Indonesian Words to Know Before Arriving in Indonesia: Greetings and Farewells

Note: This is not a word-for-word transcript.

Hello! This is “Indonesia di Sekitarmu” from BasaBasa Learning Centre. We will assist you in learning Indonesian today. 

In this very first episode, we are talking about greetings and farewells in Indonesian language. Do you know that every language has its own unique language culture? For example, as an English speaker, when we meet a new friend, we would like to greet them by saying ‘hi!’ or ‘hello!’ while shaking hands with theirs for a couple of seconds. Alternatively, in a more formal situation, we would like to go ‘Good morning!’ or ‘Good Afternoon’ as an expression of warm greetings. 

When the conversation is over, we tend to finish the conversation by saying, ‘Goodbye’ or ‘Have a nice day!’ to the person we just had a talk to. This is an important step before you can have easier and more natural conversation with local Indonesians. Do you want to know more about it? Without further ado, let’s find out!

We will start this discussion by the expression of greetings. An interesting fact, similar to the English, Indonesia has 4 different greetings that are used throughout the day. 

However, what distinguishes Indonesian language to English is the time table. Let start from the first word we have to learn today:

1. Selamat pagi or Good Morning
   We generally use this phrase from 6.00 a.m, when the sky’s still dark, to 10.00 a.m. The term ‘Selamat pagi’ is rather used in formal communication. Alternatively, we can use just ‘Pagi!’ in an informal situation. To give an example, we can use it in a sentence like this: “Selamat pagi, semuanya!’ or ‘Good morning, everyone!’

2. Selamat siang or Good Afternoon
   We generally use this phrase starting from 10.00 a.m. to 03.00 p.m. Quite different compared to the English, isn’t it? Similar to the previous example, you can say ‘Selamat siang’ in formal conversation or, you can just say ‘Siang’ for informal communication. To illustrate more specifically, listen to this sentence. ‘Guru bahasa Indonesia kami menyapa semua murid dengan bilang ‘Selamat siang’ . It means, “Our Indonesian teacher greets us by saying “Good afternoon”.

3. Selamat sore or Good Evening
   Let’s move on to the next phrase, that is: ‘Selamat sore’ or Good Evening. We normally use this phrase starting from 03.00 p.m. to 06.00 p.m, when the sun is going to set and the sky starts to get darker. It actually works the same as the previous two greeting phrases. You can use it in both formal and informal conversation. In a formal situation, you can use the whole phrase of ‘Selamat sore’, and you can just use ‘Sore’ in a more informal situation. Let’s look at the example of using this phrase in a sentence! “Sekarang jam 4 sore”, meaning “It is 4 in the evening”

4. Selamat malam or Good Evening/ Night
   Interestingly, we use ‘Good night’ quite differently. ‘Good night’ in English typically refers to an expression of farewell. However, in Indonesian language, we can use both as greetings and farewell. We generally say ‘Selamat malam’ at 06.00 p.m to 00.00 p.m. ‘Selamat malam’ sounds a bit more formal, and you can just say ‘Malam’ instead to sound more informal. Now, let’s have a look at an example of how to use ‘Selamat Malam’. “Konser Maliq and D’essentials mulai jam 8 malam. Vokalisnya bilang ‘Selamat malam, semuanya!’. Meaning, “The Maliq and D’essentials concert starts at 8 in the evening and the lead vocal greets ‘Good Evening, everyone!”

5. Sampai jumpa or Goodbye!
   Now, the last phrase we learn through this episode is Sampai Jumpa, or goodbye. As you might have guessed from its English translation, Sampai Jumpa is an expression used in farewell. After meeting new or old friends, or family, or basically anyone, you can say ‘Sampai Jumpa!’ to say farewell to them. There is a simple option of saying this word, that is ‘Dadah! Or Dah!’. We Indonesians normally say this in informal situations. How to use it in a sentence? It is easy. Let’s take a look at this sentence, “Anak-anak bilang, “dadah” setelah selesai bermain sepak bola”, meaning, “The children says ‘goodbye’ after playing football”

Well, you finally learned how Indonesians say to greet and say farewell to people! It is quite different from English, isn’t it? Especially in terms of its time table of when to say the proper greeting throughout the day. 

There is a fun fact about time tables in Indonesia, which correlates to the greeting culture in the country. Indonesia is geographically located near the equator lines, which therefore makes the dawn and dusk time stay almost the same throughout the year. Therefore, our greeting culture primarily depends on the time which is different from the set of time tables in another country. Dho: 

Alright, you now know how to say Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening, Good night, and Goodbye in Indonesian. Not only have you learned about expressing greetings and farewell in Indonesian, but you also just learned the culture of greeting and farewell in Indonesia! 

Great! I’m pretty sure you learn more and more Indonesian everyday. As the time is up, I’m looking forward to seeing you again soon. Stay tuned on basabasa.id. 

Good bye for now!

Kosakata Hari Ini

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