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Hello and welcome to Indonesian Survival Phrases, brought to you by IndonesianPod101.com This course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Indonesia. You'll be surprised at how far a little Indonesian will go. Now before we jump in, remember to stop by IndonesianPod101.com. And there you’ll find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.
Indonesian Survival Phrases Lesson 3. This Please in Indonesian
Today’s phrase will help you take matters into your own hand. And today’s lesson we’ll take a look at “please” as an asking for something. In Indonesian there’s actually no one word that means “please” in this sense surprisingly enough. Speakers of Indonesian must paraphrase in this instance. To ask for something we must know the verb first which is minta. (slow) minta. Let’s break it down by syllable min-ta. Now let’s hear it once again, minta. This literally means “to request” or “ask for something”. However this is not enough. You must actually mention “requesting something” to make this complete. So let’s try and build this up a bit shall we? Let’s start with the expression “This please.”, which in Indonesian is minta ini. (slow) minta ini. minta ini. This literally means “I ask for this”. In English, this comes before “please”. In Indonesian the word order is the opposite. In Indonesian, the word for “this” ini follows minta. Let’s take a look at the word for “this”. “This” in Indonesian is ini. (slow) ini. ini. Now let’s hear the entire phrase once again. Minta ini. A more formal way of saying “this, please” is Boleh minta ini? (Slow) Boleh minta ini?. Let’s break it down by syllable Bo-leh min-ta i-ni? Boleh minta ini?. This is simply the phrase Minta ini meaning “This please” preceded by a new word boleh which means “may” or “be permitted to”. Let’s break this word down by syllable Bo-leh. Boleh. Literally the entire phrase means “May I ask for this, please?”. Let’s hear it one more time. Boleh minta ini?
Looking at the word for “this” warns a look for a word for “that”, which is itu. (slow) itu. itu. The phrase “that please”, is Minta itu. (slow) Minta itu. Let’s break it down by syllable Min-ta i-tu. Now let’s hear it once again, Minta itu. Of course there’s a more formal way of saying “That, please” which is Boleh minta itu? (slow) Boleh minta itu?. Let’s break it down by syllable Bo-leh min-ta i-tu? Boleh minta itu?
We’ve already learned all the words in this phrase. Boleh means “may” or “be permitted to”. Minta means “to request” or “to ask for something” and itu means “that”. Literally the entire phrase means “May I ask for that, please?”. Let’s hear it one more time, Boleh minta itu?
In Indonesian, intonations is pretty important, especially when you’re trying to express a question rather than a statement or vice versa. Most questions ended in rising intonations for example, Boleh minta ini? is a question meaning “May I ask for this, please?”. However if you’re just say this with the high-low intonation at the end, so that it sounds like Boleh minta ini. That’s ini. rather than ini? It would be a statement meaning “You may ask for this.” So be sure to pay attention to your intonations. Especially in cases where an expression could be construed as either a question or statement. Okay, to close out today’s lesson, we’d like for you to practice what you’ve just learned. I’ll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you’re responsible for saying the Indonesian phrase out loud or in Indonesian, dengan keras. You’ll have a few seconds before I give you the answer so selamat sukses, that means "good luck!" in Indonesian.
All right so here we go!
“This, please.” Informal version. (Minta ini. Min-ta i-ni. Minta ini.)
“This please.” Formal version. (Boleh minta ini? Bo-leh min-ta i-ni? Boleh minta ini?)
“That please.” Informal version. (Minta itu. Min-ta i-tu. Minta itu.)
“That please.” Formal version. (Boleh minta itu? Bo-leh min-ta i-tu? Boleh minta itu?)
All right, that's going to do it for today!
Remember to stop by IndonesianPod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. When you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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