question word "who," it sounds like this: |
| Blanca: siapakah |
| Michael: Adding it to "what" sounds like this: |
| Blanca: apakah |
| Michael: With "when," it sounds like this: |
| Blanca: kapankah |
| Michael: And with "where," it sounds like this: |
| Blanca: di manakah |
| Michael: The exception to this rule is the word for "why," The formal version of "why" in Indonesian is: |
| Blanca: mengapa |
| Michael: Now, Let's hear the word for "how." Depending on the context, it translates in different ways. When you ask about the method or the process of something, the word to use is: |
| Blanca: bagaimana |
| Michael: One might, for instance, ask: |
| Blanca: Bagaimana cara ke Jakarta? |
| Michael: This means: "How to go to Jakarta?," If you want to ask other questions such as "how much?" and "how many?." another word is used. It sounds like this: |
| Blanca: berapa |
| Michael: Let's listen to some examples: |
| Blanca: berapa harga |
| Michael: This means, "how much." |
| Blanca: berapa banyak |
| Michael: This means, "how many." |
| Blanca: berapa lama |
| Michael: This means, "how long." |
| The last kind of question we will discuss is the tag question. In Indonesian, there is only one question tag word and that is: |
| Blanca: bukan |
| Michael: This translates to "not" and is often shortened to: |
| Blanca: kan |
| Michael: Let's hear the full word in the question, "You have seen the movie, haven't you?": |
| Blanca: Anda sudah menonton filmnya, bukan? |
| Michael: Take note that the question tag word doesn't have to come at the end of the sentence in Indonesian. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned to form questions in Indonesian. In order to ask questions that require confirmation, all you need to do is raise your intonation at the end of the sentence. To sound more polite, you could also just add the word: |
| Blanca: apakah |
| Michael: to the beginning of the sentence. You also learned the main question words and how to form question tags. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Blanca: Dadah! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide