Indonesian for Be

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How to say "be" in Indonesian

Indonesian does not have the verb 'to be'. But sometimes, it's similar to the Indonesian word adalah. Only for some situations:

Saya adalah pelajar. - I am a student.

Ini adalah buku saya. - This is my book.

Itu adalah kesalahan besar. - That is a big mistake.

However, in informal situations (mostly in spoken Indonesian), we can omit the word adalah.

In formal/written language, this word is just sometimes omitted.

And remember that adalah CAN'T be used as 'to be' when:

-telling time

-showing adjectives

-passive sentence, e.g. I am called.