3

~ {a 13',i&j35,3iaBc
-F$jo
- V j i i& ~& ;;?ngli&
l
,&~a~,gs
hl1,3ir P0i-a~ neeorlijirhg io tafiea ad ngn&s. -.jii ;~i,is
verb atto 8ikZ9 ,&rf3::a2~~pi,29
tvg SQG &a$ i,b laB ,$lie for~msg6&:hsD o:~it$?p
Gd~3&"g
'"ga$@dm,"&&ingm,@kc. \l;"c;&sin Indonesian ail_s~
cBmge~, ba$ tlxs t y p- s a af
ehaagm thwy mabs and &henieanings that thoss changes have am g a i h ~
-"

??

,*

diffarsnt fzom what we have in BrnqEish. If you ilook over the Indonssia~~
vocabulary thresugboe~tthis book, you will motice that many wards begin w?hh
me- (mmdapot, melihatlp bsr- Qb~rtanya~
bsrternu.l, and di- (d~&al, dlarnbll~,
These three prefixes are among those often used with Indonesian vsrbs. In this
m d the following lesson8 we will 5tudy these and other prefixes and suffixes. A
thorough undsip~tandingof them and &heways in which $Bay function i g
es~entialto speaking good Indonesian.
., .,.
I
(.

CRa@m@
off v@rbse
Indonedm verbs fall into diflmeaat eBa8~38,The dta5~3e~s
am determined by
which prd'ixes and BUEE~S
particular verb^ may take*In o%hmW O E ~ Bnot
~ all
chapt@r,W@ shall ~tudy
5. In
varbs &&s all the po8~fbBep~p~fkeam d 8
mleN-(a&ve) verb5 m d their d o ~ rdatiaps~,
e
df-(pasgfve) verb^,
F$b, MeN- V @ E P ~ I .
Ons off the important elasees off v(14rb1 preaded by mgN- i5 tihe claw of active
verbs. These are ape&@we have htmduced that are able take msN-:

$8b Meaming of the @ymbgeRNo.

The eymbol N-of the prefix msN- has various va1w1 depending on the initial
Better of &s TOO$ to which meN- B5 added. The value of' Nois 5hom below
& m ' ~ & gb the ffirglt leuhr off the rm&.

Iff the root begins wi

Then the me.% VB&B

Exampleg: toot
aaanbfl
ejek
gawlw
hafa1
fsi
obrol
andang

Iff the root h g b s with the Better: B

T%en the msN- verb is fomsd by: m m + mmt,
baca
beri
If.&@rmt h @ s with the Betbr: C,D, d
Then hhe meN- verb is fomsd by: m a + KJOCB~~

If the root BDBgins with the ilatte~(s):4 MpK NG9Wp W

Thsn the maN- verb is fo~medby: m + pmte

If the roo$ 'begins with the l&br: P

Then the msM- verb io formed by: &opp%ngthe &pPB
andl usiag m m Q

Examples:

POOL

Ifthe root begins with the l~tbr".

T%en

maN- verb is forwed by: ahanging L i e '8" O a

Examples: root
s8wa
8%8ir

vwalmd using mra.

If ths root:
ONLY ONiE S T U m L E (EEGmDLESS of t h l
~@T LBTPE%tj
%-en the mgN- verb c a n be formed in the a~uailway or by: mmge sol^

Examples: yost
pa% - ~ f '
lap ' ~ f o f h

F8iba. The meaning off mdbbverbse

One off the most important uses of meN-is to f o m ACTIm verbs, Consider for a
~econdthe English sentence,

I am carrying the book,

In the above sentence, "Issam performing the action of wrryfng, T%UI the word
"I" is the AGENT in the above sentence. The word "IPPalso happens to be the
SUBJECT.A n A@% VERB is owe whose subject md agent are the ~ a m e If
.
we+were to say,

The book is carried by me,

"I[" would still be the agent,but "the book? has become the subject off the sentence.
T'haas, this second exampBe is not active; the verb i~ called passive. The prefix
cN- forms active verbs:

don mencaai mmah. John is looking $08. a house.

