Indonesian Sentence Structure

To tell the truth, Indonesian sentence structure is very flexible and easy understandable. Believe me, it's very much similar to English structure. Therefore, those who have mastered English, will be so much easy to master Indonesian fast. So, here to explain what Indonesian structure is, and why is Indonesian considered as the most flexible language of all language on earth.


SIMPLE INDONESIAN SENTENCE

S + P  + O + A

Subject + Predicate + Object + Adverb


For example :

1. Saya membeli sebuah baju di pasar
    ( I buy a shirt at the market )

2. Kamu suka makan nasi goreng di restoran
    ( You like eating nasi goreng at restoran )

3. Mereka pemberani
    ( They are brave persons )

When you see for the first time, it does really look the same like English structure. Above is the normal and common structure for Indonesian sentence.

However, In order to unite the differences between more than 40 different native languages spoken in Indonesia, Indonesia language has to be really easy for everyone to understand. Indonesia needs an language to make less miscommunication. So that's why Indonesia language was born ! Now, here are the interesting parts :

1. Indonesian usually uses "to be" but if you don't want to, it's also correct ^_^ ( only for all pronoun )

For example : both sentences below are correct

Saya adalah seorang murid or Saya seorang murid ( both are correct because it's used in a fact-related sentence and followed by a noun )
( I am a student )

Saya adalah pintar or saya pintar (* the second sentence is preferable and usually used, and the first one is kinda unusual because it's followed by an adjective~the rule )
( I am smart )

 Mereka takut or mereka adalah takut (*the first one is more common in daily usage because it's followed by an adjective not by a noun)
( They are afraid )

So, the subject and the object can be directly put together to make a one simple meaningful Indonesian sentence.

The rules are : 
- When we want to describe a subject with a noun, we can either use both "with to be " and "without to be" - When we want to describe a subject with an adjective, we can use both form but "without to be" is more appropriate to the context.

Exception of this rule is for the living / non living matter and animal, we add "itu" or "ini " to describe the subject.

For example :

Mobil itu bagus or mobil adalah bagus ( the first one is more meaningful to describe the subject )
( That car is great not Car is great??? )

Orang ini berani or orang adalah berani ( the first one does make sense than the second one )
( This man is brave not Man is brave ??? )

 
2. Subject or Object or even Predicate can be either at the beginning or at the end or in the middle of a sentence. ^-^, This is what i like from Indonesia language and could be my favorite part of it. Indonesian doesn't really pay attention so much to word position in a sentence.

For example : All sentences below are correct

Aku mau makan or Mau makan, aku ( *Usually we use "," a comma before the subject )
( I want to eat )

Kami pergi dari sini or Pergi kami dari sini
( we go from here )

Aku suka sama kamu or Suka aku sama kamu or Kamu, aku suka
( I like you or i love you *both has the same meaning but with a difference position of the subject )

Dia pingin baca sebuah buku or Pingin dia baca sebuah buku
( He/ She wants to read a book )

Aku makan kue itu or Kue itu aku makan or Makan, aku kue itu
( I eat that cake )

Aku mengoperasikan komputer ini or komputer ini aku operasikan ( * a slight change in the verb, omitting the me- )( If you want to use a complete mengoperasikan in the second sentence, add -nya, that will make it sense)
( I operate this computer )

So much flexible !!! it really does, i can promise you with you that.

The main idea in here is as long as you put your words in your sentence, no matter how confusing it is, Indonesia people can still understand and tolerate so much because they are used to live in a society with various cultures live in. Indonesian is really tolerable for this case.

Words position is not everything in Indonesian, the important is the information is directly sent to the person we're speaking with.

You should try it when you talk to some native ones especially in Indonesia.