Indonesian is an agglutinative (i.e. the language's affixes usually only represent one morpheme) and somewhat isolating (i.e. has a close-to-one morpheme-to-word ratio) language that exists as a variety of Malay, which came to be in 1928.
Nominal Phrases
Cardinals are placed before nouns. Noun labels are usually placed after the main noun. Adjectives, possessors, and determiners are also placed after nouns.
satu buku cerita biru-ku itu
one book story blue-I that
"that one blue storybook of mine"
A relative clause can also be added after a noun.
guru sejarah yang terampil tersebut
teacher history which skilled said
"the history teacher who is skilled"
Coordinative conjunctions can be placed between two nominal phrases two create one nominal phrase.
gelang putih dan kipas bulat
bracelet white and fan round
"a white bracelet and a round fan"
The word bahwa functions as a complementizer, which is a word that turns a clause into a noun phrase.
Anda tadi ber-kata bahwa laptop Anda ber-masalah.
you earlier make-word COMP laptop you has-problem
"You earlier stated that your laptop was experiencing some trouble."
Verbal Phrases and Serial Verb Construction
Verbal aspect or negation markers are placed before the verb and are considered part of the predicate.
aku sudah makan
I already[PERFECT] eat
"I have (already) eaten"
dia tidak bisa bernyanyi
3SG not able STAT-sing
"he cannot sing"
A quirk Indonesian has with its verbs is serialization. Serializing (a.k.a. stacking) verbs can show (1) purpose, (2) cause-effect, (3) simultaneity, (4) chronological order, or (5) complementation. [It can also show addition, but I don't fully understand this usage.]
(1) Mereka pergi ber-lomba di Mandalika.
they go STAT-race at Mandalika
"They went to race in Mandalika."
(2) Pak Lumbantungkup ter-haru me-lihat anak-nya lulus SMA.
Mister Lumbantungkup PV-touch AV-see child-he graduate high.school
"Mr. Lumbantungkup was touched to see his child graduate high school."
(3) Pandu duduk ber-doa orang tua-nya baik~baik saja.
Pandu sit STAT-pray person old-he good~good only
"Pandu sat praying that his parents were okay."
(4) Angga pergi memutuskan untuk mem-bolos kuliah.
Angga went AV.decide to AV-skip college
"Angga went and decided to skip college."
(5) Riko datang ber-sama-ku.
Riko come STAT-same-I
"Riko came with me."
Clause Structure
Clauses in Indonesian typically have a subject-predicate structure with a (1) subject-verb-object word order for transitive verbs, (2) subject-verb-object-complement word order for ditransitive verbs, (3) subject-verb word order for intransitive verbs, and (4) verb word order for impersonal verbs.
(1) Anam suka ikan.
Anam like fish
"Anam likes fish."
(2) Juna sedang mengajarkan kami matematika.
Juna CONT AV.teach we mathematics
"Juna is teaching us mathematics."
(3) Aku pergi.
I leave
"I left."
(4) Restoran ini tutup ketika sedang hujan.
restaurant this close while CONT rain
"This restaurant closes while it's raining."
Adjuncts (time, location, direction, etc.) can typically be placed anywhere in a clause except between a verb and an object or between a direct and indirect object.
Kemarin saya membelikan Kendra buku.
Saya kemarin membelikan Kendra buku.
* Saya membelikan kemarin Kendra buku.
* Saya membelikan Kendra kemarin buku.
Saya membelikan Kendra buku kemarin.
Indonesian can also have an inverted word order, i.e. predicate-subject. This is commonly used with the verb ada, which means to exist, or with imperative sentences.
Ada banyak orang di sini.
exist many people at here
"There are many people here."
Enyah-lah kamu!
leave-IMPERATIVE you
"(You) get lost!"
Non-Verbal Predicates
I've seen many people think predicates are verbs, but that's not necessarily the case in Indonesian. A predicate is just something that explains a subject. Unlike English, Indonesian allows a subject to immediately be followed by a (1) noun, (2) adjective, or (3) adverb to form a full clause/sentence.
(1) Dia guru.
he teacher
"He is a teacher."
(2) Kendra tinggi.
Kendra tall
"Kendra is tall."
(3) Ibu-ku ke Jepang.
mom-I to Japan
"My mom is going to Japan."
Passive Voice vs. Patient Focus
Indonesian has some affixes for the active voice, such as meN--kan and ber--an, but I won't explain it here because it's somewhat irrelevant. However, as for passive forms, Indonesian has both a passive voice and a patient focus. I think this is worth explaining. From what I've read, the latter doesn't have a direct parallel in English. I'll talk about the former first.
A passive voice is distinguishable by the fact that it's intransitive. For example, a sentence like "Tysha drove Thoriq on a motorcycle." can be passivised into "Thoriq was driven on a motorcycle." Something else worth noting here is the subject, Tysha, was demoted, i.e. removed from the sentence. Although it can be reintroduced into the sentence as a complement (i.e. by Tysha), it's grammatically optional. Indonesian has several verb affixes for its passive voice, that being di-, di--i, di--kan, ter-, ter--i, ter--kan, and ke--an. The first three suffixes are used for intentional actions, while the rest are used for involuntary actions.
