‘H’ in the beginning of the word
In daily conversation some words are nasalised by not pronouncing or eliminating a letter such as words with letter ‘h’, ‘s’ or ‘m’.
| Word | After Elimination | Meaning | Word | After Elimination | Meaning |
| habis | abis | finish | hangat | anget | warm |
| hati | ati | heart, feeling | hancur | ancur | crushed, shattered |
| hafal | afal | recite | hampir | ampir | almost |
| halus | alus | soft, smooth | handuk | anduk | towel |
| hidup | idup | alive, life | hilang | ilang | lost, dissapear |
| hisap | isap/isep | to suck | hitung | itung | count, calculate |
| hitam | item | black | hutang | utang | loan, debt, owe |
| hujan | ujan | rain | hijau* | ijo | green |
*) In this case, the word ‘hijau’ also change its diphthong ‘au’ into ‘o’. See Diphthong chapter for more information.
‘H’ in the middle of the word
| Word | After Elimination | Meaning | Word | After Elimination | Meaning |
| bohong | bo’ong | to lie, a lie | jahil | jail | to bug, to tease, naughty |
| jahit | jait | to sew | jodoh | jodo | soul mate, partner |
| lihat | liat | look | pahit | pait | bitter |
| sahut | saut | answer, reply | tahu | tau | know, aware |
| tahi | tai | excrement, feces | tahun | taun | year |
‘M’ in the beginning of the word
| Word | After Elimination | Meaning |
| memang | emang | indeed |
‘S’ in the beginning of the word
| Word | After Elimination | Meaning |
| sudah | udah | done, finish |
| sama | ama | with |
| saja | aja | only, just |
| sampai | ampe* | until, up to, to (that) extent |
*) In this case, the word ‘sampai’ also change its diphthong ‘ai’ into ‘é’. See Diphthong chapter for more information.
For more information or articles about colloquial, colloquial Indonesian, colloquial Jakartan Indonesian by Dr. Timothy Hassall from ANU, Canberra, Australia, click here.
