Javanese
Negation in Javanese
Negation in Javanese
Negation in Javanese follows the same grammatical rules as Indonesian, that is, having discrete terms for negations followed by a noun and those followed by all other parts of speech. In Indonesian, these terms are bukan (aku bukan murid / I’m not a student) and tidak* (aku tidak lapar / I’m not hungry).
In Indonesian, there is one word for yes: iya/ya, whereas in Javanese, there are two, the Ngoko iya/ya and the Krama inggih.** The same is true for “not yet”; in Indonesian it is simply belum*** but in Ngoko it is durung and in Krama dereng.
| Ngoko | Krama | Bahasa Indonesia | English |
| Iya | Inggih | Iya | yes |
| Ora | Mboten | Tidak | No / not |
| Dudu | Sanes | Bukan | is not/am not/are not |
| Durung | Dereng | Belum | Not yet |
Examples
- Apa kowe murid? Dudu, aku dudu murid. (Apakah kamu murid? Bukan, aku bukan murid.)
- Menapa sampeyan tiyang Amerika? Sanes, kula sanes tiyang Amerika. (Apakah Anda orang Amerika? Bukan, saya bukan orang Amerika).
- Apa kowe wis mangan? Durung. Aku wis durung. (Apakah kamu sudah makan? Belum, aku belum makan).
- Kowe seneng karo dheweke? Iya, aku seneng karo dheweke. (Apa kamu suka pada dia? Iya, aku suda pada dia).
Notes
*tidak also appears as tak or nggak in informal Indonesian
**it is common to hear inggih used in the Ngoko level for short responses.
***as with Indonesian, the term “not yet” is very frequently used, especially in response to questions with the term sudah (already) in Indonesian or wis/sampun in Javanese.
