Kuriniasih Yacinta - Basic Indonesian

Appendix
How do you say it in Indonesian?

This appendix contains a list of approximately 100 high-frequency English words with their Indonesian translations, covering a range of phrasal verbs and other idioms. It is, of course, not exhaustive. It aims to assist an English-speaking student who wants to know how to say or write a particular word in Indonesian. Experience in teaching has shown that it may be difficult to make a choice among the various renderings to be found in a dictionary, and there is often a tendency to be too literal when translating.

The method is to ask oneself: What does this word actually mean? When we reflect on this, several different meanings may present themselves, each with quite different translations into Indonesian. If you get it wrong, the results may be amusing or nonsensical! Of course, we encourage the learner always to double-check in a good dictionary, in order to survey all the possible forms. But in no circumstances should an electronic translation machine be used; as an experiment we looked up the English idiom on the spur of the moment you know what that means (without a second thought, spontaneously), and certainly not the literal translation di atas pacu saat .

A final hint is to remember the subtle differences that may exist between colloquial and formal expressions, because we need to take these into consideration when choosing the best equivalent in good Indonesian.

Special thanks are due to Katherine Davidsen, Johansjah Sugianto and Linda Hibbs for reading this list and offering valuable suggestions.

A/AN

In many cases this has no translation, e.g. (where indefiniteness is intended): afflicted by an eye disease diserang penyakit mata Shes a clever girl. Dia gadis pandai.

But where it means one:
Se- : Rp. 25,000 a packet Rp 25.000 sebungkus Seorang : a medical student seorang mahasiswa kedokteran
Sebuah : a large truck sebuah truk besar

a kind of sebangsa/semacam/sejenis

its a pity/shame sayang

its a pleasure senang sekali

its an honour merupakan kehormatan

its an insult kurang ajar!

ABLE

See can , could : bisa , dapat .

Also: mampu able to afford: He can buy a car. Dia mampu membeli mobil.
Sempat to get the chance, succeed in, get to, manage to, still be able to:
They were able to nab the thief at the crossroads. Pencuri sempat diciduk di perempatan jalan.

able [adj.] having ability cakap, trampil, berbakat

ABOUT

about (= approximately) kira-kira : about eleven oclock kira-kira jam sebelas (= almost) hampir : Its about time. Sudah hampir waktunya.

about to (= going to, on the point of) baru akan ; (= planning to) berniat untuk

(= concerning) tentang, mengenai, perihal

(= around, here and there) verb with ber-~-an :
to wander about berkeluyuran
to be spread about bersrakan
to cruise about berkeliaran
to fly about beterbangan
to run about berlari-larian

(= because of?) karena

What about? Bagaimana kalau.?

to set about (a job) menggarap, mulai mengerjakan

AFTER

after [adv., conj.] sesudah , setelah (before verbs) habis, selesai

after all (= as you might expect) nota bne ; (having considered) akhirnya ; anyhow bagaimana pun (juga), toh, toh ada gunanya

to be after (= look for, pursue) mencari, mengejar

to take after (= resemble) mirip

to follow after menyusul, mengikuti

After you! Silakan duluan!

ALL

all alone seorang diri

all together bersama-sama

All right! (= okay!) Baiklah!

all over the place (= everywhere) di mana-mana

all gone habis semuanya

all the time terus-menerus, selalu

all at once (= suddenly) tiba-tiba

all but (= almost) hampir, nyaris (to give a negative connotation)

all over (= finished) selesai

in all (= in total) semuanya

most of all paling

Is that all? Ini saja? Itu saja?

at all: Can I help you at all? Apakah (sekiranya) saya bisa bantu?

not at all tidaksama sekali

all the more makin lama makin

all night semalam suntuk

all-important terpenting

all-Indonesia se-Indonesia

ANY

Sometimes not translated:
Are there any letters? Apakah ada surat?
I havent got any. Saya tidak punya / Tidak ada.

In combinations:

anywhere (= in any place) di mana saja

anywhere (= to any place) ke mana saja

anything apa saja

anyone siapa saja

any one (out of several) mana saja

any time kapan saja

any time now (= very soon) tidak lama lagi / dalam waktu singkat

any more (= no longer) lagi : He doesnt work here any more. Dia sudah tidak bekerja di sini lagi.

Are you any better? Apakah sudah merasa lebih baik?

AS

as (= in the capacity of) sebagai : as a linguist sebagai ahli bahasa

(= like) seperti : as usual seperti biasa

(as as, in comparisons) se- : as high as a mountain setinggi gunung

as far as (= until, up to) sampai : as far as the main road sampai jalan besar

as far as (= to the extent that) se- : as far as I know setahu saya

as for (= concerning) kalau

as good as (= almost) praktis / bolh dikatakan

as long as (= while) selama

as long as (while theres still time) mumpung

as one (= all together) serentak / sekaligus

as soon as begitu

as (= when) ketika

as (= because) karena

as though seolah-olah / seakan-akan

as to (= regarding) tentang / mengenai

ASK

to ask a question tanya, bertanya : May I ask your name? Bolh tanya nama anda?

to ask about bertanya tentang / menanyakan

to ask oneself bertanya pada diri sendiri (cf. to wonder bertanya-tanya dalam hatinya )

to ask out (= invite) mengajak berkencan

to ask for minta (= request) mohon

a big ask (= challenge) tantangan besar

for the asking tinggal minta saja

I ask you! (exclamation of amazement, = how is it possible!) Bagaimana mungkin!

to be asking for trouble mengundang masalah (terlalu berani)

BAD

bad (in general; evil, wicked) buruk : bad weather cuaca buruk

(= ugly) jelk

(= impolite) tak pantas

(= rotten) busuk

(= unwell) kurang nak / kurang shat

(= naughty) nakal

(= criminal) jahat

bad luck nasib malang

not bad (= pretty good) lumayan / bolh juga

to be bad for (= disadvantage) merugikan

to be bad at kurang pandai

bad-tempered cepat marah

BEFORE

(time) sebelum

(in the past, formerly) dulu

before long (in the future, soon) tidak lama lagi, sebentar lagi

(in advance of) lebih dulu / duluan

(place, = in front of) di depan / di muka in the presence of di hadapan

to have before one (= face) menghadapi, berhadapan dengan

BIG

big (= large) besar

on a big scale besar-besaran

to think big berpikir secara besar-besaran / mengejar ambisi

(= grown up) dwasa

to talk big (= brag) membual

big (= elder) sister / big (= elder) brother kakak

big-hearted (magnanimous) besar jiwa / pemurah

too big kebesaran

a big shot pembesar

big-time criminal penjahat kelas kakap

big toe jempol kaki, ibu jari kaki

BOTH

both (of them) kedua-duanya / dua-duanya / keduanya

both (the group of two) kedua : both children kedua anak itu

both and baik maupun.

BY

by (introducing the agent of a passive verb) olh . For example: Email Joel diterima olh Sari. Joels email was received by Sari.

by (= at) di : by the side of the road di pinggir jalan

by (= via, by way of, through) lwat

by (= with) dengan : What do you mean by that expression? Apa yang dimaksudkan dengan ucapan itu?

by the hour jam-jaman

by the day harian

by the kilo kiloan

by law menurut hukum

by agreement menurut persetujuan