4 CONT~~J'~!
Iyi - , eScfif
Saya lagi membaca.1 am readingo
8aya membawa buku Ibu. 1 am carrying your books.
Saya mengqjar. I teach,
P& Jon sedang mencar+p&msilsil.
John ia Hooking for Q pencil.
Dia tidak membaea. He dwsn? read.
Notice that ma-verbs can cppem with redpien$$ (i.e., objects; %oues", 6BboahB9
a d Bemil" in t h e above euramples) or without (that is LO 8ay, &@ycan be either
transitive OF intransitive),

Be forewarned that sentences with active verbs am not as common in

~ndonaesianas $hey are In English. We will learn t h e rdea governing h e n t o
use active verbs in Indonesian a b r we have studied how $0 form verbs in t!h&
pamive.

F4a0Forming the paooive,

F"""

Paegivs verbs in Iwdonesian have &hefol%owingforms (using be&

example):

,as

FIRST PERSON
&en&
Sen teaee
Saya
Bukunga 5aya beli.
Aku
Bukunya Lubeli.
Mta
Bukunya kita beli.
Kami
Bukaanya Lami beli.

The book was bought by me.

SECOND PERSON
Ageat
Senbe ace
Kau
Bukuwya Laubeli.
Ramu
Bukunya kdamu beli.

'$he book was bought by you.

our

The book was bought by us.

Kc3

.t

%PC

C>

k+fi~

P ~ s s i v esentences for all1 other second person agents (Bapak, Pbu, bm,
Nyowya, Adik, Saudara, proper names, etc.) are formed in the same
manner as kavnu:

..

Bukunya Bslpak beli.

Bukunya Tante beli.
Bukunya Nona beli.
-etc.-

The book was bought by you.

Kubeli "it was bought by me9' andl kaubeli 'it was bought by youware always
written as one woad.

THIRD PERSON
Agent
$@atenee
Dia
Bukunya dibelinya.
The book was bought by her.
Bukuwya dia bdi.
Merkka Bukuwya metdka beli.
The book was bought by them.
Bukuwya dibelli (ol&h)merhka.
hu
Bukunya dibeli (olhh) Bbu.
The book was bought by Mother,

0;- pwfir
oh)\y 0Set

Passive sentences for all other third person agents (Bapak, Hbu, dm,
Nyowya, Adik, Baaadam, proper names, etc.) are formed in the same
manner as ibu:
Bukunya dibeli (ol&h)ibuaaya.
Bukunya dibeli (oBBh) Pak Haadjito.

The book was bought by his.

mother.
The book was bought by Pek
Hardfito.

-e&c.-

NO AGENT NAMED
Ageat

--

Septteacce
Buka dibeli.

The book was bought.

3rterio"
dih =

EA/

Ol&k%y9' may be dropped (md is aomJBy dropped) onless there is a word Ba

btvveen the verb m d the wora for the agent. Bit'there is a word i
h btwglen &%Beverb
md the word for the agent9ol&Rm u ~Rtm used. Thus in the ffollkng exani~p"ae
ol$h may not be dropped:

Buku itu dibeUi juga oB&hgum say&

But in the following example the dmgpiwg d o & A is optional because there is no
word b@twee~n
the verb and the word for the agent:

Pay careful attention to the third person (dial forms kn the a b v e cltaaut. Note that
owe uses the prefix di-ONLY when talking a b u t an action performed by a third
person (an action performed by %e9 she9it" or by someone or something the
speaker is referring tole For the second person agent (an action performed by
3ou") or for the first peraon agent (an action performed by "me" or 6Lwe99)
the
prefix di- is NOT used. In the foIPowing example the prefix dl- is used because
the agent is the M r d person:

Buka ini

Ai. Ali was looking for this book.

Pna the following two examples the prefix di-is not used because the agent is the
&st person ("1"or 'wen) in the first two examples m d the second person (66yoaa")
in the third example:
Buku ini saya cari. 1 was booking for this book.
Buku ini kita cari. We were looking for this book.
Buku hi Bap& C A ,ya? You were looking for this book?

d~krhi/Jg
jhnhtbsl

f4.e

Whenwer the agent is not expressed, df- plus root is used:

M&jslnyasud& dimbil. Somebody took the table flit. The tabh has been
taken By now).
Bmangkali ade. y m g Gud. There probably are some for sale.

