Editing Indonesian language (section)

=== Measure words ===
Another distinguishing feature of Indonesian is its use of [[measure word]]s, also called [[Classifier (linguistics)|classifiers]] (''kata penggolong''). In this way, it is similar to many other languages of Asia, including [[Chinese language|Chinese]], [[Japanese language|Japanese]], [[Vietnamese language|Vietnamese]], [[Thai language|Thai]], [[Burmese language|Burmese]], and [[Bengali language|Bengali]].

Measure words are also found in English such as ''two head of cattle'' or ''a loaf of bread'', where ''*two cattle'' and ''a bread''{{efn|This article uses [[Asterisk#Ungrammaticality|asterisks]] to indicate ungrammatical examples.}} would be ungrammatical. The word ''satu'' reduces to ''se-'' {{IPA|/sə/}}, as it does in other compounds:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Measure word
! Used for measuring
! Literal translation
! Example
|-
| buah
| things (in general), large things, abstract nouns<br />houses, cars, ships, mountains; books, rivers, chairs, some fruits, thoughts, etc.
| 'fruit'
| dua buah meja (two tables), lima buah rumah (five houses)
|-
| ekor 
| animals
| 'tail'
| seekor ayam (a chicken), tiga ekor kambing (three goats)
|-
| orang
| human beings
| 'person'
| seorang laki-laki (a man), enam orang petani (six farmers), seratus orang murid (a hundred students)
|-
| biji
| smaller rounded objects<br />most fruits, cups, nuts
| 'grain'
| sebiji/ sebutir telur (an egg), sebutir/ butiran-butiran beras (rice or rices)
|-
| batang
| long stiff things<br />trees, walking sticks, pencils
| 'trunk, rod'
| sebatang tongkat (a stick)
|-
| həlai
| things in thin layers or sheets<br />paper, cloth, feathers, hair
| 'leaf'
| sepuluh helai pakaian (ten cloths)
|-
| kəping keping
| flat fragments, slabs of stone, pieces of wood, pieces of bread, land, coins, paper 
| 'chip'
|sekeping uang logam (a coin)
|-
| pucuk
| letters, firearms, needles
| 'sprout'
| sepucuk senjata (a weapon)
|-
| bilah
| things which cut lengthwise and thicker
| 'blade'
| sebilah kayu (a piece of wood)
|-
| bidanɡ 
| things shaped square or which can be measured with number 
| 'field'
| sebidang tanah/lahan (an area)
|-
| potong 
|things that are cut<br/>bread
|'cut'
|sepotong roti (slices of bread)
|-
| utas 
|nets, cords, ribbons
| 'thread'
|seutas tali (a rope)
|-
| carik 
|things easily torn, like paper 
|'shred'
|secarik kertas (a piece of paper)
|}

''Example'':
Measure words are not necessary just to say "a": ''burung'' "a bird, birds". Using ''se-'' plus a measure word is closer to English "one" or "a certain":
:''Ada seekor burung yang bisa berbicara''
:"There was a (certain) bird that could talk"