There are different ways of asking questions in Indonesian, as in English. Sentences that ask questions are called interrogative sentences. In this chapter we look at ways of asking and answering questions.
Raised intonation
One simple way of asking questions in Indonesian is by raising our intonation. In writing, this is indicated by a question mark. Except for this question mark, the sentence looks exactly the same as a statement.
Kamu mahasiswa?
Are you a university student? (Literally:You are a university student?)
Anda tinggal di sini?
Do you live here? (Literally:You live here?)
Dia sakit?
Is he/she sick? (Literally: He/she is sick?)
Using apa(kah):
Another way of asking questions is by using apakah at the beginning of a sentence. The word apakah, like the word 'do' in English when you ask 'Do you live here?', does not have a meaning in itself; it simply tells us that the sentence is a question. Apakah makes the question sound formal.
Apakah anda tinggal di sirfei?
Do you live here?
Apakah dia suka apel?
Does he/she like apples?
You can make the questions less formal by dropping the -kah at the end of this question word.
Apa anda tinggal di sini?
Apa dia suka apel?
Questions with ‘wh-’ words
Some questions are referred to in English as ‘wh-’ questions because most of the question words start with ‘wh-’; for example, ‘what’, ‘who’, ‘where’ and ‘when’. The Indonesian equivalents of these question words are discussed below.
APA: ‘WHAT’
Apa is used to ask about objects, concrete or abstract. It means ‘what’ or ‘what kind of’. .
Apa nama binatang itu?
What is the name of that animal? .
Musik apa itu?
What kind of music is that?
Nama sekolah itu apa?
What is the name of that school? (Literally:The name of that school is what?)
SIAPA: ‘WHO’
Siapa is used to ask questions to do with a person, such as a person’s name, who a person is, or to whom an object belongs.
Siapa dia?
Who is he/she?
Siapa namanya?
What is his/her name?
Tas siapa ini?
Whose bag is this?
(The bag is associated with the person who owns it)
BERAPA: ‘HOW MANY’, ‘HOW MUCH’
Berapa is used to ask questions to do with numbers and quantity, such as the number of people, weight and measurements.
Berapa orang datang ke pesta itu?
How many people came to that party?
Halaman berapa?
What page? (In Indonesian the question literally means ‘Page how many?’. Berapa is used because the answer has to do with numbers.)
You can also add ke to this question word to mean ‘what number’ in a numerical series.
A: Kamu anak keberapa?
Which child are you? (Literally: What number child are you?)
B: Saya anak ke dua. '
I am the secondchild.
MANA
Mana is used in questions, usually not by itself, but attached to the preposition di, ke or dari: di mana (where), ke mana (where to), dari mana (where from). These expressions can be placed either at the beginning or at the end of a sentence.
Di mana kamu tinggal?
Where do you live?
Dari mana uang ini?
Where is this money from? (where did you get it from?)
KAPAN:‘WHEN’
Kapan is used to ask about a particular point in time or duration.
Kapan liburan sekolah mulai?
When does the school holiday start?
Source: A Studen's Guide to Indonesia Grammar
Oleh halaman http://musik.kapanlagi.com/