How to read and say Indonesian
Letters, sounds and stress from Wikivoyage's Indonesian phrasebook. Then hear the phrases and practice them, free.
▶ Practice Indonesian phrasesIndonesian is very easy to pronounce: it has one of the most phonetic writing systems in the world, the most faithful to IPA, among major languages that uses Latin alphabet, with only a small number of simple consonants and relatively few vowel sounds. One peculiarity of the spelling is the lack of a separate sign to denote the schwa. It is written as an 'e', which can sometimes be confusing.
In Indonesia, spelling reforms in 1947 and 1972 have officially eliminated several vestiges of Dutch in the otherwise very phonetic spelling, and the writing system is now nearly identical to Malay. However, the older forms remain in use to some extent (especially in names) and have been noted in parentheses below.
Stress usually falls on the second-to-last syllable, so in two-syllable words the first syllable is stressed.
Vowels
As Indonesians pronounce the letter “e” in two different ways, this guide will highlight both the regular and accented version in the phonetics.
| vowel | English equiv. | vowel | English equiv. | vowel | English equiv. |
| a | art (IPA: a) | e | vowel (IPA: ə) | é | say (IPA: e) |
| i | see (IPA: i) | o | more (IPA: o) | u (oe) | pool (IPA: u) |
Consonants
Consonants that use the old spelling style are written in parentheses:
- b
- like in bed (IPA: b)
- bh
- like bed, only in Sanskrit borrowings
- c (ch, tj)
- like check (IPA: t͡ʃ)
- d
- like in dog (IPA: d)
- dh
- like dog, only in Sanskrit borrowings
- f
- like phone (IPA: f)
- g
- like g (IPA: ɡ)
- h
- like help (IPA: h)
- j (dj)
- like job (IPA: d͡ʒ)
- k
- like keep (IPA: k); at ends of words, a glottal stop like in the middle of uh-oh (IPA: ʔ)
- kh (ch)
- like Scottish loch or Chanukkah (IPA: x)
- l
- like love (IPA: l)
- m
- like mother (IPA: m)
- n
- like nice (IPA: n)
- ng
- like sing (IPA: ŋ) (no hard 'g' sound)
- ngg
- like finger (IPA: ŋɡ) ('ng' plus a hard 'g')
- ny
- like canyon or Spanish ñ (IPA: ɲ)
- p
- like pig (IPA: p)
- q
- similar to the 'k' or 'kh' sound (almost always with "u". Only in Arabic borrowings)
- r
- like Spanish perro (IPA: r) (trilled/rolled r)
- s
- like sick (IPA: s)
- sy (sj)
- like sheep (IPA: ʃ)
- t
- like top (IPA: t)
- v
- the same as 'f'
- w
- like weight (IPA: w)
- x
- like kicks (IPA: ks)
- y (j)
- like yes (IPA: j)
- z
- like haze (IPA: z)
Common diphthongs
- ai
- like eye (IPA: ai̯)
- au
- like cow (IPA: au̯)
- oi
- like boy (IPA: oi̯)
NOTE: when two vowels are beside each other, and it's not one of the above diphthongs, they must be pronounced as separate syllables
Note
In the pseudo-pronunciations below, glottal stops are shown as apostrophes, usually at the ends of words. Unaspirated consonants (always the letters T or P, usually at the ends of words) are shown in parentheses.