Indonesian/Lessons/Numbers

Lessons
Introductory
0.01 Introduction
0.02 Learning Indonesian
0.03 The Alphabet
0.04 Pronunciation
0.05 Greetings
0.06 Formal Speech
0.07 How are you?
0.08 Numbers
0.09 Dates
0.10 Telling Time
Review • Test
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^ Indonesian ^ | << Lesson 4: Simple Sentences | Lesson 5: Numbers | Lesson 6: Particles >>

Angka Numerals (Numerals)

Contoh (Examples):

• 67 = enam puluh tujuh
• 111 = seratus sebelas
• 2743 = dua ribu tujuh ratus empat puluh tiga
• 8015 = delapan ribu lima belas
• 17432 = tujuh belas ribu empat ratus tiga puluh dua
• 408305 = empat ratus delapan ribu tiga ratus lima
• 3178856 = tiga juta seratus tujuh puluh delapan ribu delapan ratus lima puluh enam

Urutan (Series)

• 1^st = pertama
• 2^nd = kedua (or ke-2)
• 3^rd = ketiga (or ke-3)
• 4^th = keempat (or ke-4)
• 5^th = kelima (or ke-5)
• 10^th = kesepuluh (or ke-10)
• 11^th = kesebelas (or ke-11)
• 21^st = kedua puluh satu (or ke-21)

As you see, in order to form ordinal numbers in series, you only need to attach the prefix "ke-", then the number itself. Except for pertama ("1st"), you can spell out the number or just write the digits (like the ones in parentheses).

Berapa (How much)

To ask about quantities, we use the word "berapa". For example: "Berapa harga X" is to ask "How much does X cost".

Contoh (Examples):

• Q: Berapa harga buku ini? (= How much does this book cost?)
• A: Lima dolar. (= Five dollars)
• A (alternate): Harga buku ini lima dolar. (= This book costs five dollars)

The word "berapa" can directly replace the quantity in question. However, you must put a measure word right after it.

Contoh (Examples):

• Q: Kamu punya berapa buah pensil? (= How many pencils do you have?)
• A: Empat. (= Four)
• A (alternate): Saya punya empat buah pensil. (= I have four pieces of pencil.)

The most common measure word is "buah", which indicates quantity. Coincidentally, this word can also mean fruit (i.e. apples, oranges, etc). Other common measure words are "ekor" (for animals; ekor = tail) and "orang" (for people, orang = person).

Interestingly, the word biji (lit= fruit) is also sometime use to replace buah.

The examples below illustrate using measure words:

Contoh (Examples):

• Q: Berapa buah pensil kamu punya? (= How many pencils do you have?)
• A: Empat. (= Four)

• Q: Berapa buah apel kamu punya? (= How many apples do you have?)
• A: Tiga. (= Three)

Contoh Lain (Other Examples)

• Saya punya dua buah buku. (= I have two books)
• Saya punya dua buah buku merah. (= I have two red books)
• Saya tidak punya dua buah buku merah. (= I don't have two red books)

Angka Lebih Dari 999 (Numbers higher than 999)

In English, to make the number readable, we used to add a comma every three digits. For example, One million and two hundred and fifty-five thousands and three hundred and sixty-four can be written as 1,255,364. However in Indonesian, we insert a dot instead of comma. Hence the same number (Indonesia: Satu juta dua ratus lima puluh lima ribu tiga ratus enam puluh empat) should be written as 1.255.364 .

For curious reader, Indonesians use comma (",") to indicate decimals.

Online Tools

• Indonesian Numbers - Spells numbers in Indonesian and some other languages spoken in Indonesia.

^ Indonesian ^ | << Lesson 4: Simple Sentences | Lesson 5: Numbers | Lesson 6: Particles >>