As we noted before, in Indoneaim it ie common to avoid expressing secondperson pironoms. , m e di-form without an agent can be used for this pumas*
i.e., to mean 'you id01 it":
&a Bad ymg hams dibeE? What else do you have to buy flit. has to be
bought) ?
%e bought it" or "it was bought by him" can be expressed by either dibelinya 01.
d.6~beli. There is no difference between the two forms, although the first is more

Commorfn.,

Buku irmi ymg diblingra or Buku h i jmg dia beli. %$&is

is that book Pile
bought.

V c f ~ I*>+:

pjhen &heagent io a noun, we cm express the passive in one of two evays: dibeld
[noun] or d h l l albA hnoul. Notics allso for the third person plural Qmer&kak&)

there are three possible forms: rnav&ka b d i , dibseli rnsv&ha and dtbeli o%&h
mrr&ka.There is no diRerence among them.

Plb. Meaning off ths pmsive,

A pasdve verb is one whose subject is the recipient of the action described. Let ao
look at the following examples from Engllioh:

a( B 1 The book was bought.

b(%) This magazine was read by me.
@(I) The room on the Befft was rented by my teacher.
All ofthe above gentencee are in the passive constmctiow. Referring a
tp the chart
in Section FBa above, we can construct the Hndowesiaw equivalents of' these
sentences as follows:

a(2) Bukunya dibeli.

Majalah ini saya baca.
.c(2) Bgslmar yang di sebelh kiri disbwsla guru saya.

b(2)

* Do Exercise G4 for Section P4.

FS,Uefng the active and pamive,
Bn English we normally make eewtences active in construction. Passives are

used relatively rarely, However, in IIndonesian we are forced to decide whether

we want to place our emphasis on the agent or the recipient of the action. FOB
example, if we eay in English:
a($) 1retad this book.
we are probably more con~ernedlabout the book &LBW about the fact that it was 1
who read it. Similarly, we are more cowmmed with the book that with the actual
action of reading it. Still, in English, we use a sentence with an active verb.

Not so with Pndowesim. If we are interested in the book, ithen we MUST use the
paseive:
a(2) Buku b
H
a
i eaya baca.

In Indonesian, we use an active only mder two circaamstanwe:

(8)
2

When we want to draw attention to h e ~ubjectas angent (i.e., sag

&Subjectiia the one who did itm),
or
IlV%~en
we want to focus attention on ths action itself as opposed to the
agent or recipient-talk about what someone did as opposed to what
happened to something.

For esc&ampBs,we ~voulduse an active ~on~truction

in 1 dtuabion ~ u c has the
foBlov~ngv~hsrsths spealce~v ~ i ~ h stag pokt out that he was ths one, and not
someone elss, who read the book:

kh8m we would a m an active form irn a gentenae iw which -wewere foeu~ing

att~ntiowon what was being done. For exmpRe, in reply b a question to hovii
owe ~ p ~onde
n t time, one minight say:

However, moet commonly our focus of attation would be upom the book itee". IfD
for mamp]le, somebody were gay us, y o u shodd mad &is book", we might
answer, "1 read &is book Bast week," Bere the foam of atten~omil on $88 word
%okm En &is casepIndonesian calls for the use of the passive:

One of the most important obstacles to overcsme in Ieaming to speak good

Iwdonesim is to get used to the fiequewcy of use of the passive. A8 should be
clear from the above discussion, passives are much more common in
Indonesian than they are in English. Whenever we are more interested in the
recipient of the action-i.e., what happened $0 ~omeoneor something-LBBm we
are in what someone was doing, we should use the passive,

/
I

FBa. Active imlperativee.

The pae& meN* is usually not used with the imperative:

Baca buku itul Read e b t ? book.

