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.
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| 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 |
