Voice of Indonesia presents in Jakarta with Let’s Speak Bahasa Indonesia, a lesson in Bahasa Indonesia or the Indonesian language on the radio, which introduces some Indonesian vocabulary and guides you to use them in a conversation. The segment of Let's Speak Indonesia is a cooperation of RRI World Service Voice Of Indonesia with the Language Development Agency, the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. Today’s topic is Perlu Bantuan? or in English, ‘Can I help you?’.
Next is a conversation about Perlu Bantuan? or in English ‘Can I help you?’ Endah will go to the hospital to see her father’s condition who had an accident.
Endah |
Maaf, aku harus pergi ke rumah sakit. |
Tony |
Mau aku temani? |
Endah |
Tidak usah. Terima kasih. |
Tony |
Baiklah. Beri tahu saya kalau kamu perlu sesuatu. |
Endah |
Oke. Terima kasih. |
After the conversation, now I’ll introduce some vocabulary and expressions related to the topic today.
Perlu |
2X which means |
To need |
Butuh |
To need |
|
Tidak usah |
No, thank you |
|
Maaf, aku harus pergi ke rumah sakit |
Sorry, I have to go to hospital. |
|
Mau aku temani? |
May I accompany you? |
|
Boleh saya bantu? |
May I help you? |
|
Ada yang bisa saya bantu? |
Can I help you? |
|
Jika Anda butuh bantuan, silahkan hubungi kami |
Please contact us, if you need help! |
|
Beri tahu saya kalau kamu perlu sesuatu |
Please tell me if you need something! |
|
In the dialogue, Tony said Mau aku temani? which means ‘May I accompany you?’. He also said Beri tahu saya kalau kamu perlu sesuatu which means ‘Please tell me if you need something’. These are the expressions in offering help.
Let’s listen to other expressions which are used when offering help:
- Perlu bantuan?
- Apakah Anda perlu bantuan?
- Boleh saya bantu?
- Ada yang bisa saya bantu? Which means Can I help you?
Other examples:
- Jika Anda butuh bantuan, silakan hubungi kami (Please contact us, if you need help!)
- Beri tahu saya kalau kamu perlu bantuan (Tell me if you need help!)
In the dialog, we listened the word memberi tahu which means to tell. The word memberi tahu comes from the word beri tahu and prefix me.
Listener… in learning Indonesian language, you have to know some affixes such as ber, me, pe and suffix an. If you want to increase your ability/ knowledge of Indonesian language, you have to learn and use various affixes appropriately.