To a mere English speaker the Indonesian pronoun system seems quite complicated enough, though I gather it's simplicity itself compared to Javanese and Sundanese.

I/me/my can be aku or saya, aku implying a more intimate relationship, saya being more neutral

You/you/your (singular) can be engkau, kau, kamu, again implying a more intimate relationship. If you don't have that relationship, you use a relationship term such as bapak (literally father) for older or higher status males, or ibu (literally mother) for older or higher status females, or just the person's name. These relationship terms can also be used by an older person to refer to themselves when talking to a younger one. Thus without the situation it's difficult to know whether Di mana mobil ibu? (literally Where is mother's car?) means Where is my car? Where is your car? Where is her (Mrs X's) car? or Where is mum's car?

He/she/him/her/his/her can all be translated as dia or if one is referring to someone of very high status: beliau. Again relationship terms can be used to substitute.

We/us/our = kami (exclusive) kita (inclusive).

You/you/your (plural) = kalian or Anda. Anda is for talking to everybody in general in notices, adverts, etc.

They/them/their = mereka.

This is a simplified version. It's a nightmare. I'm surprised people ever talk to each other for fear of offending by using the wrong pronoun.

Bingley


Bingley