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Vowel - Bahasakita.com Press "Enter" to skip to content

Vowel

Last updated on December 8, 2021

There are 5(five) letters that represent vowels in Indonesian, but there are 7(seven) distinct sounds associated with them. The difficulty for a beginner is knowing which sound applies to vowels that have more than one sound associated with them.

a i u
/a/ is always pronounced like the English /a/ in ‘far’; ‘car’; ‘jar’ /i/ is always pronounced like the English /ee/ in ‘bee’; ‘teeth’ /u/ is always pronounced like the English /oo/ in ‘tooth’; ‘book’
Example: Example: Example:
saya – I ini – this buku – book
apa – what sini – here guru – teacher
kaya – rich gila – crazy suhu – temperature
makan – eat kami – we malu – shy
tanam – plant indah – beautiful pintu – door

Vowel /e/ has two different sounds.

Letter(Grapheme) and sound(phoneme) are 2(two) different things. The following examples show different ways to pronounce the letter /e/ for different words in  Indonesian language.

  1. Saya lebih senang mobil sédan ketimbang pickup.
  2. Mendengar berita yang menyedihkan itu ia menangis tersedu-sedan.
  3. Nénék datang nanti sore.
e é
A weak one like the English /e/ in ‘children’; ‘her’; ‘per’ It is pronounced like the English /e/ in ‘pen’; ‘bet’
Example: Example:
emas – gold énak – delicious
beras – rice kakék – grandfather
dekat – near soré – afternoon
pergi – go béla – defend
sekarang – now sétan – ghost

Vowel /o/ has two different sounds also.

o o
The first one is like the English /o/ in ‘cold’; ‘bold’ The second one is pronounced like the English /o/ in ‘hot’; ‘shot’
Example: Example:
toko – shop tonton – watch
orang – person sombong – arogan
obat – medicine roti – bread
kado – gift tolong – help
perangko – stamp bohong – lie

A combination of /a/ and /i/ becomes a two-vowel sound and the diphthongs

Unfortunately there is no way of knowing whether the combination of this two vowels becomes a diphthong or just a two-vowel sound. You will know it by practice and memorizing.

Two- Vowel Sound Diphthongs
/a/ and /i/ is pronounced individually Diphtong /ai/ is pronounced like the English ‘my’; ‘tie’
Example Example
air – water pantai – beach
main – play bagaimana – how
lain – other selesai – finish
baik – well damai – peace
kain – cloth capai – reach

A combination of /a/ and /u/ becomes a two-vowel sound and the diphthongs

Two- Vowel Sound Diphthongs
/a/ and /u/ is pronounced individually Diphtong /au/ is pronounced like the English ‘cow’; ‘how’
Example Example
haus – thirsty harimau – tiger
daun – leaf engkau – you
mau – want kerbau – buffalo
laut – ocean pulau – island
bau – smell danau – lake

A combination of /i/ and /a/; /i/ and /u/; /i/ and /o/; /u/ and /a/; /u/ and /i/ becomes a two-vowel sound.

/i/ and /a/ /i/ and /u/ /i/ and /o/ /u/ and /a/ /u/ and /i/
dia – he/she tiup – blow biola – violin suami – husband bui – jail
biar – let cium – kiss kios – kiosk kuat – strong kuil – temple
liar – wild siul – whistle pionir – pioneer buah – fruit puing – debris
tiang – pole liur – saliva tua – old buih – foam
siang – noon hiu – shark dua – two
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