If you learn about conversation in Indonesian language, then you should know about Indonesian Greetings Time of Day. This is for your advantages.
Greeting is important since it is the first word that come from you in the conversation. It is part of the knowledge on how to talk with Indonesian. There are a lot of greeting variation. To say it inline with time of day is a good option. In Indonesian language, there are four type of time, which is “Pagi”, “Siang”, “Sore” and “Malam”. Because of that, the greetings also made inline with it. To make it as greeting, you need to add “Selamat”.
This is Indonesian Greetings Time of Day
- “Selamat Pagi”. Basically, this is same with “Good Morning”. Usually Indonesian people will use it until 10-11am. At this time, the sun does not too hot. The activity is generally slow.
- “Selamat Siang”. People in Indonesian use this sentence when the sun is on the top of the head. It is between 11am – 3pm. At this hour, you can feel the sun is hot. In English, the same expression is “Good Afternoon”.
- “Selamat Sore”. “Sore” is a transition between Day and Night. Usually between 3pm – 6pm. At this time the sun is not too hot again and the night will come. In English, it is translated also to “Good Afternoon”.
- “Selamat Malam”. It is same with “Good Night”. It is start from the sunset until midnight.
This is not an exact division, unless for “Selamat Malam”. The transition between “Pagi” to “Siang” and “Siang” to “Sore” is not clear. People have their own understanding. Do not confused about it. And, do not afraid to say it wrong. Just reply as what they say to you.
There are also some variation on how to say it. In informal ways, people in Indonesia always shorten the sentence. You can see it in below conversation example.
Conversation Example Greetings Time of Day
- Dian : “Selamat sore, Jack” (Good afternoon, Jack)
Jack : “Selamat sore, Dian” (Good afternoon, Dian) or “Selamat sore juga, Dian” (Good afternoon also, Dian).
On this conversation Jack gives reply to Dian with same greeting.
- Parlin : “Pagi, Hana” (Morning, Hana)
Hana : “Pagi, Parlin” (Morning, Parlin) or “Pagi juga, Parlin” (Morning also, Parlin)
On this conversation, Parlin use informal types of greetings to Hana.
- Ryan : “Met siang, Dodi” (Good afternoon, Dodi)
Dodi : “Hei santai saja. Met pagi, Ryan” (Hei take it easy. Good morning, Ryan)
On this conversation, Dodi still think that time is still morning. Sometimes it happens in conversation.
You may read also:
- How to Say Have Great Day in Indonesian
- Seasons in Indonesia Language – Vocabulary and Meaning
- Indonesian Words for Days of the Week – Meaning
At the end, do not afraid to make a mistake. In some restaurant, they will keep saying “Selamat pagi” from they open the restaurant in the morning until the restaurant close at night. They do this because they feel “Pagi” is a time that bring a lot of energy. From this example you can see that people have their own understanding.
You also need to keep your word suit with the general etiquette. So, if you do any mistakes to your greetings, people will still have their respect to you and correct your mistakes. To learn about it, you can read Communication Etiquette in Indonesian.
This is only a general guidelines for Indonesian greetings time of day. You need to try it so you can get your real experience and make your more spesific guidelines.