3.1 PUEBI Spelling Rules

PUEBI Spelling Rules

Quick Answer: PUEBI (Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia) is Indonesia's official spelling system, the successor to EYD (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan). It governs how every Indonesian word is written — loanwords, capitalisation, doubled letters, numerals, and symbols. Merespons Kaidah items frequently test whether you can recognise the PUEBI-conformant spelling against a near-miss distractor.

What PUEBI Is and Why It Matters

The Pedoman Umum Ejaan Bahasa Indonesia (PUEBI) is the official spelling guideline issued by Badan Bahasa, updated most recently in 2015 with refinements through 2017. It replaced the older EYD (Ejaan Yang Disempurnakan, in force since 1972) and is the reference standard for every formal document, textbook, and exam in Indonesia. UKBI's Merespons Kaidah section treats PUEBI as a primary content domain: you will see items asking which of four spellings conforms, which sentence contains a non-standard form, or which loanword is correctly adapted.

Loanword Spelling (Asing Serapan)

Foreign words adopted into Indonesian are respelled to fit Indonesian phonotactics. The original spelling is the asal (source) form; the respelled form is the baku form used in Indonesian.

Two recurring patterns: (1) kw- clusters from older Dutch-influenced spelling collapse to k- (kualitas, kuantitas, kuitansi); (2) final -a in foreign derivations ending in -tion/-tät becomes -is (analisis, diagnosis, sintesis).

Consonant Clusters

Indonesian roots generally do not begin with consonant clusters, but loanwords preserve them: instrumen, konstruksi, kompleks, transmisi, strategi, standar. When a prefix is added to a cluster-initial root, the prefix keeps its full form and the cluster is retained: ber- + strategi → berstrategi, peN- + struktur → penstruktur. The assimilation rules for meN- and peN- covered in Sections 3.3 and 3.4 apply only to single-consonant root-initial positions, not to clusters.

Doubled Letters

Doubled consonants in loanwords are retained as in the source: asisten, klasik (one s), komunikasi (one m), konstruksi (one s before t). When a prefix ending in a consonant meets a root starting with a vowel, both are written and not elided: meN- + ajar → mengajar (one a after the ng glide), meng- + erti → mengerti. Doubled vowels across a morpheme boundary are normal: mengerti has ng followed by e; nothing is dropped.

Capitalisation (Pemakaian Huruf Kapital)

PUEBI prescribes capital letters for:

• The first letter of a sentence and the first letter of a direct quotation.
• Proper names of people, places, and organisations: Ahmad Yani, Jakarta, Badan Bahasa, Universitas Gadjah Mada.
• Titles of respect when used as part of a name: Bapak Ahmad, Ibu Siti, Profesor Wirasena. When used generically ("bapak-bapak di kantor"), the word is lowercase.
• Names of ethnic groups, languages, and religions: orang Jawa, bahasa Indonesia, agama Islam, Hindu, Buddha, Kristen.
• Geographical and historical names: Asia Tenggara, Zaman Pertengahan, Perang Diponegoro.
• Book titles and chapter headings (capital first letter only, not title-case as in English).
• Days, months, and holidays: Senin, Maret, Idul Fitri, Natal (note: seasons and centuries are not capitalised: musim hujan, abad ke-20).

A common UKBI trap is over-capitalising titles or generic nouns, and under-capitalising the first letter after a colon that begins a full sentence.

Numerals and Symbols (Pemakaian Angka dan Tanda)

• Use figures for counts above ten, for measurements, dates, page numbers, and addresses: 25 orang, 1,5 jam, halaman 14, Jalan Diponegoro No. 7.
• Use words for counts one through nine, for fractions in non-technical prose, and for any number that opens a sentence: Lima puluh siswa hadir; sepertiga dari jumlah itu.
• Indonesian uses the period (.) as the thousands separator and comma (,) as the decimal marker — the opposite of English. So 1.500 means one thousand five hundred, and 3,5 means three and a half. This is heavily tested.
• Roman numerals are used for ordinal numbering of rulers, popes, and congresses: Pangeran Charles III, Paus Yohanes Paulus II, Konferensi ke-15.
• Percent is written with the symbol and a space: 25 % (PUEBI requires a space before the percent sign — a fine detail frequently tested).
• Currency: Rp5.000 (no space between Rp and the figure in PUEBI; newer style guides increasingly accept Rp 5.000, so check the local convention — UKBI currently follows the no-space form).

Common Spelling Errors to Recognise

When you see a Merespons Kaidah item, scan for: (1) loanwords mis-respelled (telpon, aktifitas, kwitansi); (2) inappropriate doubling (komunikasii, analiss); (3) mis-capitalised titles (Bapak written lowercase at sentence start); (4) numerals written with the wrong separator (1,500 for fifteen hundred). Mastering these four families catches the majority of PUEBI spelling items.