Mereka is the ordinary third-person plural pronoun for people: “they” or “them.” It can also refer to animals or objects treated as characters, but it is not a universal replacement for every English they. With ordinary inanimate things, Indonesian often repeats the noun, uses a more specific noun phrase, or leaves a recoverable reference unspoken.
That animacy boundary is the key to natural usage. This page covers plural reference while leaving demonstratives, full relative-clause syntax, and voice paradigms to dedicated adjacent pages.
Core human plural
Once two or more people are identifiable, mereka can resume them without repeating their names or description.
Orang tua saya tinggal di Semarang. Mereka mengunjungi kami setiap dua bulan.
My parents live in Semarang. They visit us every two months.
Rina dan Dedi sudah tiba. Mereka sedang menunggu di lobi.
Rina and Dedi have arrived. They are waiting in the lobby.
Saya bertemu tetangga baru tadi malam dan mengundang mereka untuk makan bersama.
I met the new neighbors last night and invited them to eat with us.
In the first two examples, mereka is the subject. In the third, it is the object. It can also follow a preposition or mark possession as a separate word.
Kami sudah menjelaskan aturan itu kepada mereka.
We have explained that rule to them.
Rumah mereka berada di ujung jalan ini.
Their house is at the end of this street.
Indonesian does not change mereka for subject versus object, and verbs do not agree with it: mereka datang, not a special plural form of datang.
Family reference
Family nouns can be semantically plural even without visible reduplication. Orang tua saya normally means “my parents” in the relevant context, and mereka can resume both people.
Kakak-kakak saya bekerja di kota yang berbeda, tetapi mereka sering menelepon Ibu pada akhir pekan.
My older siblings work in different cities, but they often call Mom on weekends.
Paman dan bibi saya datang lebih awal karena mereka ingin membantu memasak.
My uncle and aunt arrived early because they wanted to help cook.
The pronoun does not reveal gender composition. Mereka can refer to two women, two men, or any mixed group. It also cannot mean singular gender-neutral “they” in ordinary Standard Indonesian: a single unknown person is resumed with dia, ia in suitable written subject position, or a repeated description.
A team: group versus members
A collective such as tim is grammatically one noun, but it denotes human members. Mereka is natural when discourse shifts from the team as an organization to the players or workers who compose it.
Tim voli sekolah kami tiba pagi ini. Mereka langsung berlatih di gedung olahraga.
Our school volleyball team arrived this morning. They immediately practiced in the gym.
Para pemain sudah memahami strategi baru, tetapi mereka masih perlu memperbaiki komunikasi.
The players already understand the new strategy, but they still need to improve communication.
If an institution rather than its human members remains the focus, repeat the institutional noun in formal prose: Perusahaan itu mengubah kebijakannya. Perusahaan tersebut... This avoids making mereka carry an inanimate corporate reading.
The distinction is conceptual, not agreement. Indonesian never changes the verb according to whether tim is viewed as one organization or its several members.
Personified animals and story characters
Stories routinely make animals speak, plan, and form relationships. Once they behave as persons, mereka can refer to them.
Kancil dan Kura-Kura sepakat menyeberangi sungai bersama. Mereka mencari bagian sungai yang paling dangkal.
Mouse Deer and Tortoise agreed to cross the river together. They looked for the shallowest part. (storytelling)
Dua ekor anak kucing itu selalu tidur berdekatan; mereka tampak gelisah jika dipisahkan.
Those two kittens always sleep close together; they seem anxious if separated. (affectionate person-like reference)
The first is literary/storytelling personification. The second is possible in informal affectionate pet talk because the animals are treated as individual experiencers. A biological report would more often repeat kedua anak kucing itu or use a suitable technical noun phrase.
Ordinary objects: repeat the noun
English readily says, “I bought three glasses. They were expensive.” Neutral Indonesian usually maintains object reference with the noun itself rather than mereka.
Saya membeli tiga gelas baru. Gelas-gelas itu ternyata terlalu tinggi untuk lemari kami.
I bought three new glasses. They turned out to be too tall for our cupboard.
Ada empat berkas di meja. Keempat berkas itu harus dikirim hari ini.
There are four files on the desk. All four files have to be sent today.
Dua lampu di ruang depan sudah rusak. Lampu tersebut akan diganti besok.
Two lights in the front room are broken. The lights will be replaced tomorrow. (formal)
Gelas-gelas itu explicitly presents multiple glasses; keempat berkas itu packages the known set of four; lampu tersebut (formal) can retain a plural interpretation from context even though lampu itself is not reduplicated. These options are not clumsy repetition in Indonesian. They are a normal reference strategy.
Ordinary objects: omit recoverable material
Indonesian also permits omission when number and identity remain clear. The second phrase can contain a numeral without repeating the noun, or a predicate can leave its understood argument unspoken.
Ada lima kursi di teras, tetapi dua sudah rusak.
There are five chairs on the terrace, but two are already broken.
Piring-piring itu sudah bersih; tolong taruh di lemari.
Those plates are clean; please put them in the cupboard.
In the first, dua means two of the already mentioned chairs. In the second, the understood object of taruh is the plates. English normally inserts two of them and them; Indonesian can rely on continuity. The pronoun omission page explains when this remains clear.
Mereka semua and mereka berdua
Mereka is already plural. Add semua to emphasize the whole group and berdua when exactly two known people act together.
Mereka semua setuju untuk menunda rapat sampai Senin.
They all agreed to postpone the meeting until Monday.
Rina dan Dedi pulang lebih awal karena mereka berdua harus mengejar kereta.
Rina and Dedi went home early because both of them had to catch a train.
These are semantic additions, not plural endings. Do not reduplicate mereka merely to create an ordinary plural pronoun.
Spelling and related bound forms
Full mereka is always separate: rumah mereka, untuk mereka. EYD V attaches ku-, kau-, -ku, -mu, and -nya to their hosts: kubaca, kaubaca, bukuku, bukumu, bukunya. Bound -nya can refer to singular or plural material and can also refer to inanimates, so it is not simply an attached synonym of mereka.
Anda always begins with a capital. Titles are capitalized only in the name-like and direct-address uses prescribed by EYD V; ordinary mereka is lowercase unless it begins a sentence.
Common Mistakes
1. Using mereka for ordinary inanimate objects
❌ Saya membeli tiga kursi baru. Mereka terlalu besar untuk ruang makan.
Incorrect in neutral Standard Indonesian — ordinary chairs are not human or personified referents.
✅ Saya membeli tiga kursi baru. Kursi-kursi itu terlalu besar untuk ruang makan.
I bought three new chairs. They are too large for the dining room.
2. Copying English singular “they”
❌ Seseorang menelepon tadi, tetapi mereka tidak meninggalkan nama.
Incorrect in ordinary Standard Indonesian — seseorang is singular, while mereka is plural.
✅ Seseorang menelepon tadi, tetapi dia tidak meninggalkan nama.
Someone called earlier, but they did not leave a name.
3. Putting a possessor before the noun like English
❌ Mereka rumah berada di dekat pasar.
Incorrect — a full possessor follows the possessed noun.
✅ Rumah mereka berada di dekat pasar.
Their house is near the market.
4. Attaching the full pronoun
❌ Saya sudah berbicara denganmereka.
Incorrect spelling — full mereka remains separate after a preposition.
✅ Saya sudah berbicara dengan mereka.
I have spoken with them.
Key Takeaways
- Mereka refers to two or more people and does not mark gender.
- It can be subject, object, prepositional complement, or a separate possessor.
- Story animals and beloved pets may take mereka when treated as person-like.
- For ordinary objects, repeat a noun phrase or omit recoverable material instead.
- Standard mereka is plural, not Indonesian singular “they,” and it never attaches to another word.
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