Slang Particles in Indonesian Language

Indonesian slang is the informal version of Indonesian. Despite its direct origins, Indonesian slang often differs quite significantly in both vocabulary and grammatical structure from the most standard form of Indonesia's national language.

Its native name, bahasa gaul (the 'social language'), was a term coined in the late 1990s where bahasa means 'language' and gaul means 'social', 'cool' or 'trendy'. Similarly, the term bahasa prokém (a more out-dated name for Indonesian slang) created in the early 1980s means 'the language of gangsters'. Prokém is a slang form of the word préman and was derived from the Dutch word vrijman(English: freeman; lit. gangster).

Indonesian slang is predominantly used in everyday conversation, social milieus, among popular media and, to a certain extent, in teen publications or pop culture magazines. For those living in more urbanized regions of Indonesia, Indonesian slang language often functions as the primary language medium for communication in daily life. While it would be unusual to communicate orally with people on a casual basis with very formal Indonesian, the use of proper or 'good and correct' Indonesian ("bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar") is abundant in the media, government bodies, schools, universities, workplaces, amongst some members of the Indonesian upper-class or nobility and also in many other more formal situations.

Indonesian slang is an ever-evolving language phenomenon. This is, in part, due to its vocabulary that is often so different from that of standard Indonesian and Malaysian and also because so many new words (both original and foreign) are quite easily incorporated into its increasingly wide vocabulary list. However, as with any language, the constant changing of the times means that some words become rarely used or are rendered obsolete as they are considered to be outdated or no longer follow modern day trends.

  Indonesian slang language is mostly spoken in urban regions of the Indonesian archipelago. Variations of slang language can be found from city to city, mainly characterised by derivatives of the different local ethnic languages. For example, in Bandung, West Java, the local slang language contains vocabulary from the Sundanese language while the slang found in Jakarta tends to be heavily influenced by English or the old Batavian dialect (i.e. the language of the original inhabitants of Jakarta or Batavia as it was known during the Dutch colonial period).Indonesian slang generally uses the same pronunciation as standard Indonesian, although there are many influences from regional dialects on certain aspects such as accent and grammatical structure. Loan words adopted from foreign languages (especially European) such as English or Dutch are often transliterated according to the modern Indonesian orthography. For example, 'please' is often written as plis. Another closely related phenomenon to arise in recent years is the formation of complex nouns or phrases created using a combination of English and Indonesian (slang) in the one sentence. A prime example of this is the phrase "so what gitu loh!", meaning "who cares?!" or quite simply "so what!" with added emphasis from the phrase "gitu loh". "Gitu" is an abbreviated form of the Indonesian word "begitu" meaning "like that/ such as" while "loh" (also spelt lho) is simply a particle of expression commonly used in slang or conversational Indonesian to show surprise or instigate a warning. In these cases of combined, interlingual phrases, the original spelling (and quite often the pronunciation) of the foreign word(s) are retained. Hence, the English component of the Indonesian slang phrase "so what gitu loh!" remains relatively unchanged as far as spelling and pronunciation are concerned.

And also there are many 'particles' that often be spoken while speaking Indonesian. A foreigner that has learnt Indonesian and comes to Indonesia will of course be confused with so many 'words' that he/she doesn't understand. Even when an Indonesian himself, if he/she never have thought about the particles, the meaning is also not understood. For example, while eating meatball soup, a friend comes from behind and asks, "Lagi makan apa sih? ("What are you eating sih?"). This "sih" has no specific meaning, it only expresses feeling. This is the advantage of using Indonesian than English, because there are so many words indicating feeling, as it is with Japanese.

So, Let's see some Slang particles in Indonesian language below:

deh

• How about ...
  
  
  Coba dulu deh = How about trying it first?
  Lanjutin besok lagi deh = How about continuing it tommorow?
• I think ... / I decide ... 
  
  
  Mau yang mana? ~ Yang biru deh = Which one do you want? ~ I think I'll choose the blue one.
  Aku pergi deh = I think I'm going now / Better if I go.

dong

• indeed / of course / You should have known that ...
  
  
  Kamu dapet kue gratis juga? Dapet dong = Did you get the free cake? Of course I got it.
  Suka yang mana? (choosing a girl) ~ Yang itu dong = Which one do you like? ~ Of course him/her (I think you think the same too)
• soften a prohibition or command
  
  
  Jangan keras-keras dong (lagunya) = Don't set it so loud please (the music)
  Eh, kertasnya masukin semua dong = Hey, please insert all the paper!

eh

• Hey (requesting attention)
  
  
  Eh, sini sebentar = Hey, come here for a minute!
• Correcting incorrectly spoken words / "I mean" 
  
  
  Tadi kan aku kasih kamu dua ratus, eh dua ribu? = Didn't I give you two hundred... I mean two thousand?
• By the way (changing topic)
  
  
  Eh, inget ga tempat ini? = By the way, do you remember this place?

kan

• Isn't it (question tag to assert)
  
  
  Dia yang namanya Adi kan? = He is the one called Adi, right?
  Bagus kan? = Good, isn't it?
• Didn't you remember that ...
  
