Examples

Three ways to pronounce e:

1. bel ( = bell )
2. lebih ( = more )
3. beda ( = different )

Two ways to pronounce o:

1. toko ( = shop )
2. bongkah ( = lump )

Catatan (Note)

The Indonesian language lacks the letters q, v, x, and z. These letters were incorporated to accommodate foreign words. Even f is due to the influence of the Arabic alphabet.

A pair of the same vowel in succession are pronounced differently than just prolonging the vowel sound; rather, there is a slight pause between the vowels. For example: The word maaf, which means sorry, is pronounced as ma (slight pause) af.

There are four compound consonants (diphthongs): ng, ny, kh, and sy. Although they do not constitute new letters, they are pronounced differently:

As is the case with the standalone letters, only ng and ny are native to Indonesian. Both kh and sy only appear in words with Arabic origin.

Tahu (to know) & tahu (tofu)

Tahu meaning to know: the h is silent, and the word is pronounced to rhyme with bau (smell) (i.e. similarly to the English word Tao (Chinese philosophy) or Greek alphabet Tau.)

Tahu meaning tofu is pronounced "tah-who"

You can practice saying "Saya tidak tahu. Saya bukan tahu." ("I don't know. I am not tofu.") The pronunciation should be different in the two cases.

Final ai

In everyday Indonesian, the "ai" at the end of a root word is pronounced as e or ek (the k being a glottal stop, not an aspirated k). In informal writing (e.g. email) Indonesians sometimes spell this way as well, e.g. capek instead of capai.

Teacher's notes

It is advisable to distribute this material through other lessons, rather than learning all these exceptions at once.