Common Mistakes Indonesian Learners Make
Hey guys! Today I have some common mistakes you can make while learning Indonesian and how to avoid them!
Often I hear a lot of new learners using the wrong word for not. In Indonesian there are two, the most common by far is tidak. Tidak is used when you are negating a verb.
Ex. Saya tidak suka daging sapi. - I don't like beef.
Tidak is usually best translated as not, don't or something similar. But if you want to use it with something other than a verb, you could be about to make a common mistake a lot of learners make. Introduce bukan, the other word that means "not." Here's a sentence that uses bukan properly.
Ex. Dia makan sate ayam bukan kambing. - He eats chicken satay not goat satay.
Bukan only appears in front of nouns and yang. Here's an example with yang.
Ex. Dia sering pergi ke tempat sibuk bukan yang berisik. - He often goes to busy places not loud ones.
To avoid this rule, before you say tidak if it is in front of a verb or a adjective, if so go ahead, but if it is in front of a noun or an adjective turned noun, use bukan.
Using the Wrong Question Words
Indonesian words for asking questions are as follows.
The question words don't match up one to one though with the English translation I gave you, for instance, when asking a question to identify someone, you should use siapa even if in English we would use "what."
Ex. Siapa namanya? - What's your name?
Ex. Siapa yang makan semua manteganya? - Who ate all the butter?
Bagaimana means how but if you want to ask for instructions on how to do something you should say apa caranya.
Ex. Apa caranya masak nasi padang? - How to cook Nasi Padang?
Bagaimana is usually used more like this:
Ex. Bagaimana dia bisa dapat nilai itu? - How could he receive that score?
Mixing Formal and Informal Pronouns
I also often hear new learners mix words like aku and anda, or saya and kamu. If you use anda in a sentence, you can't use aku you need to use saya and if you use kamu in a sentence, you have to use aku.
Missing Prepositions or Using the Wrong One
Sometimes new learns will be missing a requires preposition, and quite a few Indonesian verbs require a preposition.
Ex. Aku sayang sama kamu. - I love you
Do not say aku sayang kamu. It isn't very natural for an Indonesian speaker to hear.
Other verbs that often require a preposition include the following:
Cinta (dengan) - love (not a commonly used word though)
Tertarik (sama/pada) - Interested in
Percaya (kepada/pada) - Believe in
Peduli (pada/sama) - Cares about
