Voice of Indonesia presents “Let’s Speak Bahasa Indonesia,” a lesson in the Indonesian language on the radio, introducing some Indonesian vocabulary and tips on how to use it in a conversation. This segment is a joint initiative of Voice of Indonesia and the Language Development and Cultivation Agency at the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. Today’s topic is ‘What are you looking for?’ or Cari Apa?
Next is a conversation about ‘What are you looking for?’ or Cari Apa?. Tony and Endah are shopping at a batik shop on Jln. Malioboro.
Pramuniaga |
Cari apa? Silakan. |
Tony |
Ada selendang? |
Pramuniaga |
Ada. Ini selendangnya. Silakan pilih. Mau yang mana? |
Tony |
Yang warna cokelat. |
After the conversation, now I’ll introduce some vocabularies and expressions related to the topic today. I’ll say each word slowly and twice, you can follow after me.
Cari apa? Silakan |
(2X) which means |
What are you looking for? Please. |
Ada selendang? |
Is there scarf? |
|
Ya…ada. |
Yes…there is. |
|
Ini selendangnya. |
Here is the scarf. |
|
Silakan pilih |
You can choose it. |
|
Mau yang mana? |
Which one do you like? |
|
Yang warna cokelat |
The brown one |
|
Mau beli celana atau kemeja? |
Do you want to buy trousers or shirt? |
|
Kopi, teh atau susu? |
Coffee, tea or milk |
|
Kaus |
t-shirt |
|
Hitam |
black |
|
Saya mau yang panjang. |
I want the long-sleeve one. |
Expression to give choices is Silakan pilih which means ‘Please choose’. If there are two or three choices, you can say Mau beli celana atau kemeja? which means ‘Do you want to buy trousers or shirt?’, Mau kopi, teh, atau susu? which means ‘do you like to drink coffee, tea or milk?’. If someone asks you such questions, your answer can be started with Mau, or by expression Saya mau which means ‘yes, I like it’.
For example :
- Mau beli kaus atau kemeja? which means ‘do you want to buy t-shirt or shirt?’
- Saya mau beli kemeja which means ‘I want to buy a shirt.’
Other questions which are usually used to give choices are :
“Mau pilih yang mana? or “Mau yang mana?” which means ‘Which one do you like?’
In a dialogue you can also use the word pilih, like the expressions Mau pilih yang mana? or Mau yang mana? which means ‘which one do you like?’
Now let’s listen to some other examples:
A: Mau pilih yang mana? which means ‘which one do you like?’
B: Yang hitam. which means ‘the black one.’
A: Mau yang mana? which means ‘which one do you like?’
B: Mau yang itu. which means ‘that one.’
A: Mau yang mana? which means ‘which one do you like?’
B: Saya mau yang panjang which means‘I like the long-sleeve one.’