5 Ways to Say Thank You in Indonesian

Terima kasih → 'Thank you' (Formal)

Terima kasih is a standard, polite way to say 'thank you' in Indonesian. It gives off a sense of formality, and so you will come across this phrase often when listening to news broadcasters, people in the service industry, or... ATM machines. People in closer friendships/relationships typically don't use this phrase amongst one another.

Terima kasih banyak → 'Thank you' (Formal)

Banyak in this context means 'many'. So Terima kasih banyak essentially means, 'Thank you so much'.

Makasih → 'Thank you' (Informal)

Makasih is the contracted, informal version of Terima kasih and this is the phrase that is more commonly used amongst friends and people who are familiar with one another. Often, ya follows this phrase, resulting in Makasih ya. In Indonesian, ya is sometimes used at the end of a phrase/sentence to soften one's speech and to make it sound gentler.

Trims → 'Thank you' (Texting)

Indonesian contains a lot of abbreviated form of the language that people use when texting or casual emailing. One such example is Trims, an abbreviation of Terima kasih. Its usage is declining, however, in favor of the English Tq or Thanks.

Thanks → You know what this means

Many aspects of the current Indonesian language is influenced by English, so this is not surprising. Younger Indonesian speakers would sometimes say Thanks ya to mean, well, 'thanks'. Like previously mentioned above, ya is often appended at the end of a phrase to make one's speech sound gentler.

There we have it. Now let's find out how to respond to a 'thank you' in Indonesian:

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