Valency-Changing Morphology | Indonesian Grammar

Valency is the set of participants that a predicate licenses. Indonesian derivational morphology can add a causer, promote a location or recipient to object, combine two participants into a reciprocal relation, or suppress an actor in a middle or accidental reading. The affixes are therefore not decorative vocabulary pieces: they reorganize clause syntax.

The mappings are productive but not perfectly mechanical. Lexical convention determines which derived forms exist and what specialized meanings they develop. Learn the structural tendency, then learn each common verb family as a connected set.

A root across five constructions: gambar

The family built around gambar shows how one lexical base participates in different predicate frames.

Gambar rute evakuasi di papan sebelah pintu.

Draw the evacuation route on the board beside the door. (bare imperative)

Peta ini menggambarkan jalur evakuasi dari lantai tiga.

This map depicts the evacuation route from the third floor. (-kan transitive derivative)

Anak-anak menggambari trotoar dengan kapur warna-warni.

The children cover the pavement with colorful chalk drawings. (-i location-oriented derivative)

Buku petunjuk itu bergambar denah setiap lantai.

That instruction booklet has illustrations of each floor. (ber- property construction)

Kepanikan warga tergambar jelas dalam rekaman tersebut.

The residents' panic is clearly reflected in the recording. (ter- result/state construction)

These are not interchangeable versions of “draw.” The bare command selects an understood addressee and a theme. Menggambarkan selects what is represented; menggambari treats the surface receiving repeated drawings as object; bergambar predicates possession of images; tergambar presents a resulting representation or visible state without an active illustrator.

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When an affix changes, redraw the participant map. Ask which noun becomes the object, whether an actor remains central, and whether the clause describes an event, property, or result.

Causatives add a causer

A causative introduces someone or something that brings about a state, movement, or event. -kan is a major causative marker, usually appearing with actor-voice meN- or passive di- in a full clause.

Bayinya tidur nyenyak di kamar belakang.

The baby is sleeping soundly in the back bedroom.

Ayah menidurkan bayinya sebelum pukul delapan.

The father puts his baby to sleep before eight.

The intransitive tidur has a sleeper. Derived menidurkan adds a causer and makes the sleeper the direct object.

Pintunya terbuka karena tertiup angin.

The door is open because the wind blew it.

Petugas membukakan pintu untuk pengunjung lanjut usia.

The officer opens the door for an elderly visitor.

Here membukakan has a benefactive flavor—opening something for someone—rather than a pure causative contrast. The same suffix supports several related valency-changing functions.

Kami memasukkan semua kursi lipat ke gudang.

We put all the folding chairs into the storeroom.

Semua kursi lipat dimasukkan ke gudang sebelum hujan.

All the folding chairs were put into the storeroom before it rained.

Derived memasukkan adds an actor who causes the chairs to go in. Passive voice promotes the caused mover.

Applicatives promote a participant

An applicative makes a location, recipient, beneficiary, or other non-actor participant more central, often turning it into the direct object. Indonesian -i frequently selects a location, target, or recipient; -kan often selects a theme, caused participant, or benefactive relation. These are tendencies, not interchangeable formulas.

Petani menabur benih di lahan sebelah timur.

The farmer sows seeds in the field on the eastern side.

Petani menaburi lahan sebelah timur dengan benih jagung.

The farmer scatters corn seed over the field on the eastern side.

In menaburi lahan, the location receiving the seed becomes the object. It can be promoted:

Lahan sebelah timur ditaburi benih jagung setelah hujan.

The field on the eastern side was sown with corn seed after the rain.

Compare a transfer family:

Dina mengirimkan foto keluarga kepada neneknya.

Dina sends a family photo to her grandmother.

Dina mengirimi neneknya foto keluarga setiap bulan.

Dina sends her grandmother a family photo every month.

Mengirimkan selects the theme foto keluarga. Mengirimi promotes the recipient neneknya. The ditransitive guide develops the resulting passive choices.

Koki membuatkan sup hangat untuk tamu yang sakit.

The cook makes warm soup for the guest who is ill.

Tamu yang sakit dibuatkan sup hangat oleh koki hotel.

The sick guest was made warm soup by the hotel cook.

The beneficiary becomes a privileged participant in the second frame.

Participant promotion changes voice possibilities

Once a derivation selects a core object, that participant is the natural passive subject or object-voice pivot.

Petugas menandatangani halaman terakhir formulir itu.

The officer signs the last page of that form.

Halaman terakhir formulir itu ditandatangani petugas.

The final page of the form was signed by the officer.

Halaman terakhir itu sudah saya tandatangani tadi pagi.

I signed that final page this morning.

The -i form menandatangani selects the document surface as object. Passive ditandatangani and object voice saya tandatangani preserve the suffix because it belongs to the valency frame.

Do not strip derivational material when changing voice. Actor-voice meN- alternates, but -kan and -i normally remain:

Kami mengantarkan pasien itu ke ruang pemeriksaan.

We escort that patient to the examination room.

Pasien itu kami antarkan ke ruang pemeriksaan.

We escorted that patient to the examination room.

Reciprocal constructions merge participant roles

A reciprocal event has participants acting toward one another. Indonesian can use saling plus a transitive verb or lexical/derived ber- and ber-...-an forms.

Kedua ketua tim saling menghubungi setelah rapat.

