Learning Bahasa Indonesia for the first time can use the same approach of many babies learn the first word “mom”, “dad”, etc. First word babies learn to talk is a noun.
I like to use English language as comparison for learning Bahasa Indonesia.
In English, you will notice singular and plural nouns. Such nouns also available in Bahasa Indonesia yet the structure of the sentence not significantly change (the noun remain the same). Due to this fact, some people can say that in Bahasa Indonesia, there is no singular or plural nouns.
Examples of singular and plural in English and Bahasa Indonesia
| English | Bahasa Indonesia |
| Bottle – bottles | Botol |
| Pencil – pencils | Pensil |
| Sticker – stickers | Stiker |
Let use it in a sentence:
English: (singular) There is a bottle on the floor. (Plural) There are so many bottles on the floor
Bahasa Indonesia: (singular) Ada botol di lantai. (Plural) Ada banyak botol di lantai
When you try to decide a sentence is singular or plural in Bahasa Indonesia, there is no big change in the structure of the sentence. The only difference is the additional of informative word as follow:
Singular word in Bahasa Indonesia written as the word noun only. In the example above, botol (bottle), whenever you see or hear someone saying a word noun only, you can understand it as singular.
Plural word in Bahasa Indonesia can be written by adding informative word. It will decide that the noun is more than one. Most common use informative words are sedikit ( a few), and banyak ( many).
In Bahasa Indonesia, you don’t need to remember of the noun is count or non-count to decide the informative words. You can use sedikit and banyak for any noun in Bahasa Indonesia to express it as informative words.
Hint: In a complete sentence (a sentence that comprise in sequence subject+verb+noun), an informative word usually placed before the verb or before the noun.
As an alternative, Indonesian may say informative word by saying the amount of the noun. Let’s use the word botol (bottle) again:
Ada botol di lantai = there is a bottle on the floor. Eventhough sometime the sentence “ada botol di lantai” can mean there are more than one bottle on the floor, it is safe bet for you to guess that the sentence is singular.
Saying the amount of the noun to decide the sentence is plural:
- Ada tiga botol di lantai = there are three bottles on the floor
- Ada dua botol di lantai = there are two bottles on the floor
- Ada banyak botol di lantai = there are many bottles on the floor
Tips:
When you hear or see informative word like sedikit or banyak in Bahasa Indonesia, it is safe bet for you to guess that the sentence is plural. Examples:
- Tolong beli sedikit pensil= Please buy a few pencils
- Tolong beri banyak air untuk dia = Please give a lot of water for him/her
- Saya perlu sedikit uang = I need some money
Learning Bahasa Indonesia, Short Quiz – Singular or Plural Nouns
Now take this quiz, I bet you already have a good knowledge to answer it. Decide below sentence is Singular or Plural
- Saya melihat paku di jalan (Singular/Plural)
- Ada banyak jarum di karpet (Singular/Plural)
- Saya mau sedikit gula untuk kopi ini (Singular/plural)
- Kamu harus banyak makan (Singular/Plural)
- Saya membeli 5 buku (Singular/Plural)
The answer can be seen on the next page
