These are the 100 most useful Indonesian words from our 1000-word beginner course - the vocabulary you will hear and use most often. Learn them first and you will understand a surprising amount of everyday Indonesian.
← Learn Indonesian – start with the 1000 most important words
| # | Word | Indonesian |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the food | makanan |
| 2 | the drink | minuman |
| 3 | the cup | cangkir |
| 4 | the bottle | botol |
| 5 | the plate | piring |
| 6 | the spoon | sendok |
| 7 | the fork | garpu |
| 8 | the knife | pisau |
| 9 | the breakfast | sarapan |
| 10 | the lunch | makan siang |
| 11 | the dinner | makan malam |
| 12 | the bread | roti |
| 13 | the butter | mentega |
| 14 | the cheese | keju |
| 15 | the milk | susu |
| 16 | the coffee | kopi |
| 17 | the tea | teh |
| 18 | the juice | jus |
| 19 | the soda | soda |
| 20 | the rice | nasi |
| 21 | the pasta | pasta |
| 22 | the fish | ikan |
| 23 | the chicken | ayam |
| 24 | the beef | daging sapi |
| 25 | the egg | telur |
| 26 | the soup | sup |
| 27 | the salad | salad |
| 28 | the sandwich | roti lapis |
| 29 | the pizza | piza |
| 30 | the cereal | sereal |
| 31 | the sugar | gula |
| 32 | the salt | garam |
| 33 | the pepper | merica |
| 34 | the snack | camilan |
| 35 | the meal | makanan |
| 36 | the restaurant | restoran |
| 37 | the cafe | kafe |
| 38 | the bakery | toko roti |
| 39 | the cafeteria | kantin |
| 40 | the dough | adonan |
| 41 | the pan | wajan |
| 42 | the pot | panci |
| 43 | the bowl | mangkuk |
| 44 | the meat | daging |
| 45 | the flavor | rasa |
| 46 | the toast | roti panggang |
| 47 | the yogurt | yoghurt |
| 48 | the spice | bumbu |
| 49 | the teacup | cangkir teh |
| 50 | the lemonade | limun |
| 51 | the jar | toples |
| 52 | the milkshake | susu kocok |
| 53 | the vinegar | cuka |
| 54 | the waiter | pelayan |
| 55 | the beer | bir |
| 56 | the noodle | mie |
| 57 | the cork | gabus |
| 58 | the wine | anggur |
| 59 | the sausage | sosis |
| 60 | the pitcher | teko |
| 61 | the glass | gelas |
| 62 | the grapefruit juice | jus grapefruit |
| 63 | the bill | bon |
| 64 | the menu | menu |
| 65 | the bagel | bagel |
| 66 | the pancake | panekuk |
| 67 | the chocolate | cokelat |
| 68 | the candy | permen |
| 69 | the cookie | kue kering |
| 70 | the cake | kue |
| 71 | the ice cream | es krim |
| 72 | the honey | madu |
| 73 | the bubblegum | permen karet |
| 74 | the gummy | permen kenyal |
| 75 | the marshmallow | marshmallow |
| 76 | the syrup | sirup |
| 77 | the cocoa | cokelat |
| 78 | the popcorn | berondong jagung |
| 79 | the sundae | sundae |
| 80 | the cotton candy | gulali |
| 81 | the custard | kustar |
| 82 | the dessert | hidangan penutup |
| 83 | the jellybean | permen jellybean |
| 84 | the lollipop | lolipop |
| 85 | the jelly | selai |
| 86 | the gingerbread | kue jahe |
| 87 | the waffle | wafel |
| 88 | the pastry | pastri |
| 89 | the pie | pai |
| 90 | the cupcake | kue mangkuk |
| 91 | the muffin | muffin |
| 92 | the donut | donat |
| 93 | the biscuit | biskuit |
| 94 | the apple pie | pai apel |
| 95 | the carrot cake | kue wortel |
| 96 | the chocolate cake | kue cokelat |
| 97 | the pumpkin pie | pai labu |
| 98 | the apricot jam | selai aprikot |
| 99 | the jam | selai |
| 100 | the apple | apel |
The 100 most frequent words cover about half of everyday spoken language. With the full 1000-word core vocabulary you understand around 85% of typical conversations in Indonesian - enough to follow along and make yourself understood.
They are the most frequently used words of the language, selected by word frequency. Every one of them will appear again and again in real sentences, so each learned word immediately pays off.
Listen and repeat: every word in the 1000 Words course comes with audio and an example sentence. Combined with spaced repetition in the free vocabulary trainer, most learners master the first 100 words within one to two weeks.