Indonesian Texting Shortcuts

Since my goal is to be able to chat in Indonesian with friends, these are very common:

• dari = dr
• uda/sdh = sudah
• yg = yang
• ga/gk/gak = tidak/nggak
• utk = untuk
• bkn = bukan

Tokopedia can be said the green one due to their logo so it’s ijo (hijau), which the “H” is dropped and the “au” is simplified to “o,” resulting in Ijo.

For example:

• habis -> abis
• hilang -> ilang
• hujan -> ujan

Exploring English words ending in “-tion/-sion” becomes “-si” in Indonesian

-tion

• Communication → Komunikasi
• Activation → Aktivasi
• Information → Informasi
• Condition -> Kondisi
• Migration -> Migrasi
• Solution -> Solusi

-sion

• Discussion -> Diskusi
• Television -> Televisi
• Version -> Versi

Fun fact:

Many Indonesian vocabulary ending “-si” (e.g.:administra-si) also are known from the Dutch vocabulary influence “-tie” (e.g.:administra-tie).
List of Dutch loanwords in Indonesian – Wikipedia

It’s a great example of how languages evolve and borrow from each other! 🌍🗣️

me- prefix for verbs in Indonesian

People can still understand you even if you don’t know this.

Why I’m learning this now

I started Indonesian with conversations and didn’t want to care too much about rules and grammar. Up until now, I’ve randomly add me- when I feel like it 🤣 truth is, people will still understand.

I feel like I’ve been stuck in the same level for some time, so trying to pick up these rules bit by bit.

How is it used

Used for active verbs, indicating an action performed by a subject.

Prefix: root word starts with
(red means the letter is dropped)

• me + m: b, f, p
• me + n: d, j, c, t
• me + ng: vowels, g, h, k
• me + ny: s
• me: everything else

Examples

1. B: beli (buy) – membeli
2. F: fokus (focus) – memfokuskan (make notes on the -kan affix in the future)
3. P: pakai (use) – memakai (note: ‘p’ dropped)
4. D: dengar (hear) – mendengar
5. J: jual (sell) – menjual
6. C: cuci (wash) – mencuci
7. T: tulis (write) – menulis (note: ’t’ dropped)
8. A: ambil (take) – mengambil
9. G: ganti (change) – mengganti
10. H: hafal (memorize) – menghafal (note: more academic word than mengingat)
11. K: kirim (send) – mengirim (note: ‘k’ dropped)
12. S: salin (copy) – menyalin (note: ’s’ dropped)
13. L: lihat (see) – melihat
14. M: minum (drink) – meminum
15. N: nanti (wait) – menanti
16. R: rata (flatten) – merata
17. W: warna (color) – mewarna
18. Y: yakin (assure) – meyakinkan

What’s next

My TODO list:

• -kan affix
• pe- prefix
• ter- prefix
• ber- prefix
• -i affix