Mas Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya. Apa kabar kalian? Today, I want to talk to you about the meaning of mas in Bahasa Indonesia. You will hear this word a lot if you're in Indonesia. I will also give you a lot of scenes from Indonesian movies so that you will understand and know how to use this word properly.

If you have any questions regarding the Indonesian language, you can ask me directly. You can see how to do that on my About Me page. 

If you are a beginner in the Indonesian language, you can learn step by step with My Lesson Here.

So, let's talk about this mas meaning.

Mas In Bahasa Indonesia

Mas is an honorific title that we use to address older men in Indonesia. It's considered not polite in Indonesia if we talk to a man that is older than we are and we're not using an honorific title before their names.

Mas came from a local language in Indonesia, which is the Javanese Language, but nowadays, it's spread all over Indonesia and is used widely.

[Mas], in English, literally means bro/brother. We will see later from Indonesian movie scenes how this is being used in daily conversation.

To whom do we use mas? There are 3 things to remember when you want to use this honorific title. Those are:

1. Older men. You say mas to a man who is older than you are.
2. A stranger that you meet on the street. For example, if you meet a man on the street and he is at the same age as you, then you need to use mas when addressing him.
3. He is your boss, and he is not yet married. Maybe he is younger than you are but he is your boss, then it's better and more polite if you use mas before his name when addressing his name.

How to Pronounce Mas

Let's hear below how to pronounce the word mas in the Indonesian language.


And now let's see scenes from Indonesian movies where this word [mas] is being spoken.

Mas In Movie Scenes

First, let's look at the scene that I took from an Indonesian movie, Tetangga Masa Gitu.

There are two couples there, Angel and Adi and the second couples are Bastian and Bintang. Angel and Adi are older than Bastian and Bintang, that's why Bastian calls Adi with [mas] before saying his name.

And now, let's watch the scene from an Indonesian movie, The East. In the scene, there are a woman and a man. The man's name is Dhewo and the woman's name is Mutia. Dhewo is Mutia's boss and he's calling Mutia and wants to talk to her in his office as soon as she has finished with her job.

Now, let's watch the scene from an Indonesian movie, Mimpi Metropolitan. When you are talking to a stranger in Indonesia and you think that the man you're talking to is at the same age or older than you then you need to say [mas] to him.

Let's watch in this scene where Bambang talks to a stranger in the scene and they both use [mas] when they're referring to each other.

Now, let's watch the scene from an Indonesian movie, Strawberry Surprise. In this scene, two men who didn't know each other were talking. They used the word [mas] when addressing each other.

And the last scene is from an Indonesian movie, 3 Dara 2. Here, the wife is talking to her husband. Usually, the wives in Indonesia call their husbands with the honorific title [mas] before their names or they can just call their husband with [mas]. This is a common practice in Java island but not in all islands in Indonesia.

So, let's watch the scene below.

I think this is a wrap for this article. I hope that I explained this mas meaning well. If you have any questions, just comment in the comment section and I will be glad to answer your questions. Thanks a lot and I'll talk to you soon. Bye now.