Nona in the Indonesian Language

Halo semuanya. Ketemu lagi dengan saya, Iman Prabawa. In this article, I want to talk about the meaning of the word [nona] in the Indonesian language. As always, we will watch scenes from movies where this word [nona] is spoken.

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 this.

Meaning of Nona in the Indonesian Language

[Nona] in the Indonesian language is an honorific title to address young females who are young and unmarried.

How to Pronounce Nona

Here is how you pronounce [nona] in Indonesian.

Next, let's watch examples where Indonesians use [nona].

Examples of Nona In Use

In this section, I will gather examples that I found in movies, videos, and whatnot where this word [nona] is spoken.

The first clip we are about to watch is taken from a movie called Sin (2019).

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The conversation from the scene with English translations is as follows.

A man: Selamat malam, nona. Bisa bicara dulu sebentar kah? (Good evening, miss. May I speak with you for a second?)

Metta: He'eh. (Okay.)

In this scene, the man addresses the young woman with nona. [Nona] is quite formal, and in Jakarta, where I live, I seldom hear people using the word [nona] except in a formal situation.

The second clip is taken from a TV program called Waktu Indonesian Timur.

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The conversation from the scene with English translations is as follows.

Abdur: Nona Vani. (Miss Vani.)

Vani: Iya? (Yes?)

Abdur: Semisal saya adalah seorang pilot dan nona adalah penumpang saya, maka saya tidak pernah takut dengan kabut yang mengganggu jarak pandang. Entah itu jarak pandang 1 km, 2 km, 5 km. Tidak masalah. (If I were a pilot and you were my passenger, I would never be afraid of fog that would interfere with my visibility. Whether it's a viewing distance of 1 km, 2 km, 5 km. No problem.)

Vani: Kenapa tuh? (Why is that?)

Abdur: Karena bersama nona Vani, saya bisa melihat lebih jauh dari itu. Saya melihat masa depan. Saya melihat sosok ibu dari anak-anak saya. (Because when I'm with you, I can see further than that. I see the future. I saw the figure of a mother of my children.)

So, as you can see, [nona] is used to address a young, unmarried female but is usually used in a formal context in Jakarta.

Vocabulary From the Scene

[Semisal] = [andai] = If I were.. This is used to make conditional sentences in the Indonesian language. For example: Andai saya bisa terbang maka saya akan pergi ke Amerika. (If I can fly, then I will go to America.)

[Entah] = Whether, but can also mean [don't know]. For example: 

A: Loe tahu dia di mana ngga? (Do you know where she is?)
B: Entah. (No, I don't know.)

[Kenapa tuh?] is usually used to ask why something is.

[Melihat] = to see.

[Masa depan] = future.

[Anak-anak] = children.

[Sosok ibu] = figure of a mother.

     Read also: Habis In Indonesian

So, I guess this is going to wrap up for now. If I find another scene where this word [nona] is spoken, Insha Allah, I will update this article again. 

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