100 Essential Indonesian Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Indonesian	Type
hello	halo	interjection
goodbye	selamat tinggal	interjection
yes	ya	interjection
no	tidak	interjection
please	tolong	interjection
thank you	terima kasih	interjection
sorry	maaf	interjection
and	dan	conjunction
but	tetapi	conjunction
or	atau	conjunction
because	karena	conjunction
here	di sini	adverb
there	di sana	adverb
always	selalu	adverb
never	tidak pernah	adverb
together	bersama	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Indonesian	Type
man	pria	noun
woman	wanita	noun
boy	anak laki-laki	noun
girl	anak perempuan	noun
friend	teman	noun
mother	ibu	noun
father	ayah	noun
brother	kakak laki-laki	noun
sister	saudara perempuan	noun
child	anak	noun
husband	suami	noun
wife	istri	noun
parent	orang tua	noun
grandmother	nenek	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Indonesian	Type
to be	adalah	verb
to have	memiliki	verb
to do	melakukan	verb
to go	pergi	verb
to come	datang	verb
to eat	makan	verb
to drink	minum	verb
to want	ingin	verb
to need	membutuhkan	verb
to know	tahu	verb
to speak	berbicara	verb
to read	baca	verb
to write	menulis	verb
to listen	mendengarkan	verb
to work	bekerja	verb
to buy	beli	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Indonesian	Type
good	baik	adjective
bad	jahat	adjective
new	baru	adjective
old	tua	adjective
young	muda	adjective
tall	tinggi	adjective
short	pendek	adjective
nice	menyenangkan	adjective
kind	baik hati	adjective
shy	pemalu	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Indonesian	Type
red	merah	adjective
blue	biru	adjective
green	hijau	adjective
yellow	kuning	adjective
black	hitam	adjective
white	putih	adjective
orange	oranye	adjective
purple	ungu	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Indonesian	Type
one	satu	number
two	dua	number
three	tiga	number
four	empat	number
five	lima	number
six	enam	number
seven	tujuh	number
eight	delapan	number
nine	sembilan	number
ten	sepuluh	number
zero	nol	number
twenty	dua puluh	number

Time

10 words

English	Indonesian	Type
today	hari ini	adverb
tomorrow	besok	adverb
yesterday	kemarin	adverb
morning	pagi	noun
afternoon	sore	noun
evening	petang	noun
night	malam	noun
day	hari	noun
week	minggu	noun
month	bulan	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Indonesian	Type
water	air	noun
coffee	kopi	noun
tea	teh	noun
milk	susu	noun
bread	roti	noun
cheese	keju	noun
fruit	buah	noun
apple	apel	noun
egg	telur	noun
rice	beras	noun

Home

4 words

English	Indonesian	Type
house	rumah	noun
door	pintu	noun
window	jendela	noun
bed	tempat tidur	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Indonesian words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Indonesian words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Indonesian

Indonesian vocabulary testFind your level How long does Indonesian take to learn?A realistic plan

Indonesian for beginners questions

What are the first Indonesian words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Indonesian that means words like halo (hello), terima kasih (thank you), air (water) and makan (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Indonesian written?

Indonesian uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. All of these words use plain a–z letters.

Is 100 words enough to speak Indonesian?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Indonesian words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.