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Indonesian verbs are pretty easy. They hardly ever change. "I go" is "aku pergi". "Yesterday, I went" is "kemarin, aku pergi".
The verb doesn't change like it does in English. Great!
Now remember our lesson on subject, verb and object? Well, it's going to come in handy now.
Why is it that some sentences have an object and others don't? I can say "she walks" and "she walks the dog".
The same goes for "She washes" and "she washes the dog".
It's because in English, "wash" ("and walk") can be either transitive or intransitive.
If it is used transitively, it needs an object (the dog). If it is used intransitively, it does not need the dog.
Why is this important? Because in the first case, the person is doing something to something else, whereas in the second case, the person is just doing something.
They mean different things.
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Easy, right?
Wrong! In Indonesian, the verb will change depending on whether it is being used transitively or intransitively.
"I wash" is "aku mandi".
"I wash the dog" is "aku mandikan anjing".
Note the addition of the suffix 'kan'
Indonesian verbs add a lot of information through
differnt suffixes but if you can understand the concepts
on this page, you've done the hardest bit.
You'll find plenty of examples in our exercises section - choose the 'Indonesian' menu option at the top of the page.
Or, you could go back
and learn some
more grammar.
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