Originally posted by: demoksaputra https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/3842014
The Indonesian language has a fairly large number of classifiers to count objects based on their characteristics. Among the many classifiers for items, the most common one is buah, literally 'fruit'.
If you count cars, for instance, then you can use the classifier:
- Sebuah mobil 'a car, one car'.
- Dua buah mobil 'two cars' etc.
The classifiers can come handy to singularize a word. The sentence "Ada mobil di depan rumah kita", can mean "There is a car in front of our house", or "There are cars in front of our house" because every noun in the Indonesian language can be singular or plural.
In order to singularize the word you can say "Ada sebuah mobil di depan rumah kita" - "There is a car in front of our house".
The classifier buah can be used with many objects. Even objects that should carry a different classifier such as batang (used for stick-like objects), biji (used for very small round objects), helai (used for flat soft items), or keping (used for flat rigid items) can often take the classifier buah.
Animals are counted by ekor - 'tail':
- Seekor kucing - 'a cat', dua ekor anjing - 'two dogs',
- And people by orang: seorang perempuan - 'a woman', dua orang perempuan - 'two women' etc.
Examples:
batang = sebatang lilin = a candle stick
buah = sebuah apel = an apple
butir = sebutir telur = an egg
cangkir = secangkir teh = a cup of tea
ekor = seekor kambing = a goat
gelas = segelas air = a glass of water
helai = sehelai rambut = one strand of hair
ikat = seikat bunga = a bunch of flowers
kejap = sekejap mata = in a blink of an eye
lembar = selembar kertas = one piece of paper
mangkuk = semangkuk sup = a bowl of soup
orang = seorang wanita = a woman
pasang = sepasang sepatu = a pair of shoes
piring = sepiring makanan = a plate of food
potong = sepotong kue = a slice of cake
sendok = sesendok makan = one table spoon
siung = sesiung bawang putih = a clove of garlic
suap = sesuap nasi = a mouthful of rice
tangkai = setangkai bunga = a flower
titik = setitik darah = a drop of blood
Source : http://www.bahasakita.com/about/grammar ... -and-ekor/