An object relative describes a noun that would be the patient or direct object of an actor-oriented event. Indonesian does not normally leave that object position empty after an actor-voice meN- verb. Instead, it changes the voice so that the patient becomes the prominent argument targeted by relativization.
The two central patterns are buku yang saya baca with object voice and buku yang dibaca Rina with a di- passive. Voice switching is the grammar of the relative, not a change in who did the reading.
Review voice-sensitive word order for the independent-clause patterns that object relatives reuse.
Why actor voice cannot simply keep an empty object
Begin with an independent actor-voice clause:
Saya membaca buku itu selama perjalanan.
I read that book during the journey.
Here saya is actor subject, membaca is actor voice, and buku itu is its object. When buku becomes the head of a relative, Indonesian does not preserve that exact active structure and delete the object.
❌ Buku yang saya membaca selama perjalanan itu sangat menarik.
Incorrect — actor-voice membaca cannot directly take buku as an extracted object head.
The grammatical repair switches voice:
✅ Buku yang saya baca selama perjalanan itu sangat menarik.
The book I read during the journey was very interesting.
The patient buku is now the relative's privileged argument. The actor saya stands before the bare base baca.
Object voice with a pronominal actor
With first- and second-person actors, object voice is especially natural:
head + yang + marker + actor pronoun + base verb
Artikel yang saya tulis bulan lalu akhirnya diterbitkan.
The article I wrote last month was finally published.
Kunci yang kamu cari ada di bawah map biru.
The key you are looking for is under the blue folder.
Masalah yang harus kita selesaikan lebih rumit daripada dugaan awal.
The problem we must solve is more complicated than initially expected.
Pesanan yang belum kami terima sudah tercatat sebagai terkirim.
The order we have not yet received is already recorded as delivered.
Undangan yang akan mereka kirim mencantumkan alamat baru.
The invitation they will send lists the new address.
The actor and verb form a tight unit: saya tulis, kamu cari, kita selesaikan, kami terima, mereka kirim. Do not restore meN- inside that unit.
Aspect, modality, and negation normally precede the actor–verb sequence.
Laporan yang sudah saya periksa masih memiliki dua lampiran kosong.
The report I have checked still has two blank attachments.
Jadwal yang tidak akan kami ubah sudah diumumkan.
The schedule we will not change has been announced.
Keputusan yang mungkin mereka batalkan menimbulkan banyak pertanyaan.
The decision they may cancel raises many questions.
The standard order is yang sudah saya periksa, not yang saya sudah periksa. Casual speech may vary, but edited Indonesian keeps the marker before the pronominal actor.
Attached actor forms
Bound actors attach to the verb: ku- for first-person singular and kau- for second-person singular.
Catatan yang kutulis tadi malam tertinggal di rumah.
The note I wrote last night was left at home.
Alamat yang kauberikan ternyata kurang lengkap.
The address you gave turned out to be incomplete.
Foto yang kusimpan di dompet sudah mulai pudar.
The photo I keep in my wallet has begun to fade.
Write kutulis, kauberikan, and kusimpan solid. These are not optional spacing variants of full saya tulis and kamu berikan.
The di-passive alternative
A di- passive also promotes the patient and is especially natural with a named, third-person, long, or backgrounded actor.
Buku yang dibaca Rina di ruang tunggu itu milik saya.
The book Rina read in the waiting room belongs to me.
Jembatan yang dibangun pemerintah daerah mulai digunakan hari ini.
The bridge built by the regional government opens for use today.
Proposal yang diperiksa oleh tiga anggota dewan akan dibahas kembali.
The proposal reviewed by three council members will be discussed again. (formal)
Barang yang dikirim pemasok baru itu belum masuk gudang.
The goods sent by that new supplier have not entered the warehouse yet.
Film yang disutradarai Mira Lesmana mendapat sambutan hangat.
The film directed by Mira Lesmana received a warm response.
Write passive di- attached. Oleh is optional with many short agents but helps before a long, coordinated, or contrastive agent.
Dokumen yang ditandatangani oleh direktur baru dan kepala bagian hukum sudah berlaku.
The document signed by the new director and the legal division head is already in force. (formal)
Choosing object voice or di-
Both patterns make the patient accessible to relativization, but they package the actor differently.
| Pattern | Best fit | Example core |
|---|---|---|
| yang + saya/kamu/kita + base | first or second person, personally anchored | surat yang saya tulis |
| yang + di-verb + actor | named, long, third-person, or backgrounded actor | surat yang ditulis Rina |
| yang + di-verb | actor irrelevant or unknown | surat yang ditulis kemarin |
Tempat yang kami pilih dekat dengan stasiun.
The place we chose is close to the station.
Tempat yang dipilih panitia dekat dengan stasiun.
The place chosen by the committee is close to the station.
