Bahasa Indonesia

Compared to European languages, Indonesian has a strikingly small use of grammatically gendered words; the same word is used for he and she or for his and her. Most of the words that refer to people (family terms, professions, etc.) have a form that does not distinguish between the sexes; for example, adik can both refer to a (younger) brother or sister; no distinction is made between girlfriend and boyfriend. In order to specify gender, an adjective has to be added: adik laki-laki corresponds to brother but really means male younger sibling. There is no word like the English man that can refer both to a male person and to a human being in general.

Note: There are some words that are gendered, for instance putri means daughter, and putra means son; words like these are usually absorbed from other languages (in these cases, from Sanskrit through the Old Javanese language). In Jakarta and some other areas, abang may be used for older brother; kakak (older sibling) is then used to mean older sister.

Plurals are expressed by means of reduplication, but only when the plural is not implied by the context. Thus person is orang, and people is orang-orang, but one thousand people is seribu orang, as the numeral makes it unnecessary to mark the plural form. (Reduplication has many other functions, however).

There are two forms of we, depending on whether you are including the person being talked to.

The basic word order is SVO. Verbs are not inflected for person or number, and there are no tenses; tense is denoted by time adverbs (such as yesterday) or by other tense indicators, such as sudah, meaning already. On the other hand, there is a complex system of verb affixes to render nuances of meaning and denote active-passive voices. Such affixes include prefixes, infixes, suffixes, and their combinations; all of which are often ignored in daily conversations.

Vowles

a
like 'a' in "father"
e
like 'e' in "vowel"
é
like 'e' in "bed", usually the difference between a schwa and an e is not indicated in writing
i (ie, j)
like 'i' in "thin"
o
like 'ow' in "low", in open positions or like 'o' in "top" in close positions
u (oe)
like 'oo' in "hoop", in open positions or like 'o' in “hope” in close positions

Consonants 

b
like 'b' in "bed"
bh
like 'b' in "bed", only in Sanskrit borrowings
c (ch, tj)
like 'ch' in "China"
d
like 'd' in "dog"
dh
like 'd' in "dog", only in Sanskrit borrowings
f
like 'ph' in "phone"
g
like 'g' in "go"
h
like 'h' in "help"
j (dj)
like 'dg' in "edge"
k
like 'c' in "cat", often silent at the end of a word
kh (ch)
like 'ch' in "loch"
l
like 'l' in "love"
m
like 'm' in "mother"
n
like 'n' in "nice"
ng
like 'ng' in "sing"
ny
like 'ny' in "canyon"
p
like 'p' in "pig"
q
like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always, only in Arabic borrowings)
r
like 'rr' in Spanish "perro"
s
like 'ss' in "hiss"
sy (sj)
like 'sh' in "sheep"
t
like 't' in "top"
v
like 'ph' in "phone"
w
like 'w' in "weight"
x
like 'cks' in "kicks"
y (j)
like 'y' in "yes"
z
like 's' in "hiss", like 'z' in "haze", like 'dg' in "edge"

Dipthongs

ai
like 'ay' in "say"
au
like 'ow' in "cow"
oi
like 'oy' in "boy"

Basic phrases

Hello.
Halo. (HUH-lo)
Hello. (informal)
He. (Hey)
How are you?
Apa kabar? (AH-pAh KAH-bar?)
Fine, thank you.
Baik, terima kasih. (BAYK, TREE-muh KUS-see)

What is your name?
Namanya siapa? (NUM-muh-nyuh shah-puh?)
My name is ______ .
Nama saya ______ . (NUM-MUH suh-yuh _____ .)
Nice to meet you.
Senang bertemu anda. (SNUNG burr-tuh-moo UN-duh)
Please.
Silakan. (see-LUH-kunn)
Please. (request)
Tolong. (TOH-long)

Thank you.
Terima kasih.
You're welcome.
Terima kasih kembali.
Yes.
Ya. (EEYUH)
No.
Tidak. (TEE-duh), Tak (TAH)

Excuse me. (getting attention)
Maaf. (MUH-UFF)
Excuse me. (begging pardon)
Maaf, permisi.
I'm sorry.
Maaf.
Goodbye
Selamat tinggal.
Goodbye (informal)
Dadah. (DUH-DUH)

I can't speak Indonesian [well].
Saya tidak bisa berbahasa Indonesia [dengan baik].
Do you speak English?
Bisa bahasa Inggris?
Is there someone here who speaks English?
Ada orang yang bisa bahasa Inggris?
Help!
Tolong!
Look out!
Hati-hati!

Good morning.
Selamat pagi. (slum-mut PUH-GUEE)
Good afternoon.
Selamat siang.
Good evening.
Selamat sore.
Good night.
Selamat malam.
Good night (to sleep)
Selamat tidur.
I don't understand.
Saya tidak mengerti.
Where is the toilet?
Di mana toiletnya? (DEE muh-nuh TOY-leht-nyuh?) 

Bahasa Indonesia is phonetic and easy to pronounce and since it does not change for gender or case it is easy to remember the words since they don't change or conjugate like Spanish does, for example.

Over all, I like Bahasa Indonesia and would love to learn this language better. Bahasa Indonesia is spoken by approximately 77 Million people or 1.16% of the worlds population.