One of the most frequent and useful words in Indonesian is ada. Ada doesn’t have a single equivalent in English, so it is not easy to describe succinctly in English how it is used. Like many (perhaps most) features of Indonesian vocabulary, grammar and usage, you have to “learn by doing” rather than through explanation. Nevertheless, when you first start to study a new feature of Indonesian, it is usually useful to use (and often impossible to avoid using) English translations.
Ada usually (but not always) means something like the English “there is”, “there are”, “there was”, “there were”, “there had been” etc. Ada indicates that something or someone is at a certain location in space or in time. For example:
- Ada pabrik mobil di Jalan Siliwangi or Di Jalan Siliwangi ada pabrik mobil.
- There is an automobile plant in Siliwangi Street.
- Ada pesta nanti malam. or Nanti malam ada pesta.
- There is a party tonight.
To say “there isn’t”, “there aren’t” etc. you simply place tidak in front of ada. Thus:
- Tidak ada pabrik mobil di Jalan Siliwangi. or Di Jalan Siliwangi tidak ada pabrik mobil.
- There’s no automobile plant in Siliwangi Street.
- Tidak ada pesta nanti malam. or Nanti malam tidak ada pesta.
- There is no party tonight.