Apa/a-pa/, Apo/a-po/ Ape/a-pe/, Ape/a-pax/

The word apae/, Ape/a-pax/ has maybe you have ever heard or even used everyday, that has meaning of what.

“Apa yang kamu lakukan di sini?” What are you doing here?

Meanwhile the word of Apo is not the short a Greek alphabet alpha phi mega J, still in a matter of what, apo has often use for making question for people in some area such as Palembang, Bengkulu, in Sumatera, Indonesia.

“Apo yang kau lakukan di sini?” What are you doing here?

For people in In Jakarta area (Betawi ethnic), and people in the towns such Pangkal Pinang, Sungailiat (southern Sumatera), they often use the word ape /a-ape/ that has still the same meaning as apa.

“Apa yang ka gawe di sini?” What are you doing here?

When we visit the Bangka Belitung province (Babel) and go to central Bangka. They will use the word ape/a-pax/, still as the same meaning as apa.

“Ape yang ka gawe di sini? What are you doing here?

We can see the two ape seems similar, but they are different in pronunciation. Ape/a-pe/ would have the strong /e/sound with our tongue has appeared after our mouth, while the sound /e/ of the last ape/a-pax/  will have our tongue inside our mouth

Written by,

Mirna Marini Damayanti

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Jakarta Indonesia

Word's order - The adjectives

Sentence's structure based on a logic that goes with the order of the words. It is one of the challenge in learning new languages because it dictates the meaning.

In the previous article we talk about structure which could be seen as series of part of speech which a simple sentence would be :

Noun(subject) predicate noun(object)

In qualifying the noun for instance where we add adjective to the noun, the order could significanly change the meaning. Observe:

Green light
And
Light green

Notice the adjective was stated before the noun.

In bahasa indonesia the order is reverse:

Green light
Lampu hijau

We state the adjective after the noun. So...

New book would be buku baru
Clean shirt would be kemeja bersih
Nice car would be mobil bagus.

Written by,

Paulius Setiawan

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Jakarta Indonesia

Sentence: Getting into the ingredients - Bowl 2: Predicate

In Bahasa Indonesia, predicate is either verb or adjective. Main (play), bermain (play), makan 
(eat), baca (read), membaca (read), ketik (type), mengetik (type), tertawa (laugh), senyum 
(smile), tersenyum (smile), etc are the examples of verbs. Cantik (pretty), indah (beautiful), 
senang (delighted), bahagia (happy), kuat (strong), etc are the example of adjectives.
To test a predicate, we can use negation “tidak” (or in English do/esn’t or to be/n’t). All verbs 
can be preceded by “tidak”. Example as follows.

● main (play) > tidak main (do/esn’t play)
● membaca (read) > tidak membaca (do/esn’t read)
● ketik (type) > tidak ketik (do/esn’t type)
● tertawa (laugh) > tidak tertawa (do/esn’t laugh)

Unlike verb, to test an adjective besides using “tidak”, we can use affix “se” + reduplication + “-
nya” (with meaning “as adjective as” or “how adjective something/one”). Example as follows.

● cantik (pretty) > tidak cantik (isn’t pretty) : secantik-cantiknya (as pretty as/ how pretty 
something)
● indah (beautiful) > tidak indah (isn’t beautiful) : seindah-indahnya (as beautiful as/ how 
beautiful something)
● senang (delighted) > tidak senang (isn’t delighted) : sesenang-senangnya (as delighted 
as/ how delighted something/one)
● kuat (strong) > tidak kuat (isn’t strong) : sekuat-kuatnya (as strong as/ how strong some 
thing/one)

Now, can you list some of the verbs and adjectives in Indonesian? :)

Writtern By, 

Maftuhah Ismail 

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Improving Foreign Vocabulary

As a foreign language student sometime it is hard to expand the vocabulary. You rarely have a sparing partner you can converse with, mindlessly reading dictionary is both boring and useless, readings like magazines or even online articles needs too many prerequisite and generate expenses. Here is a slick game i picked up that helped me a lot as i learn English as a foreign language. I supposed it works for any language universally.
 
It is one of those name the thing game that i think at one time in the past manage to found it's way to television program. the rules are easy...
1. Pick any object you find around you and as your self "what is this?"
2. Ask the same question for the same object again except you are not allowed to use words you use to answer it before.
3. Repeat until you fail to answer it.
 
By now you would have some words you would like to look up on dictionary which leave a more lasting impression because of the way you stumble upon them.
 
The cool things about this game hence why i love it so much are.... you can play this game alone or in groups with participant take turn in answering, you can play it anywhere even when you are driving and last you can play it without needing anything but your time.

enjoy,
selamat bermain

Written by,

Paulius Setiawan

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Jakarta Indonesia

Sentence: Getting into the ingredients - Bowl 1: Subject

In Bahasa Indonesia, subject is either noun or pronoun. Rumah (house), mobil (car), laut (sea), negara (country), pemerintah (government), kementerian (ministry), kebaikan (kindness), kebahagiaan (happiness), etc are the examples of noun. Saya (I), kamu (you), dia (s/he), kita (we), etc are the examples of pronoun.

Indonesian pronouns are practically easy to recognize. However, for nouns we need to test whether a word falls into this category. We use negation "bukan"(be not). All nouns can be preceded by "bukan"(be not).

In English we have "Is this a house?" and we say "No, it's not a house" for negation. In Indonesian we can say "bukan rumah" (not a house), bukan pemerintah (not the government), bukan kebahagiaan (not a happiness).

Now, can you list some of the nouns in Indonesian? :)

Writtern By, 

Maftuhah Ismail 

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Repetitions – to form an adverbial adjective

Besides adding a “dengan” before them, with adjectives there is another way to make an adverb out of them – repetitions. I walk slowly Saya berjalan pelan-pelan.

However, use this form carefully because unlike using the “dengan” method, which will immediately make no sense when used with certain adjectives like colours or measurements, this form will be accepted for ANY adjectives grammatically but will have a different semantics. Observe : Dengan biru makes no sense Biru-biru show the adjective’s dominance.

Dengan lebar makes no sense Lebar-lebar can either emphasize the adjective or show the adjective’s dominance.

Written by,

Paulius Setiawan

Contributor to Bahasa Budaya Organization

Lingua Internacional

Jakarta Indonesia

Cooking A Sentence: If A Sentence Is A Cake

When we want to make a cake, we need to prepare the ingredients. To recognize what made of English and Indonesia cake, take a look at these examples.

English cake: She grabs breakfast quickly.Indonesian cake: Dia mengambil sarapan dengan cepat.

Ingredients recognized:Bowl 1: "she" which corresponds to "dia" > we name the bowl Subject/ SBowl 2: "grabs" which corresponds to "mengambil" > we name the bowl Predicate/ PBowl 3: "breakfast" which corresponds to "sarapan" > we name the bowl Object/ OBowl 4: "quickly" which corresponds to "dengan cepat" > we name the bowl Compliment/ C

Each bowl holds a role in making the cake. Each bowl only contains one ingredient. We cansubstitute the ingredient in each bowl, but only with it's comparable substitution.In order to make the cake, we use mixer to put the ingredients together, but we must put them one by one in a sequence. We can't mix flavor before egg and butter. Bowl S should only be poured before bowl P. Bowl O should only be poured after bowl P. Bowl C can be poured at anytime.

Noticing the type of ingredients in each bowl and how to mix them to make a cake, now you can try to make your own cake. Happy sentence cooking. ;)

By Maftuhah IsmailContributor to Bahasa Budaya Organizationwww.bahasabudaya.org

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