Temporal Marker

Lagi and Sedang

‘Lagi’ (commonly) and ‘sedang’ indicate action in progress in colloquial Indonesian.

Formal Form	Colloquial Form	Meaning
Saya sedang bosan mengajar. Kebetulan dia sedang makan di situ. Waktu itu saya sedang tidak ada. Saya mendatangi dosen itu lagi.	Gua lagi bosen ngajar. Kebetulan dia lagi makan di situ. Waktu itu gua lagi nggak ada. Gue datengin lagi itu dosen.	I’m bored with teaching. He happened to be eating there. At the time I wasn’t there. I approached that lecturer again.

Udah and Sudah

‘Udah’ is the colloquial form of ‘sudah’ in formal Indonesian. These words indicate that an action has occurred or that a state has been achieved.

Sekarang gua udah punya duit.
Now I have money.

Bakal, Bakalan

These words indicate a future event.

Formal Form	Colloquial Form	Meaning
Saya pikir saya tidak akan lulus. Kelihatannya Megawati akan menggantikan Gus Dur.	Gua pikir gua nggak bakal lulus. Keliatannya Megawati bakalan gantiin Gus Dur.	I thought I’m not going to pass. It seems that Megawati will replace Gus Dur.

Reference: Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian by James Neil Sneddon, 2006

Useful Articles

Colloquial Urban Indonesian

Most textbooks available for students of Indonesian tend to completely ignore this kind of Indonesian that almost every visitor to Indonesia will hear when trying to verbally communicate with Indonesians. - By Dr. Uli Kozok

Arabic Language in Contemporary Indonesian

The fact that some 3,000 - if not many more - words of Arabic origin can be found in Indonesian language dictionaries does not imply that these words are being used on a daily basis. - By Dr. Nikolaos van Dam