In the above sentence the object (buku) fqllows the verb, and tbs sentence refere
to what the agent is going $0 do. Nevertheless, the prefix meV- i~ not added to
,
baca because the sentence is imperative. The same d e applies in e f i o r t a ~ o n ~ : 1
meN-is not wormally used in active exhortatioms:
I

&6, kita baea sama-sama. Come ona &ego$

read togethero
The m1e &a& imperatives $0 not have a pr& m a - d s o applies to imperative
8elmegwces with a word for "please' like tolong or sihkon# and "don'tw,jaragaa.

8ilakm baca. Please read.

Tolong bawa buku itu. Please briag that book.
Jmgm bawa buka ftu. DonD$bring that Book.
under the influence of Javansse, ths prefix meN- is sometimee used in
illgnperpative ~entsnceswhen there are momem R.kce,tdang, allahoa, aadjanganiz.
But &is ia not cadrradderd t b b-ts-&donedm,

F8b, Dropplag af rn~N0,

The prefix msN- that fomas active verbs is 0.ft8118 dropped without changing the
meaning of the sentence except for a nuance.

bbaya l a d mewuwggu (or tungga) ternan. I

am waiCfw for a friend.

In this case the msN- of meaunggu bas bean dropped. For ffoms that have a
snaflix -Ran or -1 (to be studied in later le~sows),the prefix meN- is not uenaalllly
droppable, Also certain roots cannot have the prefix meN- dropped: @.go,
rnengajar ""dach." Bowevea, in general the active p ~ a f i xmeN- may be
optionally dropped, especially in informal speech stylas,

P@,Word order in active and paoeive eeanbaasees,

The normal woad order for an active sentence in Indonesian (as in English) is
agent-verb-recipient (or, if you prefer to think in these terms, subject-verbobject):
4 1 ) Saya mexnbawa b d u itu. I am carpying that book.
b(1) Mas Jon sudah naenybwa Lamar. John has rented a room by now.
c(1) 6 m Jon sudah menadslpat karnar? You have a morn already., John?

The forms saya, Mas h a , andl bn Jon in the sentences above are the subject. As

el, the subject may follow the predicate.

Therefore, the word order with the subject last is also possible:
we learned in Chapter 2 Section

Membawa b&u itu eaya.

Sudan menybwa kamar Mas Jon.
8uda.h mendapat kamar dm Jon?
Bn passhe sentences, the recipient is most .offen placed preceding the verb.

d( 1) Buka iwi dibeli Ali. AEi bought this book.

e(%) Pbnsil saya sudah dibarnbil Nina. Nina has already taken my pencil.
f(B) K m a s n y a dishwanya tadi malam. He rented the room last night.
g(P) Qaysa diccari isteri Om Jon. John's wife wag looking fir me.
Since the predicate may precede the subject, these senten~esare also possibBe:
d(2S Dibeli Ali buku ini.
e ( 2 k Sudah diambil Nina phnsil saye.

f(2F
g(2

Dis&warnya hamarnya tadi malam.

Dicari i 8 t ~ r 6m
i Jon sayam

F@ao
M@@hamiaaR
mk~sfor the d x ~ofi a~pas5ivc3
~
ffa~m,
TEmire are two rule8 that mechanimlly f o ~ wthe &sim off&s pamive.

(1

Ethe recipient precde5 the verb, the verb mas&bs pas5ivc3.

NomalBy speaking, the verb is never a&vs if if is premded by the recipJent. In

the ffollovdng senbnms, the recipient off the action (in bold) precedes &s vsrb,
and therefore h e paeeive is oBigabry.
Bmka i d dibeli Mi. Ma' bought
btwk.
Bays diemi Nyonya fit%.
Mm.Tuti wag looking for w,
(3) Hfae verb ie inside a yaw phra$@m d there is a180 an agent inside the
yaw phrase, the verb must be pmsive.

Hn the followimg sentence the verb cad is h ~ i d ae yang phrase m d there ie also
m agent inside it.. Therefore, the passive foam i g chosen.
Bukan mmah yang dicdnya. It's no&a Aoufte he's looking for. (In &hi8
example rule d also happeas to apply.)
Agdn in the folPowing sentence the ymg phrase contains an agent PI") m d a
verb (%sag$). Therefore the passive is obligatory.
Ymg s a p beli hmya mbja d m korsi-korsi. 1 only bought the table and
chairs.

h o t h e r important mje that applies is that w i t h passives the word for the agent
and the verb itself are not separated. Auxiliary words generally precede the
agent and verb, a d are normally not placed between them. POPexample in the
following sentences the agent (Btzpak) andl h e verb (beli) are no&separated.
Apa sGa yang hams Bag& beli? What all do you have to buy?

h o t h e r examp%e,in which mou does not separate 8aya mdjual:

Hni B&D gang mau saya juJ.Thie is the book that I earant to w&&.

