In short. The words are written by the rules of Indonesian and checked against the KBBI dictionary. Politeness: Pak to a man, Bu to a woman; terima kasih thank you, permisi excuse me, maaf sorry, tolong please help, selamat pagi good morning, tidak no. Money is counted in thousands: ribu a thousand, juta a million, "dua puluh ribu" is 20,000; berapa how much, mahal expensive, murah cheap. The road: kiri left, kanan right, lurus straight, berhenti stop. Food: pedas spicy, tidak pedas not spicy, tanpa gula without sugar. Below are phrases for the villa, the doctor and the police.
How to read this page. The words are written by the rules of Indonesian, and the spelling is checked against the KBBI dictionary. We give no pronunciation guide, because there is no official one. If the other person did not understand, repeat more slowly and show on your fingers or on your phone.
Address and politeness. An adult man is called bapak, a woman ibu, and in speech they are usually shortened to Pak and Bu. Mas (to a man) and mbak (to a woman) came from Javanese and serve as a polite "you". For example: "Terima kasih, Pak", "Permisi, Bu", "Maaf, Mbak".
- Thank you: terima kasih.
- Excuse me, let me pass: permisi. In KBBI the word means a request for permission.
- I beg your pardon: maaf.
- Please, help: tolong. The set phrase "minta tolong" in the dictionary means "to ask for help".
- Good morning: selamat pagi.
- No, not: tidak. Without something: tanpa.
Numbers and money. Rupiah are named in thousands and millions. According to the dictionary, ribu (thousand) means three zeros, juta (million) six zeros. A price of "dua puluh ribu" is 20,000 rupiah, "lima juta" is 5,000,000. Banknote denominations and exchanging money are covered in a separate guide.
- 1: satu. 2: dua. 3: tiga. 4: empat. 5: lima.
- 6: enam. 7: tujuh. 8: delapan. 9: sembilan. 10: sepuluh.
- 20: dua puluh. 50: lima puluh. 100: seratus. 1000: seribu.
- How much: berapa. According to the dictionary, this is a question word about quantity, size, price, time.
- Expensive: mahal. Cheap: murah.
Taxi and the road. One word is enough for the driver. How to call a car through the apps is in the guide to Grab and Gojek.
- Left: kiri. Right: kanan.
- Straight: lurus.
- Stop: berhenti. Politely: "Tolong, berhenti".
Food. A few words for a cafe and the market.
- Spicy: pedas. Not spicy: tidak pedas. According to the dictionary, pedas is a taste like chilli pepper.
- Without sugar: tanpa gula. The word gula in the dictionary means sugar.
- Water: air. According to the dictionary, this is a clear liquid without colour, taste or smell.
Villa and rental. Three words that are enough to explain a breakdown to the owner.
- Electricity: listrik.
- Water: air.
- Broken, spoiled: rusak. According to the dictionary, this is said of a thing that is no longer whole and in order.
Doctor and pharmacy. Pharmacy: apotek. The dictionary calls it a place where medicines are prepared and sold on prescription, with the non-standard form apotik. Doctor: dokter. Medicine: obat. It hurts, ill: sakit. Temperature, fever: demam. Addresses of hospitals with round-the-clock reception are collected in the hospitals guide.
Emergencies. The main word: tolong. Ready phrases for a call to 112 ("Tolong, ada kecelakaan", "Saya butuh ambulans", "Alamat saya") are already in our guide to emergency numbers, so we will not repeat them here.
A few words in Balinese. Balinese is spoken in Bali, and its words differ from Indonesian. The most common ones were collected by Detik Bali. KBBI had no entries for suksma and bli: these are words of the Balinese language.
- Om swastiastu: a greeting, recorded in KBBI as a Hindu wish of goodness. Detik writes swastyastu.
- Matur suksma or simply suksma: thank you in Balinese.
- Bli to a man and mbok to a woman: like "mas" and "mbak". For example, "Bli Made".
- Aji kuda niki?: "how much does this cost?".
- Ten dados tawah?: "can the price be lowered?".
What this means for you. Learn ten words: terima kasih, tolong, permisi, berapa, mahal, kiri, kanan, berhenti, pedas, sakit. The rest you can show on your fingers or in a translator on your phone. Address people older than you as Pak or Bu, and in answer to help say "terima kasih", in Balinese "suksma". If the villa owner or driver does not understand English, say a word from the list above and show the problem on your phone screen.