Kamar Ricko di-perbesar oleh Arga.
room Ricko PV-make.bigger by Arga
"Riko's room was made bigger by Arga."
Aku dikirimi uang oleh ayah-ku.
I PV.send money by dad-I
"I was sent money by my dad." / "My dad sent me money."
Barang tersebut diperlihatkan kepada khalayak.
object said PV.show to public
"The object was shown to the public."
Fazan ter-jatuh dari tangga.
Fazan PV-fall from ladder
"Fazan fell from a ladder."
Akhirnya semua keinginan-nya terpenuhi juga.
finally all wish-3SG PV.fulfil too
"Finally all his wishes are fulfilled now."
Botol minumnya terlupakan di rumah.
bottle drink-3SG PV.forget at home
"Her water bottle was forgotten at home."
Lelaki itu tidur kelaparan.
man that sleep hungry
"That man went to sleep hungry."
Now I'll talk about the latter. Indonesian also has a patient focus. I believe this one is separate from the passive voice as it doesn't promote or demote the nouns in the sentence, rather the patient focus changes the focus of the sentence to the patient — we'll go more in-depth on sentence topics in my next post. You'll notice that the translated sentences, more often than not, sound more natural in the active voice. The verb affixes are the same as the passive voice, but here, the affixed verbs are transitive, unlike English passive verbs.
Orang itu di-lihat anak saya.
person that PV-see child I
"My child saw that person." / "That person was seen by my child."
Mereka dikuntiti seorang penjahat.
they PV.follow a criminal
"A criminal followed them." / "They were followed by a criminal."
Curah-an hati-ku didengarkan-nya.
pour.out-NOMINALIZER heart-I PV.listen-3SG
"They listened to my venting." / "My venting was listened to by them."
Anak itu ter-sandung batu.
child that PV-trip rock
"That child tripped on a rock." / "A rock tripped the child."
Khotbah-nya tidak terpahami para jemaah
sermon-3SG NEG PV.understand PLU congregation
karena disampaikan dalam bahasa Arab.
because PV.deliver in language Arab
"The congregation could not understand his sermon because it was delivered in Arabic." / "His sermon was not understood by the congregation because it was delivered in Arabic."
[I couldn't find any examples for ter--kan]
Fazan kejatuhan tangga.
Fazan PV.fall ladder
"A ladder fell on Fazan." / "Fazan was fell on by a ladder."
Indonesian also has a patient-agent-verb word order which, as a person who has always studied in Indonesian-curriculum-based schools my entire life, I don't hear get mentioned very often. It is a modified version of the patient focus my UTBK teacher calls the "person passive", where the passive prefix di- is replaced with the agent of the verb.
Bola Pasha ia lempar.
ball Pasha 3SG throw
"He throws Pasha's ball."
Materi-nya kurang kami pahami.
material-the less we understand
"We don't really understand the material."
Ponsel Dika ku-sembunyikan.
cellphone Dika I-hide
"I hid Dika's cellphone."
Combining Clauses
Clauses can be combined with conjunctions to form compound/complex sentences. A compound sentence can have its two clauses be joined by a conjunction like dan or atau. A complex sentence meanwhile has a main clause and a subordinate clause; the latter can be joined after or before the main clause with a conjunction like walaupun or jika. There's actually a third type of sentence which I don't know the name of. It's the one where the two clauses can only be joined in a certain order, with conjunctions like kemudian, maka, or tetapi. I don't know man, it's 2 AM.
References
Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia VI Daring [Internet]. Available from: https://kbbi.kemdikbud.go.id.
Wikipedia. List of glossing abbreviations [Internet]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_glossing_abbreviations.
Wikipedia. Malay grammar [Internet]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_grammar.
Wikipedia. Symmetrical voice [Internet]. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetrical_voice.
Wiktionary. Wikikamus bahasa Indonesia [Internet]. Available from: https://id.wiktionary.org.
Kamsinah K, Darwis M, Fatimah A, Imran MA. Argument structure in Indonesian passive voice: universal grammar analyses. Adv Soc Sci Educ Hum Res [Internet]. 2021 [cited 2025 Feb 22];622:346–50. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357739154_Argument_Structure_in_Indonesian_Passive_Voice_Universal_Grammar_Analyses.
Oktaviana D. Verba serial dalam bahasa Indonesia [Internet]. Yogyakarta: FKIP UST; 2015 [cited 2025 Feb 27]. Available from: https://jurnal.ustjogja.ac.id/index.php/caraka/article/download/1915/1081.
Astika MU. Kajian mengenai verba serial dalam teks terjemahan Alquran [Internet]. Surakarta: FKIP UMS; 2018 [cited 2025 Feb 27]. Available from: https://eprints.ums.ac.id/64957/1/NASKAH%20PUBLIKASI.pdf.
Author's Notes
I hope you enjoyed this surface-level explanation of Indonesian syntax. I don't understand how to properly gloss yet — I tried my best, but there's too much to study and I don't know where to study from — so I made up some of the glosses lmfaooo. Y'all probably already understand Indonesian anyway tho, hopefully. Also let me know if there are any mistakes which I can fix because this is also quite new for me.