In colloquial Indonesian or daily conversation there are several words with letter ‘u’ on the second syllable that is replaced and pronounced to ‘o’.
| Formal | Colloquial | Meaning | Formal | Colloquial | Meaning |
| belum | belom | not yet | ketuk | ketok | to knock |
| kaus kaki | kaos kaki | socks | kendur | kendor | weak, loose, flabby |
| keruk | kerok | scrape off | mabuk | mabok | drunk |
| saus | saos | sauce, gravy | separuh | separo | half |
| supir | sopir | driver | stasiun | stasion | station, terminal |
| surga | sorga | heaven | taruh | taro | put down |
| telur | telor | egg | tegur | tegor | to greet, to warn, to admonish |
Changing ‘i’ to ‘é’
In daily conversation or colloquial Indonesian there are several words with letter ‘i’ on the second or third syllable that is replaced by ‘é’ and it is pronounced like ‘e’ as in ‘egg’.
| Formal | Informal | Meaning |
| kemarin | kemarén | yesterday |
| naik | naék | climb, go up, ascend |
| baik | baék | kind, nice |
Changing ‘a’ to ‘e’
There are lots of words with letter ‘a’ on the second syllable that are replaced by ‘e’ and pronounced like the ‘e’ in the word ‘her’ in colloquial Indonesian. However, it is not possible to predict which words with final ‘a’ in formal Indonesian will become ‘e’ in colloquial Indonesian.
| Formal | Colloquial | Meaning | Formal | Colloquial | Meaning |
| antar | anter | escort, accompany, see off | asam | asem | sour, acid |
| bekal | bekel | stock, supplies, provisions | benar | bener | right, true |
| bosan | bosen | bored | dalam | dalem | inside/deep |
| dapat | dapet | can, get, able | datang | dateng | come |
| dengar | denger | hear, listen | dekat | deket | near by, close by |
| diam | diem | hush, silent, quiet | gemas | gemes | put out – can be of passion |
| hangat | anget | warm | ingat | inget | remember |
| injak | injek | to step on | isap | isep | to suck |
| kencang | kenceng | fast, stiff, tight, tense | kental | kentel | thick liquid, dense |
| kesal | kesel | peevish, irk | lapar | laper | hungry |
| lemas | lemes | limp, weak, flexible | lipat | lipet | to fold |
| malas | males | lazy | macam | macem | kind, sort, type |
| mantap | mantep | firm, steady | pantas | pantes | acceptable, reasonable, proper, ethical |
| pedas | pedes | hot, spicy | pegal | pegel | stiff, muscle pain |
| peras | peres | squeeze | pijat | pijet | massage |
| pinjam | pinjem | to borrow | pintar | pinter | clever |
| putar | puter | turn, to wind | rapat | rapet | tight, close, dense |
| sambal | sambel | chilli paste | sambar | samber | swoop down and seize, strike, attack, steal, rob |
| santan | santen | milk squeezed from coconut | sebal | sebel | resentful |
| selamat | selamet | safe, congratulation, greetings | sempat | sempet | opportunity, have sufficient time |
| simpan | simpen | to keep safe, to put away, to safe | tajam | tajem | sharp |
| tangkap | tangkep | catch | tekan | teken | to give pressure, to sign |
| teman | temen | friend, mate, pal | tenggelam | tenggelem | drowned |
| tikar | tiker | floormat | tukar | tuker | change/exchange |
For more information or articles about colloquial, colloquial Indonesian, colloquial Jakartan Indonesian by Dr. Timothy Hassall from ANU, Canberra, Australia, click here.
