Hai! How are you?
Well, welcome back! I know you have learned many of Indonesian language in Mastering Bahasa. Now, let’s move forward to another part of lesson. I believe you have studied Indonesian to English Grammar and mastered Indonesian Grammar because right now we will get rid of it. We will get deeper into more daily-life communication, which is about Indonesian Chat Abbreviations.
Similar with English, most people used abbreviations for efficiency reason. For example, advertisement format on newspapers or SMS on the old days force us to give clear, but brief information (especially characters amount). Moreover, we also will save times when we used abbreviation in a chat. As you know, even though there are abbreviated to fewer letter, we still understand the meaning because we have language knowledge, instinct, and logic to think, predict, and conclude the information given.
The problem is abbreviation chat is very relative and arbitrary, depends on the social-cutural background and many factors that could influence an individual. But most of abbreviation chat in Bahasa Indonesia has an unwritten rules, that they usually select all/necessary the ‘consonant’ and/or added the necessary vowel to help the addressee understand it. Why it is consonant? there are 21 consonants, compared to 5 vowels in Latin alphabet. Therefore, it will become the unique part, distinguish on and another.
But, before we step forward, please check
Now, let’s take a look at these chats
- A: Lg ap? (Lagi apa – What are you doing?)
B: mkn (Makan – Eat.)You could see both ‘lagi’ and ‘eat’ were only written by their consonants, while the ‘apa’ was supported by the ‘a’ because it impossible just to write it as a single letter. - A: mo gmbr pa? (Mau gambar apa – What are you going to draw?)
B: sy mau gmbr rmh & pmndngn? (Saya mau gambar rumah dan pemandangan – I’m going to draw a house and a scenery.)Because its arbitrary, you may found there are different language style between persons. For instance, you could abbreviated ‘mau (want’ as ‘mo’ (or ‘mw’ in some cases) or choose to not abbreviated at all. Also, you could see that you may abbreviate ‘apa (what)’ as ‘ap’ or ‘pa’ depends on your style.
But, sometimes abbreviation chat could be too multi-interpreted. For example, the sett ‘kmbg’ could stand for (1) kambing (goat), (2) kembang (flower) or (3) kumbang (beetle). Therefore, know the context.
More to Know about Indonesian Chat Abbreviations!
Furthermore, there are several words that are more frequent than others when we talked about chat abbreviations. There are pronouns, question words, conjunctions and some others. Let’s break down the group of words!
Pronoun Abbreviation
Notes: It could be different way to abbreviate Indonesian Pronouns, but here are the most commons.
- saya (I) = sy, sya
- aku (I) = ak, ku
- Gua (I – Betawi dialects) = gw, w
- Kamu (you) – km, kmu (to distinguish it with ‘kami’ – we)
- lu (kamu – Betawi dialects) = l, lu
- Kalian (plural – you) = klian
- Kami (we) = kmi
- Kita (we) = kt, kta (sometimes not abbreviated to avoid confusion with the word ‘kata’)
- Mereka (they) = mrk, mreka, mrka
Question Words Abbreviation
The other most commons abbreviation in a chat is question words. Here are how it usually abbreviated.
- apa (what) = ap, pa
- siapa (who) = spa
- kapan (when) = kpn
- di mana (where) = dmn, d mn
- ke mana (where…to) = kmn, k mn
- dari mana (where…from) = drmn, dr mn
- kenapa (why) = knp
- bagaimana (how) = gmn
- berapa (how much/how many) = brp, brpa
- yang mana (which) = yg mn
*If you simply confused you just put ‘?’
Check also Asking Questions in Indonesian
Conjunctions Abbreviations
Let’s take a look the common form of abbreviated conjunctions
- yang (which/that) = yg
- dengan (with) = dgn
- supaya (for/to) = spy
- karena (because) = karna/krn/krna
- juga (also) = jg
- dan (and) = n, &
- atau = ato, /
- tapi (but) = tp
- sedangkan (while) = sdgkn
- sementara (temporary/while) = smntr
- di samping (beside) = di smpg
- untuk (for) = utk, untk
Further reading: Indonesian Connecting Words
Other Commons Words
- sedang/lagi ( [to be doing]) – sdng, sdg/lg, ge
- tidak (not) = tdk, gak, tak, g
- bukan (not [for noun]) = bkn
- depan (front) = dpn
- belakang (back) = blkg, blkng
- samping (side) = smping, smpng, smpg
- dalam (inside) = dlm
- bawah (under) = bwh
- dapat/bisa (can/could) = dpt/bs
- Tidak apa-apa (no problem) = tak apa, gpp, gapapa
- Ya (yes) = Y
- Oke (okay) = K, ok
- sudah (have) = sdh, uda, ud
- belum (have not) = blm
*If the words is a reduplication, instead of copying the word, you use ‘2’,e.g. kupu2 = kupu-kupu – butterfly
Although every words could be abbreviated, but we could not include all those words in this opportunity. The key is mastering vocabulary as many as you can. Therefore, do not hesitate to check Indonesian Words
Examples of Indonesian Chat Abbreviations!
- Daily chat
A : km lg ap? (Kamu lagi apa- What are you doing?)
B : tdr ([Tidur – I am] sleeping)
A : cpk ya? (Capek ya – [Are you] tired?]
B : g [Ga – Nope]
A : mrh? (Marah – [Are you] angry?]
B : Y (Ya – Yes) - For Birthday!
Slmt ultah, smga pnjng umur ( Selamat ulang tahun, semoga panjang umur – Happy Birthday, have a longevity)
Sht sll, Tuhan mmbrkti (Sehat selalu, Tuhan memberkati – Always healthy, God bless you)
Smg sgla cita-cita trwjd (Semoga segala cita-cita terwujud – Hope all of your dreams come true)*Sometimes people only use three words, HBD, WYUATB, GBU (Happy birthday, wish you all the best, God bless you) - Longer one
Hr ni ak ktmu sma org aneh d jln. Td dia mnta tlg utk tlpn pke hp ak. Y, ak ga ksh dong. Cm dia trs ngguin ak. Akhrnya ak ktktan & prgi. Ak ud d sni drtd siang gr2 itu(Hari ini aku ketemu sama orang aneh di jalan. Tadi dia minta tolong untuk memakai telepon aku. Ya, aku tidak kasih dong. Cuma dia terus menunggui aku. Akhirnya, aku ketakutan dan pergi. Aku sudah di sini dari tadi siang gara-gara itu – Today, I met a freak ot the street. He asked me, asking to use my phone. Of course, I did not give him. But, he kept staying and waiting me. Finally, I was freaked out and left. I have been here from afternoon because of that)
Excercise!
Now try to guess the word form before abbreviation. I’ll help you with the English meaning. Good Luck!
- km mo kmn? (Where are you going?)
- spa yg ambl mknan sya? (Who took my food?)
- gmn kbrmu (How are you)
Good Luck to figure out those Indonesian Chat Abbreviations!
Further reading: