Last updated on August 8, 2020
Nanti
Meaning: wait, later, next
Application: nanti, nanti-nanti, menanti, menanti-nanti, nantinya, penantian, menantikan, dinantikan
Nanti is also a temporal marker*.
| Saya sudah menanti-nanti kamu tidak datang juga. Penantian saya tidak ada gunanya. Proyek yang dinantikan. Semuanya ini nantinya akan menjadi panduan. Acara ini sudah lama kami nanti-nantikan. Yang paling penting buat saya adalah karir, urusan kawin nanti-nanti saja. |
I have waited for a long time and you didn’t come. My waiting is pointless/I wait for nothing. The awaited/prospective project. All of these will become the manual/guidance. We’ve been waiting for this event for a while. The most important thing for me is my carrier, marriage can wait. |
Ngapain*
Meaning: what are you doing?
Application: It is colloquial Indonesian based on ‘apa‘. In a statement it means ‘do anything’. The negated reduplicated form ‘nggak ngapa-ngapain‘ means ‘not doing anything’. There is a related transitive verb ‘apain‘ means ‘to do what to someone’. It can be negated and reduplicated ‘nggak apa-apain‘ meaning ‘not do anything to’. It also occurs in the passive ‘diapain‘ and its negated reduplicated form ‘nggak diapa-apain‘.
| Hari Sabtu kita mau ngapain? Kamu ngapain disini? Anak-anak nggak ngapa-ngapain. Gue apain elu? Dia nggak apa-apain gue. Dia diapain lagi? |
What are we going to do on Saturday? What are you doing here? The kids are not doing anything. What did I do to you? He didn’t do anything to me. What else did they do to him? |
Ngomong*
Meaning: talk, speak, say
Synonym: berbicara, berkata, bilang, bicara
Application: The base ‘omong‘ is always prefixed as ‘ngomong‘ in colloquial Indonesian. The equivalent of ‘ngomong’ in formal Indonesian is ‘berbicara’. ‘Ngomong‘ and ‘bilang‘ overlap in meaning, the difference is that ‘bilang’ is transitive while ‘ngomong‘ is intransitive. While ‘berbicara’ is formal, the more informal unprefixed is ‘bicara’. ‘Bicara’ is semi-formal as it occurs more in the meetings.
With the suffix -in ‘omongin‘ means ‘say, talk about, discuss’ with the passive form ‘diomonngin‘. With suffix -an ‘omongan‘ means ‘talk, words, what is said’. Another frequent form is ‘ngomong-nomong‘ which apart from indicating continued speaking can mean ‘by the way, talking about’.
| Dia ngomong apa ? Apa yang diomongin? Omongan Yuli selalu bener. Ngomong-ngomong, kamu apa kabar? |
What is he say? What are you talking about? What Yuli says is always true. By the way, how are you? |
Numpang
Meaning: hitchhike, drive along, ride in, join in, stay with, may
Synonym: nebeng, ikut, bonceng, membonceng
| Dia menumpang(membonceng) ketenaran bapaknya untuk jadi musisi. Maaf, numpang tanya, dimana toko buku? Pulang sekolah saya nebeng(ikut) mobil teman saya. Maaf, boleh numpang ke kamar mandi? Sebagai perusahaan baru, operasi sehari harinya masih menumpang fasilitas perusahaan lain. |
He used his father’s fame to gain acceptance as a musician. Excuse me, may I ask you, where is the bookshop? I join in my friend’s car after school. Excuse me, may I use your bathroom? As a new company, for its daily operation it is still riding on other company’s facilities. |
Nyali
Meaning: guts, courage, daring(shows in a crisis situation), boldness
Synonym: keberanian
| Dia itu pengecut, nggak pernah punya nyali untuk memperjuangkan haknya. Dia nggak punya nyali untuk menyatakan perasaannya pada pacarnya. |
He is a coward, he never had the gut to fight for his right. He doesn’t have the courage to express his feeling towards his girlfriend. |
Nyokap*
Meaning: mother
Synonym: ibu, mama, mami
Application: The word ‘nyokap’ is used to refer to one’s own or someone else’s mother. They are from Prokem, the argot common among Jakarta’s youth. The term for father is ‘bokap’. These words are highly informal and the most popular Prokem words. However they are not used in formal Indonesian. They can occur in combination as nyokap-bokap or bokap-nyokap for parents.
*) Reference: Colloquial Jakartan Indonesian by James Neil Sneddon, 2006
