Nouns and adjectives have no grammatical gender

Level 1

Indonesian has no grammatical gender agreement. Gender-neutral words such as guru, pintar, and dia do not inflect for a person’s sex; separate lexical words can still identify sex.

How It Works

Indonesian is a gender-neutral language. This simplifies the learning process because you do not need to memorize the 'gender' of objects or change word endings to match a subject.

1. Pronouns: Indonesian pronouns do not distinguish between male and female.
• Dia means 'he' or 'she' for people.
• Ia is a variant of 'dia' that can also formally refer to inanimate objects ('it'), with standard subject or preverbal uses; it is not used as the postverbal object or the object of a preposition.
• Beliau is the respectful version of 'he' or 'she', used for elders or honored figures.
• Mereka means 'they' for people (and sometimes animals), regardless of the group's gender composition. Ordinary factual descriptions generally avoid it for inanimate objects, but TBBI also permits personified animals or things in fiction. For things, you usually omit the pronoun entirely, repeat the noun, or use demonstratives like itu (those/that) or ini (these/this).
• The suffix -nya is gender-neutral: it can mean him/her/it/them as an object and his/her/its/their in possession, depending on context.

2. Adjectives: Adjectives do not change form to agree with grammatical gender. Derivation and reduplication serve other functions. Whether you are describing a man, a woman, or a table, the adjective remains identical. For example, pintar (smart) is used for everyone.

3. Nouns and Gender Markers: Most nouns are neutral. A guru is a teacher, regardless of sex. If you must specify gender, you add a descriptor after the noun:
• For humans: laki-laki (male) or perempuan (female). In formal contexts, you may see pria (man) and wanita (woman), while in informal daily speech, cowok (guy/boy) and cewek (girl) are very common.
• For animals: jantan (male) or betina (female).

4. Kinship and Titles: While the grammar is neutral, Indonesian has specific gendered words for family and social roles, such as Bapak (Father/Mr.) and Ibu (Mother/Mrs.).

5. Loan Suffixes: There are exceptions from Sanskrit and Arabic loanwords where suffixes can indicate gender. However, suffixes like -wan or -a (e.g., ilmuwan, mahasiswa) are often used as the default or gender-neutral form unless explicitly contrasted with their feminine counterparts -wati or -i (e.g., mahasiswi). For Arabic loanwords, the base word is typically used for the masculine or neutral form (e.g., muslim), while -ah marks the feminine (e.g., muslimah). Even with these words, the surrounding adjectives and verbs remain neutral.

Examples (6)

  1. Dia adalah guru yang hebat.

    He/She is a great teacher.

    Word by Word: He/She is teacher who great.

    The word dia can mean he or she, and 'guru' can mean a male or female teacher.

  2. Beliau adalah dokter saya.

    He/She (respected) is my doctor.

    Word by Word: He/She(respectful) is doctor my.

    Beliau is a gender-neutral pronoun used to show respect to elders or professionals.

  3. Mereka sedang makan.

    They are eating.

    Word by Word: They [progressive] eat.

    Mereka is the gender-neutral plural pronoun for 'they'.

  4. Kucing jantan itu sedang tidur.

    That male cat is sleeping.

    Word by Word: Cat male that [progressive] sleep.

    For animals, the gender marker 'jantan' (male) is used instead of 'laki-laki'.

  5. Mahasiswi itu rajin.

    That (female) student is diligent.

    Word by Word: Student(female) that diligent.

    The suffix -i in 'mahasiswi' is a loan suffix indicating a female person, yet the adjective 'rajin' does not change.

  6. Kucing itu lucu. Saya suka melihatnya.

    That cat is cute. I like looking at it.

    Word by Word: Cat that cute. I like see-it.

    The suffix -nya is gender-neutral and can refer to people, animals, or objects.

Common Mistakes

  • Assuming adjectives must change their endings.

    Gadis itu cantika.
    Gadis itu cantik.

    Learners from Romance languages might try to add feminine endings (like -a) to adjectives. Indonesian adjectives never change for gender.

How It Connects

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Nouns and adjectives have no grammatical genderLevel 1