The two team leaders contacted each other after the meeting.

Para peserta bersalaman sebelum meninggalkan ruangan.

The participants shook hands before leaving the room.

Dua saudara itu berpelukan di pintu kedatangan.

The two siblings hugged each other at the arrivals gate.

Warga dari kedua kampung saling membantu selama banjir.

Residents from both villages helped one another during the flood.

The reciprocal participants form one plural or coordinated subject rather than an actor plus ordinary object. Not every plural ber-...-an verb is reciprocal: berdatangan means “arrive one after another/from various directions,” not “arrive each other.” Lexical meaning must confirm reciprocity.

Reflexive and middle-like reductions

A reflexive event directs an action back toward the actor. Indonesian often uses diri or a lexical ber- verb instead of a dedicated reflexive pronoun system.

Raka bercukur sebelum berangkat kerja.

Raka shaves before leaving for work.

Anak itu menyembunyikan diri di balik tirai.

The child hides behind the curtain.

Setelah jatuh, pendaki itu memeriksa dirinya sendiri.

After falling, the hiker checked himself/herself.

A middle-like clause backgrounds the actor and describes how readily a patient undergoes an action.

Pintu geser ini mudah dibuka dari dalam.

This sliding door opens easily from the inside.

Bahan katun itu cepat kering setelah dicuci.

That cotton material dries quickly after being washed.

The door and material are not agents. The construction presents a characteristic disposition rather than reporting a particular actor's completed event.

ter- and reduced actor control

Ter- commonly presents an accidental event, an unintended result, a spontaneous change, or a resulting state. The actor is absent, backgrounded, or lacks full control.

Berkas penting itu terhapus saat sistem diperbarui.

That important file was accidentally deleted when the system was updated.

Gelas di tepi meja terjatuh ketika pintu dibanting.

The glass at the edge of the table fell when the door was slammed.

Nama pelanggan lain tertulis pada kuitansi saya.

Another customer's name is written on my receipt.

Pintu ruang penyimpanan terkunci dari dalam.

The storage-room door is locked from the inside.

These forms do not all mean the same kind of accident. Terhapus often suggests unintended deletion, terjatuh an uncontrolled fall, and tertulis or terkunci may describe a result state. The family must be learned lexically.

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Ter- reduces the prominence or control of an actor, but it is not simply a past tense or a universal accidental passive. Context and the individual verb determine accident, ability, superlative, or result meanings.

Productivity has limits

Not every root accepts every affix, and a morphologically imaginable form may be absent or have an unexpected lexical meaning. Menjalankan can mean “operate/carry out,” while menjalani means “undergo/live through”; neither is predicted completely by attaching a transparent suffix to everyday jalan “walk/go.”

Teknisi menjalankan mesin cadangan selama pengujian.

The technician runs the backup machine during testing.

Pasien menjalani pemeriksaan tambahan pagi ini.

The patient undergoes an additional examination this morning.

This is a genuinely difficult part of Indonesian. Structural tendencies help you organize families, but established lexical usage must be memorized and verified.

Common Mistakes

Treating affixes as optional decoration

❌ Ibu tidur bayi itu sebelum makan malam.

Incorrect—bare tidur cannot take the baby as a caused sleeper.

✅ Ibu menidurkan bayinya sebelum makan malam.

Mother puts her baby to sleep before dinner.

The causative derivation adds the causer and turns the sleeper into an object.

Removing -i when changing voice

❌ Halaman terakhir itu sudah saya tanda tangan pagi tadi.

Incorrect for the intended object-voice counterpart of menandatangani; preserve the derived stem.

✅ Halaman terakhir itu sudah saya tandatangani pagi tadi.

I signed that final page earlier this morning.

The actor-voice prefix alternates, but the -i frame remains in tandatangani.

Assuming every -i form means repeated action

❌ Mengirimi selalu berarti mengirim berkali-kali dan tidak mengubah objek inti.

Incorrect analysis—mengirimi selects a recipient or target as its core object.

✅ Panitia mengirimi setiap finalis jadwal wawancara baru.

The committee sent each finalist a new interview schedule.

Iteration may arise in some contexts, but participant promotion is central to this frame.

Reading every ber-...-an form as reciprocal

❌ Para tamu berdatangan berarti para tamu mendatangi satu sama lain.

Incorrect—berdatangan means the guests arrive successively or from different directions.

✅ Para tamu berdatangan sejak satu jam sebelum acara.

The guests arrived one after another starting an hour before the event.

Reciprocity must be supported by the lexical meaning or explicit saling.

Treating ter- as a general past marker

❌ Kemarin saya terbaca laporan itu di kantor.

Incorrect—terbaca does not mark an ordinary intentional past reading by saya.

✅ Kemarin saya membaca laporan itu di kantor.

Yesterday I read that report at the office.

Use actor voice for an intentional event with an explicit actor.

Key Takeaways

Derivation reorganizes participants as systematically as word order does.
Causative -kan can add a causer; applicative -i or -kan can promote a target, recipient, location, or beneficiary.
Reciprocal constructions combine participants into a mutual relation; reflexive and middle patterns reduce an ordinary actor–object contrast.
Ter- often backgrounds control or presents a result, but its exact reading is lexical.
Preserve derivational -kan and -i across voice changes, and learn productivity limits honestly.

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