* DOall G6 exercises for Section P@.

F7,Tran@Ba&ioa
of Lagli~~h
@its9
$8 re~ipient
of the action of the verbo

For an English sentence containing a verb fol%owedby Ytss ('see it", "buy ifw,
axnd the like) these is u~aalByno Indonesian word that translates "it." Iw
context^ where such .a sentence i~ geed in English, the ~ndonesianfocus off
attention is most frequently on the recipient of the action of the verb*To express
such focnae of atfention in Indonesian tihe paeeive ie u ~ e d Thus
.
where verb
ffollow~d
by 9tD9
ie uecerd in English, Indoneaim meet freque~aklyuse8 a paeeive.
%a this example, John a d Mushfa have beem talking about a manssquib net, and.
ths focug of' atkention is on that:
Say& bewa UeP ks rumahn~ra.I'll bring it to your houm tomorrow. flit. ([I81

we'll be brought by me tomorrow to YOUP A O U ~ ~ ~ )

Ian this sentence ths easnv@r8ationi~ &ill a h a t the mogquib net:

Ah,tid& usah dimtar. Nanti malam mya ambil kalan gays BBwat
mmhupnu. Oh,it 18 not necessav to bdag it. I'll corn@to get it &hi$evening
w h a 1go by your house.
On the other hmd, iff the f f o mo~ff attentiow is more 8bongly directed to the action
offithe V W ~the
, active form (containing prefix m e w ) i8 u5ed. In that, case -nya i$
added to the active verb form to refer to the recipient 'it." Hw the fol8owing
examples the ffocug of attention is ow what we are going to my house for rather
than on what will bs go&%en:
Sekarmg s@a per@ ke mmah mya, mengambi%nya.
might as we&&go
to nay house to get it now.
The following two sentences illustrate the active verb with -nya:
Bolhh saya Pihat mqjalah?-0, ma'af, Bbu sedang membacanya, May H
borrow [your1 magazine?-Oh, excuse me. You're reading it now.
hhlpa Saudara eudah dengar PrBsidhn mau melawat ke aini?-Bud&. Sagre
membactmya tadi di koran, Have you h e a d the president is going to visit
this place?-Y~B. 1 read it before in the newgpaper.
Compare t h e following sentence where the passive is used when the focus of
attention ia on the thing read:

Bolhh eaya bawa majalahnya ke aumah?-Silakan~ Sudah says baea. May H

take the magazine hornsf-Please do. I'ue already read [it].

