The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Indonesian words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best Indonesian flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Indonesian words, like rumah, orang, air, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common Indonesian words · Updated July 2026
| Indonesian | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| rumah | house; home | Ini rumah saya. |
| orang | person; people | Ada banyak orang di pasar. |
| air | water | Saya minum air setiap hari. |
| makanan | food | Makanan ini enak sekali. |
| waktu | time | Saya tidak punya waktu sekarang. |
| hari | day | Hari ini hari Senin. |
| tahun | year | Dia tinggal di sini selama satu tahun. |
| teman | friend | Dia teman baik saya. |
| keluarga | family | Saya sayang keluarga saya. |
| anak | child | Anak itu sedang bermain. |
| buku | book | Saya membaca buku baru. |
| sekolah | school | Anak-anak pergi ke sekolah. |
| uang | money | Saya tidak punya banyak uang. |
| pekerjaan | job; work | Dia suka pekerjaannya. |
| mobil | car | Kami pergi dengan mobil. |
| kota | city | Jakarta adalah kota besar. |
| nama | name | Nama saya Budi. |
| jalan | street; road | Rumah saya dekat jalan itu. |
| pergi | to go | Saya mau pergi ke pasar. |
| datang | to come | Dia akan datang besok. |
| makan | to eat | Kami makan nasi setiap hari. |
| minum | to drink | Anak itu minum susu. |
| tidur | to sleep | Saya tidur jam sepuluh malam. |
| bicara | to speak; to talk | Dia bicara bahasa Indonesia dengan baik. |
| melihat | to see; to look | Saya melihat burung di pohon. |
| mendengar | to hear | Kamu mendengar suara itu? |
| tahu | to know | Saya tidak tahu jawabannya. |
| mau | to want | Saya mau makan sekarang. |
| bisa | can; to be able to | Kamu bisa membantu saya? |
| suka | to like | Saya suka musik ini. |
| bekerja | to work | Ayah saya bekerja di kantor. |
| membeli | to buy | Ibu membeli sayur di pasar. |
| membaca | to read | Saya suka membaca buku. |
| menulis | to write | Dia sedang menulis surat. |
| duduk | to sit | Silakan duduk di sini. |
| tinggal | to live; to stay | Kami tinggal di Bandung. |
| besar | big; large | Rumah itu sangat besar. |
| kecil | small; little | Kucing itu masih kecil. |
| baik | good; kind | Dia orang yang baik. |
| baru | new | Saya punya sepatu baru. |
| lama | long (time); old (not new) | Kami sudah lama berteman. |
| cepat | fast; quick | Mobil itu berjalan cepat. |
| panas | hot | Cuaca hari ini sangat panas. |
| dingin | cold | Air ini dingin sekali. |
| mudah | easy | Soal ini mudah. |
| sulit | difficult; hard | Bahasa itu sulit dipelajari. |
| cantik | beautiful; pretty | Bunga itu sangat cantik. |
| lapar | hungry | Saya lapar sekali sekarang. |
| dan | and | Saya dan dia teman baik. |
| atau | or | Kamu mau teh atau kopi? |
| tetapi | but | Dia lelah, tetapi tetap bekerja. |
| karena | because | Saya senang karena hari ini libur. |
| juga | also; too | Saya juga suka buku itu. |
| sudah | already | Saya sudah makan. |
| tidak | not; no | Saya tidak lapar. |
| ini | this | Ini buku saya. |
| itu | that | Itu rumah teman saya. |
| di | at; in; on | Dia ada di rumah. |
| saya | I; me | Saya suka membaca. |
| kamu | you | Kamu mau ke mana? |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Indonesian with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Indonesian. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best Indonesian books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Indonesian CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Indonesian? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Indonesian words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Indonesian word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Indonesian, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Indonesian text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Indonesian at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.