Basic Prepositions in Indonesian

Overview

Indonesian prepositions are simple and highly regular. The three most important ones form a natural set: di (at/in — location), ke (to — destination), and dari (from — origin). These three cover most spatial relationships you will need in daily conversation.

Beyond this core trio, Indonesian has several other common prepositions: dengan (with), untuk (for), tanpa (without), and pada (on/at, used for time and formal contexts). Unlike English, Indonesian prepositions do not change form and are never contracted.

How It Works

The Core Three

Preposition	Meaning	Use	Example
di	at, in, on	Location (where)	di rumah (at home)
ke	to	Direction (where to)	ke sekolah (to school)
dari	from	Origin (where from)	dari Indonesia (from Indonesia)

Other Common Prepositions

Preposition	Meaning	Example
dengan	with	dengan teman (with a friend)
untuk	for	untuk kamu (for you)
tanpa	without	tanpa gula (without sugar)
pada	on/at (time/formal)	pada hari Senin (on Monday)
oleh	by (agent)	oleh pemerintah (by the government)
tentang	about	tentang Indonesia (about Indonesia)

Di vs. Ke vs. Dari

Question	Preposition	Example
Where? (location)	di	Saya di rumah. (I am at home.)
Where to? (destination)	ke	Saya pergi ke pasar. (I go to the market.)
Where from? (origin)	dari	Saya dari Jakarta. (I am from Jakarta.)

Examples in Context

Indonesian	English	Note
di rumah	at home	Location
ke sekolah	to school	Destination
dari Indonesia	from Indonesia	Origin
dengan teman	with a friend	Accompaniment
Saya tinggal di Bali.	I live in Bali.	Di for location
Dia pergi ke kantor.	He goes to the office.	Ke for direction
Kopi tanpa gula.	Coffee without sugar.	Tanpa for absence
Ini untuk kamu.	This is for you.	Untuk for recipient
Buku tentang sejarah.	A book about history.	Tentang for topic
Dari mana kamu?	Where are you from?	Dari for origin

Common Mistakes

Confusing di and ke

• Wrong: Saya pergi di sekolah. (I go at school)
• Right: Saya pergi ke sekolah. (I go to school)
• Why: Di indicates a static location; ke indicates movement toward a destination.

Writing di as part of the noun

• Wrong: dirumah (one word)
• Right: di rumah (two words)
• Why: The preposition di is written separately from the following noun. Note: the prefix di- (passive marker) is attached to verbs, but that is a different di.

Forgetting prepositions with location verbs

• Wrong: Saya tinggal Jakarta.
• Right: Saya tinggal di Jakarta.
• Why: Unlike some verbs in English, Indonesian location verbs still require a preposition.

Practice Tips

1. Practice the di/ke/dari trio by describing your daily movements: Saya di rumah. Saya pergi ke kantor. Saya pulang dari kantor. This builds the habit of choosing the right preposition.
2. Combine prepositions with location vocabulary: di pasar, ke rumah sakit, dari sekolah, dengan teman, untuk ibu.

Related Concepts

• Location Words — place nouns used with prepositions
• Advanced Prepositions — complex prepositional phrases
• Location Adverbs — spatial adverbs like di sini, di sana