Learn some common noun prefixes in Indonesian
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
Intro |
|---|
| Michael: What are some noun prefixes in Indonesian? |
| Blanca: And why are they useful to know? |
| Michael: At IndonesianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following situation: Sasha studies for her exam together with her classmate, Mutiara. She sees an unknown word, and asks, "What does "penulis" mean?" |
| Sasha Lee: Penulis artinya apa? |
| Dialogue |
| Sasha Lee: Penulis artinya apa? |
| Mutiara Mulyadi: Artinya "writer," |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Sasha Lee: Penulis artinya apa? |
| Michael: "What does "penulis" mean?" |
| Mutiara Mulyadi: Artinya "writer," |
| Michael: "It means 'writer'." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: In this lesson, we will be looking at some noun prefixes in Indonesian and why they are useful to know. There are seven main prefixes in Indonesian and only two of them are used to form nouns. These are: |
| Blanca: ke- |
| Michael: and |
| Blanca: pe- |
| There are a variety of ways in which these prefixes can be used to form nouns. Let's start with: |
| Blanca: ke- |
| Michael: This prefix is used to form nouns and ordinal words. For instance, the Indonesian word for "old" is: |
| Blanca: tua |
| Michael: If one adds the prefix to this, we come up with a word meaning "leader" or |
| Blanca: ketua |
| Michael: We can also add this prefix to the Indonesian word for "want." which is: |
| Blanca: hendak |
| Michael: In doing so, we form the noun for "desire." which is: |
| Blanca: kehendak |
| Michael: This prefix is also often combined with the suffix - |
| Blanca: an |
| Michael: When it is used in this way, it converts a verb into a noun. Consider the Indonesian word for the verb "to go, " which is: |
| Blanca: berangkatan |
| Michael: Now, let's add the prefix and suffix and form the noun for "departures": |
| Blanca: keberangkatan |
| Michael: This is a very common way to convert a verb into a noun. |
| Next, we will focus on the prefix: |
| Blanca: pe |
| Michael: This prefix is used to form nouns that refer to persons, tools, and professions. It has many inflection forms, but don't worry about memorizing them. What is important is that you understand the rules. |
| The first rule we will look at is the simplest, because the prefix doesn't change. This happens when the first letter of the root word is: "l." "m." "n." "ny." "r." or "w," Consider, as an example, the Indonesian word for "forget": |
| Blanca: lupa |
| Michael: And then listen to the word meaning "a forgetful person": |
| Blanca: pelupa |
| Michael: The next word means "cook": |
| Blanca: masak |
| Michael: And this means "cooker": |
| Blanca: pemasak |
| Michael: As you can see, in each case, the prefix was simply added to the root word and no other changes were made to either. However, when the root word begins with a vowel, a "g" or an "h." one uses the prefix: |
| Blanca: peng |
| Michael: For example, Listen to the word for "business": |
| Blanca: usaha |
| Michael: And then the word for "businessman": |
| Blanca: pengusaha |
| Michael: Or the word for "rule": |
| Blanca: garis |
| Michael: And then the word for "ruler": |
| Blanca: penggaris |
| Michael: Words that begin with "b" and "f" take the prefix: |
| Blanca: pem |
| Michael: For example, listen to how the word for "burn": |
| Blanca: bakar |
| Michael: becomes the word for "burner": |
| Blanca: pembakar |
| Michael: When words begin with "c." "d." or "j." the prefix is: |
| Blanca: pen |
| Michael: Consider how the word for "create": |
| Blanca: cipta |
| Michael: becomes the word for "creator": |
| Blanca: pencipta |
| Michael: When words begin with a "p." one must drop the "p" when adding the prefix, which is: |
| Blanca: pem |
| Michael: For instance, listen to the word for "install": |
| Blanca: pasang |
| Michael: And then listen to the word for "installer": |
| Blanca: pemasang |
| Michael: You might also be wondering why the ‘p' sound of the verb dropped away. This is because this prefix takes many inflections, depending on the first letter of the root word. The next prefix is: |
| Blanca: pen |
| Michael: Take the word for "pointed": |
| Blanca: tunjuk |
| Michael: Add the prefix and it becomes |
| Blanca: penunjuk |
| Michael: which means "pointer," This case is similar to the example we heard in the dialogue. Do you remember what word Sasha was asking about? |
| (4 second pause) |
| Blanca: penulis |
| Michael: as you already know, this means "writer," and the root word is |
| Blanca: tulis |
| Michael: which means "write." In this case, the prefix is used to form a profession name. |
| The last inflection we will explore is when a root word begins with "s," In this case, one drops the first letter "s" and adds this prefix to the root: |
| Blanca: peny |
| Michael: Listen to how Indonesian people say "keep": |
| Blanca: simpan |
| Michael: And then to how they say "keeper": |
| Blanca: penyimpan |
| Michael: As you can hear, the "s" at the beginning of the root word was dropped. |
| Remember not to worry about memorizing for now. What's important is that you understand the rules. Once you understand these, you'll get used to the system. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you learned about using prefixes in Indonesian to make nouns. We discussed two prefixes. The first prefix is: |
| Blanca: ke |
| Michael: It is used to form nouns and ordinal words. The second prefix is: |
| Blanca: pe |
| Michael: It is used to convert other words into nouns referring to persons, tools, and professions. There are also several inflection forms of this prefix. It changes, depending on the first letter of the root word that the prefix modifies. |
| It's important to know about these prefixes so that you are able to guess the meaning of words you don't know! |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Blanca: Dadah. |
| Michael: See you soon! |
Comments
Hide