Reduplication in Reciprocal Verbs | Indonesian Grammar

Indonesian reciprocal verbs describe participants acting toward one another. Some ber-...-an verbs are already reciprocal, while copying the root can add repeated, distributed, or extended interaction: bersalaman “shake hands” versus bersalam-salaman “shake hands with one another repeatedly/across a group.” A different strategy, saling + verb, states reciprocity directly without requiring copied morphology.

This page focuses on how reduplication interacts with reciprocal meaning. It leaves individual affix paradigms and general classifier syntax to dedicated adjacent pages.

Reciprocity requires plural participants

A reciprocal event needs at least two semantic participants. They may be named separately, coordinated, expressed by a plural pronoun, or contained within a collective noun such as pasangan “couple.”

Rina dan Dimas bersalaman di depan ruang rapat.

Rina and Dimas shook hands in front of the meeting room.

Para pemain berpelukan setelah pertandingan berakhir.

The players hugged one another after the match ended.

Pasangan itu saling mendukung selama masa sulit.

That couple supports each other during difficult times.

The grammatical subject need not display noun reduplication. Pasangan itu is singular in form but contains two members, so reciprocity is possible. By contrast, an isolated individual cannot shake hands with “one another” without another participant supplied by context.

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Before interpreting a reciprocal form, identify both sides of the relation. Semantic plurality matters more than whether the subject noun visibly repeats.

ber-...-an can already be reciprocal

Several established ber-...-an verbs express a two-sided action without root copying. Common examples include bersalaman “shake hands,” berpelukan “embrace one another,” berpandangan “look at one another,” and bersentuhan “touch one another/be in contact.”

Kami bersalaman sebelum wawancara dimulai.

We shook hands before the interview began.

Kedua sahabat itu berpelukan saat bertemu kembali.

The two friends hugged when they met again.

Mereka berpandangan sejenak tanpa berkata apa-apa.

They looked at each other for a moment without saying anything.

These forms package the mutual relation into the verb. They do not need a following object meaning “each other.” English normally uses a separate reciprocal phrase, which can tempt learners to add one unnecessarily.

Not every ber-...-an verb is reciprocal, and not every root freely enters the pattern. The exact derivation must be learned as part of the verb’s lexical behavior.

Copied roots add iteration or distribution

When the root is copied inside the larger ber-...-an pattern, the event often spreads across multiple exchanges, participants, or moments.

Para tamu bersalam-salaman setelah upacara selesai.

The guests exchanged handshakes after the ceremony ended.

Anak-anak berkejar-kejaran di halaman sampai hari gelap.

The children chased one another around the yard until dark.

Keluarga itu berpeluk-pelukan ketika akhirnya bertemu di bandara.

The family members embraced one another repeatedly when they finally met at the airport.

The required bersalam-salaman naturally suits a group in which handshakes are distributed across pairs. Berkejar-kejaran depicts an extended chase with changing directions and repeated pursuit. Berpeluk-pelukan can portray several embraces across a group or an emotionally repeated exchange.

The copy therefore does not create reciprocity from nothing in every case. It often adds iterative or distributive event texture to a pattern whose reciprocal relation is already available.

Kedua petinju berpukul-pukulan sampai wasit memisahkan mereka.

The two boxers exchanged repeated blows until the referee separated them.

Suara burung bersahut-sahutan dari pepohonan.

Bird calls answered one another from the trees.

Bersahut-sahutan is a conventional reciprocal sequence: one call is followed by another. These forms are productive only within lexical and morphological limits; do not manufacture one from every transitive verb.

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Copied reciprocal verbs commonly answer two questions at once: “who acts on whom?”—one another—and “how does the event unfold?”—repeatedly or across the group.

The bracketing of bersalam-salaman

Standard spelling shows one ber- prefix, a hyphen inside the copied root, and final -an attached at the right edge:

ber-[salam-salam]-an → bersalam-salaman
ber-[kejar-kejar]-an → berkejar-kejaran
ber-[peluk-peluk]-an → berpeluk-pelukan

Murid-murid bersalam-salaman dengan guru sebelum pulang.

The pupils exchanged handshakes with the teacher before going home.

Dua anak itu berkejar-kejaran mengelilingi meja.

The two children chased each other around the table.

Do not copy the surface affix as bersalam-bersalaman or separate the suffix as bersalam-salam-an. Affixes attach according to the whole morphological bracket. The affixed reduplication page treats other patterns.

