• To introduce and practise the word ada (there is…, there are…)
• To review the names of common foods, buildings and places
• To review common prepositions, adjectives and expressions of time

One of the most frequent and useful words in Indonesian is ada. Ada doesn’t have a single equivalent in English, so it is not easy to describe succinctly in English how it is used. Like many (perhaps most) features of Indonesian vocabulary, grammar and usage, you have to “learn by doing” rather than through explanation. Nevertheless, when you first start to study a new feature of Indonesian, it is usually useful to use (and often impossible to avoid using) English translations.

Ada usually (but not always) means something like the English “there is”, “there are”, “there was”, “there were”, “there had been” etc. Ada indicates that something or someone is at a certain location in space or in time. For example:

To say “there isn’t”, “there aren’t” etc. you simply place tidak in front of ada. Thus:

Study this picture and read the Indonesian description of it. The items of food on the table and their exact location may be described using sentences with ada. The absence of certain items may be expressed using tidak ada.

Di meja ini ada nasi. Di samping nasi ada ikan. Di depan ikan ada bermacam-macam sayuran. Ada telur di samping nasi dan di belakang telur ada pisang. Tidak ada bir di meja ini. Juga tidak ada roti atau kue. Tidak ada kopi atau teh.

Di sini senang, di sana senang (I like it here, I like it there)
Di mana-mana hatiku senang (My heart likes it everywhere)

Look at the spread of food below. Following the model you see above write a short paragraph. Use ada to say what is on the table, and tidak ada to say what is not. Use the prepositions di depan, di belakang and di samping to describe where items of food are located in relation to other items on the table.

Peta Kota Sukamaju

di, di pusat kota, di belakang, di dekat, di depan, di samping, tidak jauh dari…

For example you might write:

Di pusat kota, di dekat alun-alun, ada kantor polisi.

You can ask yes/no questions using ada. These questions are like the English “Is/Was there a …..?”, “Are/Were there any …..?” and so on. Simply place the yes/no question-marker apakah at the beginning of the sentence. Study these examples:

To answer these questions in the affirmative you say ada, and to answer in the negative you say tidak ada. Thus:

(1) You can use ada to talk about the characteristics or qualities of something in a certain place. One way of doing this is to frame sentences in this form:

ada + name of a thing/building + yang +adjective + preposition + name of a place

(2) You can also use ada to talk about when something is going to happen (or is happening, or happened) and where, using sentences framed in this form:

ada + name of an event + preposition + name of a thing/place + adverb of time

Study this short exchange.

Without changing the basic form of this dialogue, you can replace each noun, preposition and adjective in it to convey different ideas. For example, you could say the following (compare the two dialogues to see which words have been changed).

Preserving this basic shell, write out five new, completely different variations on it.

To complete this IndoLingo exercise, record your voice, then download it and name the file Exercise 16-03. Send it to your IndoLingo Instructor. If you are not subscribed to IndoLingo, you may do this exercise as a written homework assignment.

Task

Now practise “ada”, “tidak ada”, and “tetapi” by answering the following questions:

1. Apakah ada mesjid di kota Anda? Kalau ada, di mana tempatnya?
2. Apakah ada warung di dekat rumah Anda? Kalau ada, di mana tempatnya?
3. Apakah ada restoran yang murah di dekat rumah Anda? Kalau ada, di mana tempatnya?
4. Apakah ada bangunan yang sangat tua di dekat rumah Anda? Kalau ada, apa saja?
5. Apakah ada taman bermain yang luas di dekat rumah Anda? Kalau ada, di mana?
6. Apakah ada perayaan hari besar pada bulan Desember di negara Anda? Kalau ada, kapan?
7. Apakah ada pesta ulang tahun minggu depan? Kalau ada, ulang tahun siapa?
8. Apakah ada acara pertandingan olahraga hari ini? Kalau ada, kapan?
9. Apakah ada AC di rumah Anda?
10. Apakah ada rumah sakit di kota Anda? Apakah rumah sakit itu besar?