Read Beginner Indonesian Stories

Quick facts about Indonesian

Speakers

About 252 million people speak Indonesian, but only around 75 million as a native language; some 177 million speak it as a second language (Ethnologue figures for 2020, as cited by Wikipedia).¹

Did you know?

Indonesian does not regularly mark plural nouns; when plurality matters, a speaker can repeat the word or add a marker, so "students" is either murid-murid or para murid.¹

The main challenge

Standard Indonesian is used mainly in formal settings, and everyday speech differs from it noticeably: in informal Jakarta speech, for example, tidak ("no, not") becomes nggak and membuat ("make") becomes bikin.¹

Sources

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language

About the Indonesian language

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_language
2. https://ejaan.kemendikdasmen.go.id/
3. https://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ejaan_yang_Disempurnakan
4. https://wals.info/datapoint/81A/wals_code_ind
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_grammar
6. https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/East_Timor_2002
7. https://setkab.go.id/en/bahasa-indonesia-named-unesco-general-conference-official-language/

Indonesian reading proficiency benchmarks (CEFR)

Indonesia has its own scales: the UKBI proficiency test reports seven ratings, from Istimewa down to Terbatas, and the BIPA programme for foreign learners uses its own numbered levels (BIPA 1, BIPA 2 and up). No published crosswalk from either scale to the CEFR was found, so this column uses CEFR only.

Reference corpora

Frequency data and official reference works for standard Indonesian:¹

• Frequency Dictionary Indonesian: By Uwe Quasthoff and Sabine Fiedler, edited by Erla Hallsteinsdóttir (Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2015). The printed volume ranks the 1,000 most frequent word forms and lists the top 10,000 alphabetically; its CD-ROM gives relative frequencies for up to 1,000,000 word forms.²
• KBBI: The Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, now in its sixth edition online, is the official dictionary of standard Indonesian, published by the national language agency (Badan Bahasa).¹
• Register: Stichos writes Indonesian readers in standard written Indonesian (bahasa baku) at every level, following the EYD spelling rules: tidak rather than nggak, and saya/Anda rather than Jakarta slang such as gue/lu.

1. https://kbbi.kemendikdasmen.go.id/
2. https://wortschatz-leipzig.de/en/freqdict

Readability design principles

Indonesian readability research has mostly tested English formulas on Indonesian text.¹

• Formula comparison: Yasa, Sutama and Martha (2013) checked Flesch, the Fog Index, the Fry graph, SMOG and a formula for Indonesian texts against the test results of 324 ninth-grade students in Singaraja, Bali. They found both the English-based formulas and the Indonesian one accurate, with no significant difference between them.¹
• Stichos: Stichos sets difficulty with level-by-level grammar rules and sentence-length limits rather than a readability score: 3 to 5 words per sentence at A0, then by default at most 8 words at A1, 12 at A2, 17 at B1 and 23 at B2.

1. https://ejournal-pasca.undiksha.ac.id/index.php/jurnal_bahasa/article/view/516

Script & grammar scaffolding

• Verb affixes: From A0, everyday verbs appear in their standard written form, with the active prefix meN- where prose requires it (melihat, membuat), because a bare root such as lihat reads as a command. The passive prefix di- is held back until A2, which also adds ber- and ter-. The suffixes -kan and -i and the noun-forming pe-an and ke-an wait until B1, and complex circumfixes such as memper-...-kan come in at B2.
• Time and negation: Indonesian verbs do not mark tense, and A0 leaves out the aspect markers sedang, sudah and akan. A1 adds them along with belum.
• Joining clauses: A0 uses no conjunctions at all: one main clause per sentence. A1 allows dan; A2 adds atau, tetapi and simple time clauses; by B1, relative clauses with yang and clauses of cause and condition with karena and jika are open.
• Requests: At A0 and A1, requests take the form minta plus a noun (Minta satu kopi, “one coffee, please”) rather than a command.

Related academic & framework resources

• UKBI: Predikat: The seven UKBI ratings and their score ranges, on the official UKBI site of Indonesia’s Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education.
• BIPA Daring: Badan Bahasa’s portal for Indonesian for foreign speakers (BIPA), with teaching materials such as the Sahabatku Indonesia series.
• Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia yang Disempurnakan, Edisi V: The official spelling and punctuation rules for Indonesian, fifth edition.
• KBBI VI Daring: The online sixth edition of the official Indonesian dictionary, from Badan Bahasa.
• Kecermatan Formula Flesch, Fog Index, Grafik Fry, SMOG, dan BI: The 2013 study by Yasa, Sutama and Martha comparing readability formulas on Indonesian textbook texts.
• Wortschatz Leipzig: frequency dictionaries: The Leipzig University project page for its frequency dictionaries.

Frequently asked questions

What writing system does Indonesian use?

Latin alphabet, spelled according to the official EYD rules, whose fifth edition (2022) replaced the earlier PUEBI guidelines

Is Stichos suitable for complete beginners with zero prior knowledge (A0)?

Yes. A0 is a primary focus, designed for readers with no prior knowledge. A1 then adds basic everyday vocabulary and simple connected clauses as your foundation grows.

Are Stichos levels the same as CEFR levels?

Not exactly. Stichos levels use the familiar CEFR names, from A0 to B2, and are modelled on the CEFR (the Common European Framework of Reference), so a Stichos B1 is meant to feel close to a B1 in your course book. They aren't an official CEFR rating, and different books and exams draw the lines in slightly different places. A0 is Stichos's own addition, just below the framework's first level.

Are the stories written by AI, and how accurate are they?

Yes. Stories are generated by AI and then checked by further automated steps against the grammar and vocabulary rules for your level. That catches most problems, but it isn't a human editor, so an occasional unnatural phrase or slip can get through. Treat Stichos as practice material, and check anything you're unsure of with a teacher or a reference.

Can I read stories with explanations in my native language?

Yes. Stichos allows you to pair any target language with any native support language. You can read a Croatian story with French glosses, or a German story with Spanish explanations.

How does word lookup work while reading?

Tap or click any word for its meaning in that sentence, explained in your own language. In the full version, you can save any word to your Vocab Bank for later review.

Is the preview free, and what happens to my email?

Yes. The preview is free and needs no account. If you join the Reading List, we use your email to send your 3 free sample stories (PDF, after you confirm your address) and to let you know when we fully open. Our Privacy Policy explains how we handle it.

Do stories include audio or narration?

Story narration isn't part of the preview. At launch, the Premium Audio add-on reads every story aloud in a natural-sounding AI voice, in 39 of our 40 languages (Esperanto doesn't have audio support yet).