  
  Hah, dia mau datang? ~ Kan mu yang bilang, masa lupa? = Heh, he is coming? ~ Wasn't it you who said it to me, how can you forget?
• Because
  
  
  Kenapa ga masukin kulkas aja? ~ Mana cukup, kan kulkasnya kecil = Why don't you put it in the fridge? ~ It's not enough, because the fridge is small.

ko / kok

• Why (asking) / I wonder why (just expresses wonder)
  
  
  Ko kamu telat? = Why are you late?
  Ko bisa dia dipukul papanya, aneh = I wonder why he is attacked by his father, it's strange.
• Actually ... (denying assumption)
  
  
  Makan di sana enak ga? Aku ga pernah ke sana ko = Is it nice to eat there? Actually I haven't been there (I don't know)
  Tiap hari aku tidur 8 jam, lama yah ~ Aku juga ko = I sleep 8 hours every day, it's long isn't it? ~ Actually me too (I think that's not too long)

loh / lho / lo

• expressing surprise after hearing something
  
  
  Loh, katanya ga mau ikut? ~ Pikir-pikir pengen juga = What? Didn't you say that you didn't want to join us? ~ After thinking, I became more interested.
  Aku bolos aja deh ~ Loh, kenapa? = I think I will skip (the lecture) (for now) ~ What?! Why is it?
• You know? / I'll let you know that ...
  
  
  Ikut dong, Nina aja ikut loh = Please join us, even Nina joined us, you know?
  Jangan main api, nanti kebakar loh = Don't play with fire, you may be burned, you know?
• asserting / making sure
  
  
  Datang loh ke ultah Wendy! = Don't forget to come to Wendy's birthday party.
  Ingat loh pesan saya! = Make sure you remember my advice.

nih

• comes from "ini" meaning "this", indicating something related to here / current time
  
  
  Cape nih = I'm tired (now)
  Besok aja bikin kalimatnya, lagi sibuk nih = How if we make the sentences tomorrow, since I'm busy (now)
• Are you really ... ?
  
  
  Udah mau pergi nih? = Are you really going now?
• emphasizes the subject
  
  
  Jannes nih yang masak = The one who cooks is Jannes, you know?

sih

• I wonder ... (sometimes need answer, sometimes not) 
  
  
  Tadi Pak Tina ngomong apa sih? = I wonder what Pak Tina said just now.
  Berapa sih harganya? = I wonder how much the price is.
• expressing annoyance
  
  
  Sebetulnya kamu lagi apa sih? = What are you EXACTLY doing?
  Kenapa sih selalu telat? = Why are you always late?
• Because
  
  
  Kamu sih datangnya lama, jadi semua telat = Because you came up late, everybody become late.
  Aku sedih, kamu jahat sih = I'm sad, because you are evil.
• selecting something different than the others
  
  
  Karyawan di sana bodo-bodo yah? ~ Adi sih pinter, ... = All staffs there are stupid, aren't they? ~ (All are stupid, except) Adi (which is) smart.
• But (sometimes the sentence stops there) 
  
  
  Semua soal bisa? ~ Bisa sih, cuma ada 1 yang ga = Did you successfully do all the questions? Yes I did, but there is one that I didn't.
  Bisa main gitar? Bisa sih... = Can you play guitar? I can, but...

tuh

• See that! (I don't want to do anything about it from now) 
  
  
  Makan tuh kuenya = Eat the cake (I don't want to eat anymore)
  Kamu tuh kerjanya tidur melulu = All you do is sleeping (I'm annoyed)

ya / yah

• Isn't it (question tag, wondering)
  
  
  Tadi itu Linda ya? = The one (you met) just now was Linda, wasn't it?
  Rapatnya mulai jam 9 ya? = The meeting starts at 9, isn't it?
• either .. or .. (if coupled with "kalau tidak" / "kalo ga")
  
  
  Aku pasti bawa sesuatu. Kalo ga sabun ya sampo = I will bring something. Either soap or shampoo.
  Kalo ga dimakan singa, ya digigit ular = You will be either eaten by a lion or bitten by a snake.
• then (used with "kalau (tidak)" / "kalo (ga)") 
  
  
  Kalo ga bisa tidur ya baca buku telepon = If you cannot sleep, (then) read the telephone directory.
  Kalo bisa bawa catatan, kalo ga ya gapapa (tidak apa-apa) = If you can, bring a notepad, but if cannot it's okay.
  Kalo tetep mau antri ya silakan saja = If you still want to queue, it's okay with me.
• expressing dissatisfaction (in front of sentence) 
  
  
  Yah, Timnas Indonesia kalah lagi = Sadly, Indonesia National Team is again lost.
  Yah, kamu sih = It's because of you, you know? (softly)