No tones
Unlike Thai, Vietnamese or Mandarin, Indonesian has no tones. Say the word, and it means the word.
Free · no account neededSpeak Indonesian
Speak Indonesian
for real
280 million people speak Indonesian, and most of them learned it as a second language. A country of 700 languages had to agree on one, so they kept it simple: no tones, no conjugation, no gender. The catch is that the Indonesian in textbooks is not the Indonesian in the street. We teach both, and we tell you which is which.
Kata hari ini · Word of the day
selamat
/suh-LAH-mat/
Literally 'safe'. It opens almost every greeting: selamat pagi 'good morning', selamat malam 'good night', selamat datang 'welcome'.
A1Greetings · Lesson 1
Easier than you were told
Most people quit a language because of grammar they never needed. Indonesian removes three of the usual walls before you even start.
No conjugation
Verbs never change. Makan is 'eat', 'ate' and 'will eat'. The tense comes from one extra word.
The alphabet you know
Latin script, phonetic spelling. You can read Indonesian out loud on day one and be understood.
How it works
01
Find your level
A six-minute placement test puts you where you actually belong, not where a marketing funnel wants you.
02
Work through a level
Short lessons built around one idea each, from greetings to the affix system that trips everyone up. Every example and every word has a listen button.
03Being built now
Drill it until it sticks
Quizzes and flashcards at the end of every lesson, with the register marked on each card, so a word you met once comes back until it stops being new.
Four levels, one path
Each level ends where the next begins. 77 lessons are written and free to read; the last two levels are still being written.
a1
Beginner
Greetings, numbers, ordering food, saying no correctly.
43 lessons
a2
Elementary
Your first affixes, joining ideas into real sentences, and daily life beyond survival.
34 lessons
b1
Intermediate
The full me- system, -kan against -i, and the street Indonesian no textbook prints.
Being written
b2
Advanced
News, idioms, nuance, and the Indonesian nobody teaches you.
Being written
There are two Indonesians
Textbooks teach the one on official forms. Nobody uses it with friends. Learn only that one and you'll be answered in English, politely, for a year.
Every lesson here labels which register it is teaching, and the translator has a switch for it. You get to choose instead of guessing.
Same sentence, two Indonesians
'Do you want something to drink?'
BookApakah Anda mau minum sesuatu?
StreetMau minum?
'I don't know.'
BookSaya tidak tahu.
StreetAku nggak tau.
'I', talking to a friend in Jakarta
Booksaya
Streetaku, or gue
From the blog
Longer pieces on the parts of Indonesian a lesson can't hold.
Start with selamat pagi
Nothing to install, nothing to pay, no account to create. Open the first lesson and say something out loud in the next ten minutes.