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Beside learning about Indonesian Grammar Rules, of course, you are also expected to make cohesive and coherence sentences or paragraphs. One of the key of cohesive and coherence paragraph is master the Indonesian Conjunctions.
Therefore, your sentences, especially in written form, would be more dynamic as well as less similar with a 5-years old kid trying to learn the language. However, like others, such as Indonesian Phonetics or Communication Systems in Indonesia, it is a simple but complex lesson at the same time. Nonetheless, we could start to master it with know and understand types of Indonesian sentence starters, which conjunctions is possible or not possible to be placed at it. Take a look!
Inter-Sentences Conjunctions
Unlike oral communication, when the punctuation are replaced by intonation as the sign to start or end a sentences and make the sentences be more flexible, in written form, Bahasa Indonesia has a strict rule, especially for academics, formal, legal purpose.
While ‘kaidah Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar’ (The Good and Right Bahasa Indonesia principle) is hardly applied in oral conversation, it is very essential in writing (except for literary works). In fact, most natives are struggle with it because it is rarely implemented in daily life. Do not surprise if there are some occasions when the native could not tell you how to make effective and efficient Bahasa Indonesia sentences.
Furthermore, one of the key to make cohesive and coherence paragraph is by using inter-sentences conjunctions when you start a new sentences in same paragraph. It is a connector of a sentence to other. Therefore, your paragraph would not be like a person that still learn about a second language for the first time.
It is very important in many cases, such as show the correlation between previous sentence to latter one, like if it a causality or comparison or anything else. Here are the lists of it.
- Oleh sebab itu/Oleh karena itu/Dengan demikian/Maka dari itu = Therefore, because of that
– Buah-buahan mengandung vitamin yang dibutuhkan tubuh. Oleh sebab itu, dianjurkan untuk mengonsumsinya setiap hari (Fruits contain vitamin needed by the body. Therefore, it is recommended to consume it every day) - Meskipun demikan = Nonetheless
– Nasi merupakan makanan yang bergizi. Meskipun demikian, tidak dianjurkan untuk mengonsumsinya berlebihan karena adanya kandungan glukosa (Rice is nutritious. Nonetheless, it is not recommended to be excessively consumed because the glucose in it) - Akan tetapi/Namun = However
– Restoran tersebut memang enak. Akan tetapi, letaknya amat jauh (The food of that restaurant undoubtedly tasteful. However, the location is too far) - Sementara itu/Di sisi lain/Adapun = Meanwhile, On the other hand
– Andi sudah menyelesaikan tugasnya. Sementara itu, Ani belum memulainya sama sekali (Andi has finished his work. Meanwhile, Ani has not even started it yet) - Di samping itu = Beside that/In addition
– Lani merupakan seorang anak yang rajin. Di samping itu, ia juga merupakan anak yang mudah bergaul (Lani is a diligent kid. In addition, she is also a friendly as well as outgoing girl) - Dengan kata lain = On the other words
– Pekerjaan ini amat mudah. Dengan kata lain, tidak ada alasan untuk tidak mengerjakannya (This task is effortless. On the other words, there is no excuse to not finish it) - Kemudian/Selanjutnya = Then, Furthermore
– Masukkan telur ke dalam panci. Kemudian, diamkan selamat 10 menit (Put the egg into the pan. Then, rest it for 10 minutes)
Notes: All of Inter-conjunctions are followed by coma (,)
More about Indonesian Sentence Starters!
While there is an inter-conjunction, on the other side, it has intra-conjunction. It is used to merge two or more sentences to become one complex sentence. In English, you familiar with ‘and’, ‘or’, ‘while’, ‘but’ and many more. In Bahasa Indonesia, there are many kinds of it.
However, there are several of it that actually could NOT be placed as a sentence starters in ‘kaidah Bahasa Indonesia yang baik dan benar’. It is the common mistakes of Bahasa Indonesia speakers, even the native. Let’s take a look how to use it correctly.
- dan = and
Saya membeli buku dan menjual pensil (I bought a book and sell a pencil) - sedangkan = while
Ayahnya seorang dokter, sedangkan ibunya seorang guru (His dad is a doctor, while his mom is a teacher)
*unlike English, sedangkan (while) could not be placed as a starter - atau = or
Kamu mau pergi makan atau menonton bioskop? (You would like to eat or go to the cinema?) - sehingga = so
Ibu sedang sakit sehingga tidak bisa memasak hari ini (Mom is sick, so today she did not cook anything)
*it is not possible use ‘sehingga’ as a starter in formal written language - sebab/karena = because
Ibu tidak memasak karena sedang sakit (Mom did not cook because she is sick) - tetapi/namun = but
Lila suka makan daging, tetapi tidak suka makan ikan (Lila loves to eat meat, but not the fish)
*tetapi could not be placed as a starter. You should use ‘Akan tetapi,’ or ‘Namun,’
So, there are several lessons of Indonesian Sentence Starters. It is not an easy task, but of course it is possible to learn and master it. Before we end this lesson, I recommend you to check this following articles: