“Yang” is used in the simple meaning of who / which / that or when used to say ‘the person who (m)…’ or ‘the thing that…’.

1. “Yang” which is used in this way is particularly favored after ada …:
Examples:
Ada lima pulau yang luas sekali. There are five islands that are very vast.
Ada banyak pulau yang lebih kecil daripada pulau Bali. There are a lot of islands that are smaller than the island of Bali.

2. Especially after banyak and sedikit, the ada is left out as ‘understood’:
Examples:
(Ada) Sedikit orang Amerika yang tahu di mana letak pulau Komodo. There are few Americans who know where the Komodo island is located.
(Ada) Banyak pelajar yang suka membuat PR (pekerjaan rumah). There are a lot of students who like to do homework.

3. “Yang” is normally required in the phrases yang lalu (in the past, ago), yang akan datang (in the future, to come) and in making superlatives:
Examples:
Ada beberapa wisatawan menukar uang dolar AS ke uang rupiah di pulau Bali dalam jumlah besar sebulan yang lalu. There were tourists exchanged their US dollars to rupiah in big amount in the island of Bali a month ago.
Ada banyak obral di toko-toko di Amerika pada bulan Desember yang akan datang. There will be many sales in the US stores in December to come.
Surabaya adalah kota yang paling besar di Jawa Timur. Surabaya is the biggest city in East Java.

Apa tas kulit adalah tas yang paling mahal? Is a leather bag the most expensive bag?
Makanan yang terkenal di Indonesia adalah Rendang Padang. The famous food in Indonesia is Rendang Padang.
Apa merek mobil yang termahal di dunia? What is the most expensive car in the world?

4. A special use of “yang” with ada is in the double construction Ada yang …, ada yang …..:
Examples:
Lemari-lemari itu ada yang tinggi dan ada yang rendah. Some of those cupboards are tall, others are short.
Harga-harga kemeja batik ada yang mahal dan ada yang murah. Some of those batik shirts are expensive, others are cheap.

Grammar Practice
Describe the sentences in Indonesian with your own words.
Use ada yang ……, ada (juga) yang …..!

Example:
There are people who want to go to beaches, and there are those who want to go to museums.
(Orang-orang ada yang ingin pergi ke pantai- pantai dan ada yang ingin pergi ke museum-museum.)

1. There are Department of defense officers who are old, and there are those who are young.
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2. There are students who go to public schools, and there are those who go to private schools.
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3. There are people who shop in grocery stores, and there are those who shop in traditional markets.
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4. There are students who will graduate in May, and there are those who will graduate in December.
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5. There are banks that are open on Saturdays, there are those that are not.
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6. There are ATMs that dispense rupiahs, there are those that dispense dollar bills.
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7. There are car with four doors, and there are those with two doors.
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8. There are Batik shirts that expensive, and there are those that are cheap.
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9. There are imported fruit, and there are those that are locally-grown fruit.
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10. There are Batik shirts that expensive, and there are those that are cheap.
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5. “Yang” can be used to replace nouns entirely (corresponding to the English in “the cheap one,” “the one on the left,” “that one”), so when used to refer to a person or thing, yang replaces the word for person (orang) or the word for the thing to which we are referring (for example, a pen).

Examples:
Yang berkacamata itu adalah kakak saya. The one (person) who wears glasses is my older sibling.
Anda boleh mengambil yang merah. You can take the red one.

Examples:
A foreigner is buying at a watch in a store

Seller Selamat siang, Pak. Mau membeli apa? Good afternoon, Mister. What would you like to buy?

Seller: Selamat siang, Pak. Mau membeli apa? Good afternoon, Mister. What would you like to buy?

Buyer: Saya mau membeli jam tangan, Pak. I want to buy a wrist watch.
Seller: Bapak mau membeli yang mana? Yang ini? Sir, which one would you like to buy? This one?
Buyer: Bukan, bukan. Bukan yang itu tapi yang di atasnya. No, no. Not that one but the one on top of it.
Seller: Yang itu, Pak? That one, Mister?
Buyer: Bukan, yang di sebelah kanan sedikit. Ya, ya, itu dia! No, the one on the right a bit. Yes, yes that is the one.
Seller: Mau membeli satu lagi, Pak? Would you buy one more, Mister?
Buyer: Ya, yang paling atas. Yes, the one on the very top.
Seller: Yang ini, Pak? This one, Mister?
Buyer: Bukan yang itu, Pak, bukan yang di tengah juga. Saya mau yang paling ujung. No, not that one, Mister, not the one in the middle either. I want the one at the very end.
Seller: Yang besar ini, Pak? This big one, Mister?
Buyer: Ya, betul, yang besar itu. Yes, right, that big one.

Grammar Practice
Here are sentences with “yang” (the one). Find out what they mean in English. You may need to consult your dictionary for this exercise.
1. Saya mau yang berwarna biru.
2. Yang berdiri di sana bisa bermain voli.
3. Anda boleh menawar yang dari plastik, bukan yang dari kulit.
4. Yang duduk di pojok itu adalah ibu saya.
5. Yang murah berada di rak sepatu di sebelah kanan.
6. Yang tebal itu adalah kamus Inggris-Indonesia saya.
7. Rumah dia adalah yang berharga mahal itu.
8. Buah rambutan adalah yang berwarna merah dan berambut.
9. Kunci kamar hotel saya adalah yang bernomor 258.
10. Yang mahal itu berasal dari toko mode Paris.

6. “Yang” is also used to form ‘ordinal’ numbers (ones that indicate sequential order), as in the following example. Note the special form for “first”:

Kami mulai kursus bahasa Indonesia pada tanggal 5 September, selama minggu yang pertama itu kami banyak belajar tentang salam dan memperkenalkan diri bahasa Indonesia.
Pada minggu yang kedua kami mulai belajar lebih banyak kata Indonesia. Kami belajar untuk memperkenal diri dan orang lain.
Sekarang minggu yang ketiga, kami sudah tahu cukup banyak tentang bahasa Indonesia.
Pada minggu yang keberapa ada hari libur? Pada minggu yang kelima belas ada liburan Hari Natal, pada tanggal 24 Desember.