Contrast with saling + verb

Saling precedes a verb and makes the relevant participant relation reciprocal. It is transparent and productive with many verbs.

Kedua anak itu saling mengejar di halaman.

The two children chase each other in the yard.

Kedua kelompok saling membantu setelah banjir.

The two groups helped each other after the flood.

Mereka saling berkirim kabar setiap akhir pekan.

They exchange news with each other every weekend.

Compare the required pair:

Anak-anak saling mengejar di halaman.

The children chase one another in the yard.

Anak-anak berkejar-kejaran di halaman.

The children run around chasing one another in the yard.

Saling mengejar directly states mutual pursuit. Berkejar-kejaran more readily portrays the chase as extended, repeated, or playful. The interpretations overlap, and context can make saling mengejar iterative too, but the copied form conventionalizes that event texture.

The active form is mengejar, not mengkejar: the initial k of kejar is deleted under the meN- allomorph. This morphophonemic spelling remains correct after saling.

Avoid unnecessary reciprocal stacking

Because saling, ber-...-an, and copied reciprocal forms can each contribute mutuality, stacking them may repeat the same information.

Mereka saling membantu selama persiapan acara.

They helped one another during the event preparations.

Para peserta bersalam-salaman setelah sesi penutupan.

The participants exchanged handshakes after the closing session.

Neutral careful Indonesian normally does not need saling bersalam-salaman. Speakers may stack markers for expressive emphasis in conversation (informal), especially when they want to insist on two-sided involvement, but learners should not make that the default.

Likewise, avoid adding satu sama lain after a verb that already expresses the same reciprocal relation. The explicit noun-like phrase is useful when it occupies an object or prepositional slot; see saling and satu sama lain.

Reciprocity versus mere iteration

Not every copied verb is reciprocal. Mengetuk-ngetuk pintu has one actor repeatedly tapping an object. Mencari-cari kunci has one searcher engaged in extended searching. Reciprocity requires the participants to exchange roles or direct corresponding actions toward one another.

Dimas mengetuk-ngetuk pintu selama beberapa menit.

Dimas kept knocking on the door for several minutes.

Dimas dan Rina bersahut-sahutan memanggil nama anak mereka.

Dimas and Rina called their child's name back and forth.

The first is iterative only. The second alternates related calls between participants and is reciprocal as well as iterative.

Orthography

Hyphenate the copied root: bersalam-salaman, berkejar-kejaran, berpeluk-pelukan. Attach ber- and -an according to the bracket, and write standard forms in full. Digit shortcuts such as kejar2an occur in casual messaging (informal) but are not acceptable in edited prose.

Common Mistakes

Using a reciprocal with only one participant

❌ Rina bersalam-salaman sendirian di ruang tunggu.

Incorrect — a solitary participant cannot exchange handshakes with one another.

✅ Rina bersalam-salaman dengan para tamu di ruang tunggu.

Rina exchanged handshakes with the guests in the waiting room.

Copying the prefix on both elements

❌ Para tamu bersalam-bersalaman setelah acara.

Incorrect bracketing — ber- appears once around the copied root.

✅ Para tamu bersalam-salaman setelah acara.

The guests exchanged handshakes after the event.

Separating the final suffix

❌ Anak-anak berkejar-kejar-an di halaman.

Incorrect spelling — final -an attaches to the formation.

✅ Anak-anak berkejar-kejaran di halaman sekolah.

The children chased one another around the schoolyard.

Stacking reciprocal markers mechanically

❌ Mereka saling bersalam-salaman satu sama lain.

Incorrectly overloaded — three strategies repeat the same reciprocal relation.

✅ Mereka bersalam-salaman setelah pertemuan.

They exchanged handshakes after the meeting.

Using the wrong meN- allomorph

❌ Kedua anak itu saling mengkejar.

Incorrect affix form — meN- plus kejar produces mengejar.

✅ Kedua anak itu saling mengejar.

The two children chase each other.

Key Takeaways

Reciprocal meaning requires at least two semantic participants.
Established ber-...-an verbs such as bersalaman may already express mutual action.
Copied forms such as bersalam-salaman and berkejar-kejaran often add iteration or distribution to reciprocity.
Saling mengejar transparently marks mutual pursuit; the copied alternative more readily evokes an extended chase.
Hyphenate copied roots, attach affixes according to bracketing, and avoid stacking reciprocal markers without a real contrast.

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