Indonesian Proverbs and Sayings

There are many ways of learning Bahasa Indonesia. But, the fastest way to master this language is to practice it in daily conversations. Well, in daily conversation usually Indonesian will use a lot of slang words, while in documents, news, letters, literature, and other writings, standard formal Bahasa Indonesia will be used. Proverbs and sayings are also widely used in those pieces.

Here are some proverbs and sayings in Bahasa Indonesia that will help you to understand something you read or hear more, and of course help you to learn Bahasa Indonesia:

Proverbs or sayings	Literal meaning	Meaning
Nasi sudah menjadi bubur	The rice has become porridge	What’s done is done
Ada udang di balik batu	A shrimp hides behind the stone	There is hidden agenda/hidden intention (usually negative intention) behind something or someone’s activity
Rumput tetangga selalu lebih hijau	The neighbor’s grass is always greener than ours	What people have always appears better/more/bigger than ours
Sambil menyelam minum air	Drinking water while diving	Multitasking, doing more than one thing at the same time
Bertepuk sebelah tangan	To clap with only one hand	The feeling/attraction/agreement is one-sided (usually used for a love interest, or in business environment when striking a deal)
Seperti/bagai telur di ujung tanduk	Like an egg on the tip of a horn	In a dangerous, tense, critical situation
Otak di dengkul	Brain on the knees	Someone is so dumb
Tong kosong nyaring bunyinya	Empty can sounds the loudest	People who don’t have knowledge (or the dumbest) speak the loudest
Lempar batu sembunyi tangan	The hand that throws the stone is hidden	Blame someone or make them responsible for a problem you should deal with
Sepandai-pandai tupai melompat, akhirnya jatuh juga	No matter how smart a squirrel jumps, it will eventually fall	Even the wisest and most competent man makes mistakes / no matter how hard one does something (unfairly or underhandedly), people will know eventually
Sudah jatuh tertimpa tangga	Fell and struck down by a ladder	Experience something unlucky more than once in a short period of time / make a difficult situation even worse for someone
Besar pasak daripada tiang	The peg is bigger than the pole	Expenditure is way bigger than the income
Buah jatuh tidak jauh dari pohonnya	The fruit falls near the tree	Son’s or daughter’s nature resembles their parents
Berakit ke hulu, berenang ke tepian	Rafting to the headwaters, swimming to the riversides	No pain no gain; in order to achieve something great, suffering is necessary
Kacang lupa kulitnya	Peanut forgets its shell	Someone who forgets or doesn’t want to acknowledge his family/friends once he becomes successful
Air tenang menghanyutkan	Still water can sweep you away	a calm deamenor may hide a lot of knowledge
Dikasih/diberi hati, minta jantung	Get the liver but still ask for the heart	Refers to situation when someone becomes generous to someone but then he demands even more
Tak ada gading yang tak retak	There is always imperfect tusk	Usually used in the end of the speech or text, means the works/speech/text is imperfect and still needs some improvements
Ada asap ada api	If there is smoke, there must be the fire	No effect without some cause
Karena nila setitik, rusak susu sebelanga	With only a drop of poison, a pot of milk is damaged	Because only a small mistake, all the efforts are wasted
Bagai pungguk merindukan bulan	Like an owl missing/yearning for the moon	To wish for something impossible
Bagai pinang dibelah dua	Like a betel nut split in half	Identical, very similar
Bagai air di daun talas	As the water is on the taro leaf	Describes a volatile person who can’t be trusted or wishy-washy
Guru kencing berdiri, murid kencing berlari	A teacher pees standing up, and pupils pee on the run	If the teacher (this can refers to parents, teacher, role models) is bad, the youngsters or the followers are worse
Mulutmu harimaumu	Your mouth is your tiger	Control every word you say because words are reflection of yourself
Tak ada rotan akar pun jadi	If there is no rattan, roots can be used	If you can’t find the things you need, use something else