How to Say 'Memiliki' in Casual Indonesian (Punya)

Open any Indonesian textbook. You'll find memiliki. It means "to have" or "to own." Perfectly valid word. Also.. the fastest way to sound like you're reading a legal document out loud.

The word you actually want is punya.

Same meaning. Fraction of the effort. Used by literally everyone, everywhere, all the time. From street vendors to your best friend to your boss at lunch.

The Swap

Formal	Casual	Meaning
Saya memiliki mobil	Gue punya mobil	I have a car
Dia memiliki rumah	Dia punya rumah	He/she has a house
Kami memiliki waktu	Kita punya waktu	We have time

See what's happening? Memiliki is one of those heavy me- prefix verbs. Indonesian is full of them. And in casual speech.. people just drop them. (If you've read our post on why Indonesians drop the me- prefix, this is a perfect example.)

The Most Common Question You'll Hear

Want to ask someone if they have something? Easy.

"Kamu punya [X]?" (Do you have [X]?)

That's it. No fancy grammar. No conjugation. Just punya.

• "Kamu punya WiFi?" (Do you have WiFi?)
• "Punya pulsa gak?" (Got any phone credit?)
• "Punya waktu sebentar?" (Got a minute?)

You'll hear some version of "Kamu punya...?" dozens of times a day. It's one of the most common casual question structures in Indonesian.

Saying "Don't Have" and "Mine"

Don't have something? Two words.

"Gak punya." (Don't have any.)

Short. Final. Conversation over.

And here's a useful trick. Punya also works as a possessive (like "mine" or "yours").

"Punya gue." (Mine.) "Punya siapa ini?" (Whose is this?)

So punya pulls double duty. "To have" and "belonging to." One word doing two jobs. Indonesian efficiency at its finest.

Recap

• Memiliki = formal, written, textbook Indonesian
• Punya = what people actually say
• Gak punya = don't have
• Punya gue/lo = mine/yours

If you say "memiliki" in casual conversation, nobody will correct you. They'll just.. quietly wonder if you learned Indonesian from a government pamphlet 😄

So.. punya pertanyaan lain tentang bahasa gaul? (Got any other questions about casual Indonesian?)