Meeting People
Indonesian are quite inquisitive. When we meet people they often want to know more about you by asking a lot of personal questions. If you don’t want to answer them please let them know politely. Those questions are part of daily greetings and it is not considered rude.
Examples;
| Meaning | Description | |
| Nama Ibu siapa? Siapa namanya? |
What’s your name? | ‘Nya’ is a 3rd person singular possessive pronoun. But in a polite situation ‘nya’ is used instead of ‘kamu’ |
| Nama saya John | My name is John/I am John | |
| Bapak dari mana asalnya? | Where are you from, sir? | |
| Saya dari Inggris | I am from England | |
| Saya baru datang dari Amerika | I just came from America | |
| Saya tidak mengerti Bahasa Indonesia | I don’t understand(speak) Indonesian language |
|
| Bapak/Ibu sudah menikah? | Are you married? | |
| Berapa putranya? | How many children do you have? | ‘Putra’ is usually used to represent children not son. |
| Yang paling besar umur berapa? | How old is your eldest? | |
| Tinggalnya di mana? | Where do you live? | |
| Kerja di mana? | Where do you work? What do you do? |
|
| Sudah berapa lama di Indonesia? | How long have you been in Indonesia? | |
| Berapa lama akan tinggal di Indonesia? | How long will you be staying in Indonesia? |
Read also “Asking For What You Want In Indonesian” written by Dr. Timothy Hassall, Lecturer in Indonesian, Australian National University, Canberra.