Indonesian grammar is very easy to learn. The sentence pattern is the same as in English. The good news is that the language has no tenses, articles, or conjugation. One important structural difference between English and Indonesian is the position of nouns (things) and adjectives (describing words).
The Sentence pattern is simple
In Indonesian, the typical sentence structure follows the pattern: Subject + Verb + Object (SVO). This means that the subject (the one doing the action) comes first, followed by the verb (the action), and then the object (the one receiving the action). Take a look at the example below.
| Saya | makan | nasi |
| (I) | (eat) | (rice) |
| Subject | verb | object |
No tenses, TO BE (is, am, are, was, were) and articles.
Unlike English, Indonesian uses the same verb for the past action.
| English | Indonesian |
| I | Saya guru. |
| She eats rice every day | Dia makan nasi setiap hari |
| She ate rice yesterday | Dia makan nasi kemarin |
The Adjective follows the noun
In Bahasa Indonesia, the noun comes before an adjective, which is the opposite of English.
| Hot | coffee | => | Kopi | panas |
| adjective | noun | noun | adjective |
Verb prefixes are dropped in spoken language (and texting!)
Affixes often throw people off, but if you just communicate verbally, you don’t need to worry about this. Most Indonesian speakers drop their verb prefixes in everyday language. Take a look at the example below.
Berenang => renang (swim)
Memasak => masak (cook)
Indonesians often shorten a question by dropping the person
Apakah Anda sudah makan? (Have you already eaten?) => Sudah makan? (already eaten?)
Kapan Anda datang? (When did you come?) => Kapan datang?
That’s it! Those are some basic Indonesian grammar facts to help you get started. The language is designed to be simple—after all, many Indonesians also learn it on top of their local languages. Want to start your learning journey? Check out our online course on this page.
