Learn how to ask about local destinations using kalau
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jason:Hi everyone. Jason here! This is Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 11 - May I Ask You an Indonesian Question? |
| Fira:Hi everyone, my name is Fira. Jason, what are we learning in this lesson? |
| Jason:We’re going to learn how to use the preposition ke in Indonesian. |
| Fira:Where does the conversation take place? |
| Jason:It’s at a local market in Central Java, and the conversation is between Edi and a market vendor. Edi is going to ask a question to the vendor.. They will be speaking in formal Indonesian. |
| Fira:Okay, let’s listen to the conversation. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Jason:Is it okay for someone to ask a street vendor about directions in Indonesia? |
| Fira:Yes, sure. People in the marketplace can be very helpful if you have any questions about a particular area, especially if you’re curious about their local area. |
| Jason:Oh, that’s nice. And in the conversation, the vendor talked about two particular sites – Borobudur and Prambanan. Those are two of the most impressive monuments in Indonesia, right? |
| Fira:Yes, that’s right. These two sites have both been designated as Unesco Heritage Sites for Indonesia, so they are certainly impressive. Basically, Borobudur is a Buddhist monument, while Prambanan is a Hindu monument and temple complex. Different religious traditions – that’s the main reason. |
| Jason:Fira, have you been there? |
| Fira:Yes, and I liked the aerial view of Borobudur. It is supposed to resemble a mandala, a fundamental image in Buddhism in the shape of a wheel. |
| Jason:Ah that’s right. I heard that it looks like a wheel because the strong theme in Buddhism is cyclicity – life is a cycle with death, existence is a cycle. How about Prambanan? Why should people visit? |
| Fira:Well, Prambanan also has impressive stone carvings, but rather than depicting Buddha’s life, it depicts one of the great Hindu epics, the Ramayana. |
| Jason:Also, I want to add that Yogya and the nearby areas suffered a massive earthquake in 2006, and major parts of Prambanan sustained heavy damage, so many of the structures are being recovered and rebuilt. Still, it’s a very picturesque part of Central Java. |
| Fira:Alright, let’s go over some vocabulary, shall we? |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Jason:Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Fira:The first word is “kalau” which means ‘if’. |
| Jason:Also, it can be used like “when” in English if you want to express something that hasn’t happened yet, or referring to the future. |
| Fira:Does English have anything like this? |
| Jason:Yeah, it does – but we have to use the rather clumsy expression “when and if”, as in “When and if Sam comes, please let him know we’re here.” We can’t express it in one word like in Indonesian. |
| Fira:I see. In Indonesian, it’s all ‘kalau’. That’s handy! |
| Jason:OK, so how do we say ‘If I go to Borobudur…”? in Indonesian? |
| Fira:kalau pergi ke Borobudur… You can put the word ‘Kalau’ in the beginning. |
| Jason:Good – now how do we say “When I go to Borobudur…”? |
| Fira:It’s the same thing. “kalau pergi ke Borobudur” but remember that you can use it when you want to express that an event hasn’t happened yet. |
| Jason:That’s right. You can use kalau whenever you can say “when and if” in English. |
| Fira:Okay, now on to the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Jason:In this lesson, we’re going to learn how to use the preposition ke. At the most basic level, the preposition ke means ‘to’ or ‘towards’ a certain direction. |
| Fira:It signals a direction away from you, the speaker. |
| Jason:How can we use it? |
| Fira:Let’s say that I want to go to a coffee shop. In order for me to express that, I would have to say “Saya mau pergi ke warung. “ Saya means ‘I’ and mau means ‘want to’, pergi means ‘to go’, and ke means ‘to some place’, and warung means coffee shop. |
| Jason:All together it means ‘I want to go to a coffee shop’. Fira, could you say it slowly one more time? |
| Fira:Sa-ya mau per-gi ke wa-rung. |
| Jason:And here, we can omit Saya right? |
| Fira:And also the verb ‘Pergi’. we can take it out. |
| Jason:That’s right. |
| Fira:Remember that ke means motion towards something, so in many cases, you can omit the verb pergi, which is ‘to go’, and just have saya mau ke warung – you’d be basically saying the same thing since in this case; you are emphasizing that you are on your way to a destination. In that way, we can simply say ‘ke warung’. |
| Jason:Good. Also, there is another meaning of the word Ke. |
| Fira:That’s right. It was means ‘toward’. |
| Jason:For example? |
| Fira:ke luar. Luar means ‘outside’ so ke luar means ‘towards the outside’ |
| Jason:You can use this expression to indicate movement towards the outside of any location. So, how do we say ‘to the outside of Prambanan’? |
| Fira:Ke luar Prambanan. Ke lu-ar Pram-ba-nan. |
| Jason:OK, how do we say ‘to the outside of school’? |
| Fira:That’s easy. Ke luar sekolah. Ke lu-ar se-ko-lah. |
| Jason:And this phrase keluar also means ‘to go out’ or ‘ to exit’. It works as a verb. |
| Fira:Yes, exactly. |
| Jason:So, if you want to go out, you simply say... |
| Fira:Saya mau keluar. Sa-ya mau ke-lu-ar. |
| Jason:“I want to go out.” By extension, it also means “an exit door”. In fact, you’ll see this phrase on exit doors on planes, offices, restaurants – basically any structure – and it basically means ‘exit’. |
Outro |
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| Jason:Ok listeners, that’s it for this lesson. Thanks for listening! |
| Fira:See you next time! |
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