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INDONESIAN · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

ya.

used to show agreement or acceptance; yes, yea, yup

2 characters1 syllables approx.Bahasa Indonesia language

Meaning & usage

intj/ˈja/Standard-Indonesian[ˈja]Standard-Indonesian

  1. used to show agreement or acceptance; yes, yea, yup

    Ya, aku setuju denganmu.

  2. used to reinforce a question; huh, right, (UK) innit, eh

    Kamu punya cewek baru, ya?

  3. used to emphasize curiosity about a question.

    Siapa, ya, guru baru kita yang bakal ngajar di kelas.

  4. used to indicate a request; okay

    Besok kumpulkan tugasnya, ya.
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Malay ya, of uncertain origin. Theories * Borrowed from Dutch ja (“yes”), from Middle Dutch ja, from Old Dutch *jā, from Proto-Germanic *ja. Cognate with German ja and English yea. * Clipping of saya or sahaya (“yes”, literally “I, me”); from Sanskrit सहाय (sahāya). * From Dialectical Arabic يَه (yah, “yes”), (while Standard Arabic نَعَم (naʕam)). * First attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, 900 AD, as Old Malay [script needed] (ya, “yes, so, well”), which is also the reason to the function as a conjunction. From Proto-Malayic *hiaʔ (“yes”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qio (“yes”). Cognate with Central Bikol, Makasar, and Javanese io, and probably Sundanese ieu (“this”). #* 683, Laguna Copperplate Inscription line 8: ... wata [ba]rjadi sang pamegat medang dari bhaktinda di parhulun sang pamegat. Ya makanya sadanya anak ... ... representing the Chief of Mdang, due to his loyalty as a subject (slave?) of the Chief. (So?) Therefore all the descendants ...

conj/ˈja/Standard-Indonesian[ˈja]Standard-Indonesian

  1. well, so

    colloquial
    Ya, aku gak begitu tertarik soal ini.
    Ya, sekarang kudu gimana?
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Malay ya, of uncertain origin. Theories * Borrowed from Dutch ja (“yes”), from Middle Dutch ja, from Old Dutch *jā, from Proto-Germanic *ja. Cognate with German ja and English yea. * Clipping of saya or sahaya (“yes”, literally “I, me”); from Sanskrit सहाय (sahāya). * From Dialectical Arabic يَه (yah, “yes”), (while Standard Arabic نَعَم (naʕam)). * First attested in the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, 900 AD, as Old Malay [script needed] (ya, “yes, so, well”), which is also the reason to the function as a conjunction. From Proto-Malayic *hiaʔ (“yes”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qio (“yes”). Cognate with Central Bikol, Makasar, and Javanese io, and probably Sundanese ieu (“this”). #* 683, Laguna Copperplate Inscription line 8: ... wata [ba]rjadi sang pamegat medang dari bhaktinda di parhulun sang pamegat. Ya makanya sadanya anak ... ... representing the Chief of Mdang, due to his loyalty as a subject (slave?) of the Chief. (So?) Therefore all the descendants ...

particle/ˈja/Standard-Indonesian[ˈja]Standard-Indonesian

  1. the vocative particle, used for direct address; O, Oh

    Ya Tuhan!
    Ya ampun!
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Malay ya, from Classical Malay ي (ya), from Arabic يَا (yā).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.