Aye in the Indonesian Language

Halo semuanya. Apa kabar? Ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk about the meaning of the word [aye] in the Indonesian language. 

As always, we will see examples of how this word [aye] is spoken in movies, youtube videos, and whatnot to see for yourself how this word is used in real life.

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, without further ado, let's talk about it.

Aye In the Indonesian Language

[Aye] means I.  [Aye] is a word that comes from the Betawi language, and this word is not considered a word in the Indonesian language. But if you are in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, you will hear [aye] is being spoken there.

Betawi is one of the regional languages in Indonesia. The Betawi language is spoken by the indigenous people of Jakarta. There are more than 300 regional languages in Indonesia, and Betawi is one of them.

Later, we will watch how this word is spoken in one Indonesian movie.

How to Pronounce Aye

Here is how you pronounce the word [aye]. Let's watch the video down below.

Next, let's watch example from movies where this word is spoken.

Examples of Aye in Use

In this section, I gather examples from movies, youtube videos, and whatnot, where the word [aye] is spoken to see for yourself how this word is being used in a real-life situation.

The first scene we are about to watch is taken from Bajaj Bajuri The Movie (2014). Let's watch the scene down below.

Conversation from the scene with English translation is as follows.

Rita: Aye jadi iri nih, mpok. Semoga nih ye. Nanti hubungan aye bisa seromantis mpok. Ye? (I’m jealous of you. Hopefully, my relationship with my husband will be as romantic as yours.)

Oneng: Amien. (Amin.)

Bajuri: Neng, gue pegi dulu ya? (Neng, I got to go now.)

[Aye] is usually used in daily conversation in Jakarta between the Betawi people.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Jadi] is short for [menjadi] = to become. Aye jadi iri = saya jadi iri, in literal translation, is I become jealous.

[Iri] = jealous.

[Semoga] = hopefully. The words [nih ye] in [semoga nih ye] are just filler words, don't have any meaning.

[Hubungan] = relationship

[Gue] is informal for [saya] = I.

[Pegi] is how Betawi people say the word [pergi] = to go. 

[Gue pergi dulu ya] = [saya pergi dulu ya] is usually spoken when someone is about to leave the house to go to someplace.

The second scene is taken from a movie titled Pacar Kontrakan. Let's watch the clip below.

Below is the conversation from the scene with the English translations.

Manohara: Aye ke sini mo minta maaf. (I come here to apologize.)

Aladin: Mo minta maap? Maapin kenape? Ni ade ape sih? (Come here to apologize? For what? Hey, what's wrong?)

Let's learn vocabulary from the scene above.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Mo] is the informal way of saying [mau]. In conversational Indonesian, we usually say [mo] instead of [mau] or when we say [mau] fast enough, it will morph into [mo]. [Mo] = [mau] = want.

[Minta maaf] = to apologize.

[Maap] is the same as [maaf]. In conversational Indonesian, you will hear a slight variation of how people pronounce maaf. Some pronounce [maap] like what Aladin did because he is from Betawi.

[Maapin] = [maafin] is the colloquial way of saying [maafkan] = to apologize someone.

[Kenape] = [kenapa] = why. Betawi people tend to change [a] into [e] like in this example.

[Ni] is short for [ini] = this.

[Ni ade ape sih?] = [Ini ada apa sih?]. As I explained earlier, Betawi people tend to change [a] into [e] like in this example. [Sih] doesn't have any meaning, and for more about [sih], you can read this article, Sih in the Indonesian Language.

[Ini ada apa sih?] is usually said when you want to know what is just happened or when you want to know what is wrong with someone or something.

So, I guess this is all for now. If I find another scene where this word [aye] is spoken, Insha Allah, I will update this article again. If you have any questions regarding this topic, just leave them in the comment section below, and I'll be happy to answer them.

Thank you for reading my article, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye now.