G6faPilihan Aata yang cocok, (Choose the word that fits.) Do this exe~cisewith
your tutor*
I. Saya (msmbelf, dibeli) sebu~ngku~
rokok.
2. Bukan S y a n g saya (beli
rnembeli,
dibeli). 4.p kdi y*
+* Ck~;4
-9
3, Bukaw i$an yawp (be&&membeli, d&U
l
abang eaya. 3.k 7
4 Di mama rnajalah yang baru saya (Mi, membeli, dibeli) iitu?
BolBh saya baca bubu yawg sedang (baca, membaca, dibaca) adikrnu
itan?
6. &paw Tuan mau (meydwa, disdwa) rumah ini?
a. Peaabst itu (dibakinyg, be& membeli) di toke itu.
8. Korsi itu bisa (menaruh, dtaruh, tceruh) di sana sGa.
qk-0:@ e n
9. f i m a a itu bisa merrBk
110. Bukan mhja itu yang
let& 6 i - m
~ 7
11. Di mana saa bolpoiw i
12. &pan I[bu mau
I
13. Koasi itu sudaih
d i c a d ibunya ke rnana-mana, tapi belum ,
lagi dapat.
c 3 r +&id
1s. 8udah saya (c&,
dicacri) kelambu itu ali pasar.
1s. Apa buku itu sudah (bacn, dibaca) adikrpla? y d r Y ~ 5 iC*
16, &lac kamu datang nanti, kamu hasus (naenabawaaya, dlbawa), ya.
,
l a . Msljalah itu masih bisa (dibeli, mernbelU di pasar sekarang?
1 8 ~Belum clapat buku yang kamu (dicarl, meacari, cari) di pasar tadi?
19. Aksn Bapak (taruh, ditoruh) di mana korsi hi?20. KaBaaa begitu, karnar itu tidak bisa (dis&wa,meayhwa, shwa) ternanmu
0ulan iwi?
21. Ay6, m a ~ kita
i
perrgi (mencera'tak~&a,
dice~itakaa)kabar baih ini.
22. Bisa bamu ( d ~ u a ljual)
,
peaabot iwi laanti?
23. Saya mau (pindah$-dipindah) bbsok he rumah yang baru itu.
24. Hbunya bellurn (dimahan, m a k a d hari ini.
16. U b a r iitu ddtdengarnya, mende~~,g~&r)
&a&malam.
o

.,
M e r e k ~

(*"""" %aoTerjernahkcea@ kata yang di k u ~ u n gb%w~dlaf@

~
the word1 in pareaB?he~88.?

Do this @%@refs@ with your tutor.

1. Bukan itu hampir (he took) tadi.

2 Bukan Lamar ini yang &an (we rent).

se~?
8. Buhan mbja ita gang barus (pour Big brother buy).
4.

sbeli~jk$ib\;

Di mma (he bought) kdambna itu? 4 &)id %

5. &paw perabot ita &an 4ba sold) di pagar.

6. Rut5 itu h d i (my &i&&labrother

vd
Apa anah itu ~ndah(was taken) kg dokter? d j b p "
Di mana ksrsi d m mhja tuPie iwi Wsc (be 8old'. di33 ~ \
Buku dapa saja yang bisa (1 mad) di eiwi? *p
10, B&u epra yawg (your Little bro
f 1. &a cerita itu sudrah (he told).
nz. Ah,tidak bolbh (they tell) kab
13. Mbja ini mau (1 sell) di pasar.
14. Di mana (we can buy) sebungkus rokok?
16. Apa Bapak (already gave) uangl sd.4 b e r i
16. Apa ssja yang (they sell) di pasar? o'$qi~y~y, -c dbSdql
17. Apa saqja'yang (your mother well3 di toko itu? ~ i j ~ y lI ~ O M ~

'8.
8.
9.

W b . Ter$ernakkanlah kata yang di kurung* @ranaria& the words in parentheses.)

Do this exercise with your tutor.
1. 41 ate) 1lenn.per di pasar &&die
2. (She drank) st%&p d i toko itu kemarin.
8. Bukan barang itu yang (sho selW di pasar. diiuq\ d i q / ~ i j d q l + ~ ' i
4, Sudah berapa lama (he's been reading) buku it113
5. (Your older sister knows) abang saya3
6. (
want
I to shop) b&sokdi (oko ity; say- h o b L & ~ , j q
'7. Apa bisa (I give) adikmu seb~&kras rokok Amdrika?
8. Mus, mengapa adiknya wdak (he invited),
9. W"u must bring) ku6 mangkok k98sok kdau mau rnakan pa@ di sini B8gi.
10. me want to look for) kamar Ib6solh.
,&& b;rc
Y
11. (Who is going to tell) cerita itu bbsok?
'&+
d
12. Bolbh (1 sell) mhja & d i eBepak itu?
18. Barang itu tadi (Mustafa put) di situ.
14. Ke mama-mana (we go) hanysl klaB man&& saja yang (cue see), lihqt%goW h o teaches) Bahasa Hwggnis di siniXq4 ~ e ~ j d 4 p
16. W h o inuited) abangmu ke ~ i n i ?
17. Ay6, mari (we bring) kakakmu ke pasar.
18. (1met) dia tadi di pasar.

dicerhkqd y

A$ALI''