Tempat yang dipilih untuk acara itu dekat dengan stasiun.
The place chosen for the event is close to the station.
The event and patient can be the same across all three. The choice reflects actor form and discourse perspective rather than tense.
Full third-person noun phrases can occur before a bare verb in object-voice-like relatives—laporan yang Rina tulis is heard and understood—but yang ditulis Rina is the most robust choice in careful formal prose when the actor is a full name or noun phrase. There is genuine register and speaker variation here; do not label the bare-noun pattern universally impossible.
Cerita yang Raka tulis untuk lomba itu lucu sekali.
The story Raka wrote for the competition is very funny. (informal)
Cerita yang ditulis Raka untuk lomba itu lucu sekali.
The story written by Raka for the competition is very funny. (careful)
Definiteness and the full noun phrase
A relative clause narrows the reference of its head. A final ini or itu can identify the resulting full noun phrase.
Buku yang saya baca itu dipinjam oleh Deni.
That book I read was borrowed by Deni.
Berkas yang belum kami periksa ini harus disimpan terpisah.
These files that we have not checked must be stored separately.
Kue yang dibuat Ibu tadi pagi sudah habis.
The cake Mother made this morning is already gone.
Final itu in buku yang saya baca itu closes the whole head-plus-relative phrase. When the head is omitted, yang can introduce a nominalized “the one(s) that...” expression:
Yang saya baca tadi malam bukan edisi terbaru.
The one I read last night was not the latest edition.
That construction shares voice requirements with an object relative even though no overt noun head appears.
Restrictive punctuation
An object relative normally identifies which noun is meant and takes no commas.
Kandidat yang kami wawancarai kemarin akan menerima kabar besok.
The candidate we interviewed yesterday will hear from us tomorrow.
With an already identified proper referent, a parenthetical relative may be set off:
Naskah Laut Senja, yang diterjemahkan Rini, akan terbit ulang.
The manuscript Laut Senja, which Rini translated, will be republished.
Do not copy English commas before every translated which or that. Decide whether the relative restricts reference or adds supplementary information.
Common Mistakes
Retaining meN- after a pronominal actor
❌ Buku yang saya membaca di kereta itu sudah dikembalikan.
Incorrect object relative — use bare baca after saya.
✅ Buku yang saya baca di kereta itu sudah dikembalikan.
The book I read on the train has been returned.
Keeping an actor-voice full noun before meN-
❌ Laporan yang Rina menulis kemarin masih di meja.
Incorrect direct object relative — actor-voice menulis cannot leave its object as the head.
✅ Laporan yang ditulis Rina kemarin masih di meja.
The report Rina wrote yesterday is still on the table.
Putting aspect between actor and base
❌ Pesanan yang kami belum terima sudah ditagih.
Incorrect careful order — belum precedes the actor–verb unit kami terima.
✅ Pesanan yang belum kami terima sudah ditagih.
We have already been billed for the order we have not received.
Separating a bound actor
❌ Pesan yang ku tulis tadi belum terkirim.
Incorrect spelling — ku- attaches to tulis.
✅ Pesan yang kutulis tadi belum terkirim.
The message I wrote earlier has not been sent yet.
Adding commas around a restrictive object relative
❌ Formulir, yang sudah Anda isi, harus diserahkan hari ini.
Incorrect for the intended restrictive meaning; the commas make the relative parenthetical.
✅ Formulir yang sudah Anda isi harus diserahkan hari ini.
The form you have filled out must be submitted today.
Key Takeaways
- A patient head triggers voice switching because Indonesian relativizes the prominent argument.
- With pronominal actors, use yang + marker + actor + base: yang sudah saya baca.
- A di- passive is especially robust with named, long, or omitted actors.
- Do not retain actor-voice meN- in a direct object relative.
- Relative clauses narrow reference; final ini/itu closes the whole noun phrase.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- Relative Clauses with yangA2 — Build Indonesian noun modifiers with yang, leaving a recoverable gap whose grammatical role is licensed by the relative clause's voice.
- Subject Relative ClausesA2 — Build relative clauses whose understood subject is an actor, patient, or the subject of a nonverbal predicate.
- Identifying the SubjectB2 — Identify Indonesian subjects through predicate position, voice, referentiality, relativization, and discourse rather than semantic agency alone.
- Word Order Across Actor, di-, and Object VoiceA2 — Track actor, patient, and verb order across meN- actor voice, di- passive, and patient-first object voice.
- Object Voice with a Bare Verb: Overview and FormationA2 — Recognize the patient-first Indonesian construction in which a pronominal actor stands directly before an unprefixed verb.
- di- Passive: Choosing This ConstructionA2 — Choose di- passive when an affected patient is the clause's topic, contrasting it with actor voice and pronoun-agent object voice across genres.