Mba Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Halo semuanya. Apa kabar? Today, I want to talk to you about the meaning of [mba] in Bahasa Indonesia. In the previous article, I have already talked about the meaning of [mas]. You can read it in my article titled, Mas Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia.

Because these two words are kind of like paired words. So, I think you better read my article explaining the word [mas] in Bahasa Indonesia.

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 word.

Mba Meaning In Bahasa Indonesia

Mba is an honorific title that we use when we address older women in Indonesia. In Indonesia, there are a lot of honorific titles to address to people and it's considered not polite if we misuse one of them when talking to them.

Sometimes you will see this is written as [mbak]. This word came from the Javanese language and it has been used widely in Indonesia.

Mba in English literally means sister. You use this honorific title when talking to older women in Indonesia. We will see a couple of scenes from Indonesian movies to better understand how to use this word [mba].

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

1. Older women. She must be older than you are.
2. A stranger that you meet on the street. For example, you meet a woman on the street and she is at the same age as you are, but because you don't know her when you are calling her, you need to use honorific title mba.
3. She is your boss, and she is not yet married. Even though she is younger than you, if she is your boss then it's better if you use honorific title mba when you're addressing her.

How to Pronounce Mba

Let's hear below how to pronounce mba.


Now, let's watch a couple of scenes from Indonesian movies where this word [mba] is being spoken.

Mba In Movie Scenes

Let's watch the first scene here. It is from an Indonesian movie, The East.

Dhewo in this scene is talking to his boss and he uses the word [mba] every time he addresses her name.

The conversation in the scene with English translation is as follows.

A: Maaf, mba. Soal tayangan yang salah itu, begini, mba. Ini.. (Excuse me. About the wrong scene, I can explain it to you. This..) 

B: Kalau mau ngomong itu duduk dulu! Bisa ngga, sih? (If you want to talk, you need to first sit! Can you do that?) 

A: Soal tayangan yang salah itu, begini, mba. Kita.. (About the wrong scene, I can explain it to you. We..) 

B: Siapa yang bilang loe udah bisa ngomong, sih? Dhewo! Jabatan loe itu apa sih? (Who says that you can speak already? Dhewo! What is your position in this office?) 

A: Kepala Departemen, mba. (Head of a department.) 

B: Suka sama jabatan loe? (Do you like your position?) 

A: Suka, mba. (Yes, I do.)

So, now let's watch the next scene. This next scene is still from the same movie, The East. Let's watch it.

The conversation in the scene with English translation is as follows.

A: Mana Gista? (Where is Gista?) 

B: Toilet, mba. (She’s in the toilet.)

And now, let's watch from another movie, Tetangga Masa Gitu.

There are two couples in this scene that just getting to know each other. The conversation in the scene with English translation is as follows.

A: Kalau mba Angel sama mas Adi, kerja di mana ya? (Where do you guys work?) 

B: Kalau saya di law firm, kalau suami saya, guru gambar di SMA Matahari. (I work at the law firm and my husband, he is a drawing teacher at Matahari High School.) 

A: Oh, guru gambar? Wah, keren banget tuh, mas! (A drawing teacher? Wow! That’s cool!)

Next, we're going to see a scene from another Indonesian movie, Kubikal. Let's watch below.

In this scene, Shinta, who is younger than Rina, used the word [mba] when she addressed her. The conversation in the scene with English translation is as follows.

A: Shinta! Masa mainan handphone lagi sih? Bantuin mikir dong! Kita bakalan telat. (Shinta! Please, don’t play with your mobile phone! Help us think! We’re gonna be late.) 

B: Mba Rin, aku kan punya online shop ya dan ini lagi banyak banget pesanan. Atau mungkin mba Rina mau mesan di aku juga? Aku jual semua barang yang ada di dunia. (Rina, I have an online shop and right now I’ve got many orders. Or maybe you want to order to me also? I sell everything that exists in this world.)

And the last scene is from Mimpi Metropolitan. Let's watch the scene down below.

Bambang just met Melanie and he tries being polite by using the word [mba] before her name when addressing her name.

The conversation in the scene with English translation is as follows.

A: Saya Bambang. Bambang Soedarmo. Lelaki baik, ramah, bijaksana. (I’m Bambang. Bambang Soedarmo. Good, nice and a wise guy. 

B: Melanie. (Melanie.) 

A: Mba Melanie, kerja di Hits TV, ya? (Are you working at Hits TV?) 

B: Kok loe tahu? (How do you know?) 

A: Baca. (I read from your shirt.) 

B: Baru di Jakarta? (Are you new in Jakarta?) 

A: Baru, mba. (Yes, I am.)

So, I think this is a wrap. I hope that you understand my explanation and if there is something that you want to ask me, just comment in the comment section. I'll be happy to answer. Bye now.