Last updated on May 8, 2022
To talk about the number of times an event is repeated you use kali (times). You refer to one-off events, i.e. single occurrences of an event, with sekali or satu kali (once).
Sri bermain kartu tiga kali seminggu. Saya hanya bermain satu kali sebulan.
Sri plays cards three times a week. I only play once a month.
Biasanya Pak Mahmud berkunjung ke Australia dua kali setahun.
Mr Mahmud usually visits Australia twice a year.
Dia bersembahyang lima kali sehari.
She does does her prayers five times a day.
To ask “how many times?” or “how often?” the interrogative phrase is berapa kali.
Berapa kali setahun Pak Mahmud berkunjung ke Australia?
How many times a year does Mr Mahmud visit Australia?
Eh, Sri… kamu main kartu berapa kali seminggu?
Hey Sri, how many times a week do you play cards?
Sudah berapa kali Anda mengirim surat kepada PT Sumbawa Indah?
How many times have you sent a letter to Sumbawa Indah Ltd.?
Denny, udah berapa kali kamu ganti pacar, hah!?
Denny, how often have you switched girlfriends, eh!?
Se– in terms like sekali is a short form of satu. (Actually, to be pedantic, se- is probably derived from the archaic word esa which meant “one”.) Se- can be used in many other contexts where it means “per (one ____)” or “a” or “each”.
Gaji saya enam puluh ribu rupiah sehari.
My wages are sixty thousand rupiah per day
Dia bekerja lima hari seminggu.
She works five days a week.
Harganya tiga ribu rupiah sekilo.
It costs three thousand rupiah per kilo.
We have already seen that “one hundred” is seratus never *satu ratus. Similarly “ten” is sepuluh never *satu puluh, and “one thousand” is seribu never (or very rarely) *satu ribu.
But for “one million” it is just as common to hear satu juta as it is to hear sejuta.
Similarly, when you are counting people satu orang seems to be just as common as seorang, and when you want to say “once”, satu kali is just as common as sekali.
Untuk berapa orang? Untuk satu orang saja / Untuk seorang saja.
For how many people? For just one.
Berapa juta rupiah? Kira-kira sejuta. / Kira-kira satu juta.
How many million rupiah? Around one million.
Berapa kali setahun? Hanya satu kali. / Hanya sekali.
How many times a year? Just once.
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