This week, we discussed tenses. In Indonesian, there are several important characteristics to keep in mind. The three areas are tense, aspect, and temporal marker. These have to do with time and if the action is completed, ongoing, or yet to be started. This lesson was very difficult. Different key words indicate different scenarios. Sudah represents a completed action. Belum means a continuing action. Bara saja means recently completed. Masih means a situation is ongoing. Masih belum means a task is expected, but it has not yet occurred. These tasks are all accompanied by time markers such as time, dates, months, or weeks. In Indonesian, these time markers are extremely important to clarifying speech. Depending on how recent or old an action is also determines what phrase to use.
This lesson taught me the importance of the vocabulary for time. Without this vocab, it is pretty much impossible to have a conversation in Indonesian. Because there are so many terms, I made flash cards to help me memorize their meanings and when to use them. I am confident in my ability to read and write with the new grammar rules, but I am not able, yet, to fully understand them as I speak or am listening. This grammar section was very difficult, and I hope to work on it more when I study Indonesian next semester.
Comments
Bowman, I completely agree that tense is difficult when learning a new language. Similar to your experience I have found that grammar is difficult to focus on when learning a new language. In my lessons, I am only focusing on the speaking portion of Quechua. However, grammar is still involved in verb conjugation and sentence structure, which has made these last lessons more difficult for me.