beri, memberi, and memberikan: Verb Family and Usage | Indonesian Grammar

Giving involves three participants: a giver, a recipient, and something transferred. The beri family uses suffix and voice choices to decide which of those participants is structurally central. Canonically, memberi readily selects a recipient before a theme, memberikan selects the theme and expresses the recipient with kepada, diberi centers the recipient, and diberikan centers the transferred theme.

No person or tense endings—and an important spelling

The actor-voice form is memberi, never menberi. The meN- prefix appears as mem- before this base, and the resulting derivative is written solid. It remains unchanged for subject and time.

Context	Indonesian	Cue
I, now	saya memberi Rina buku	context
she, earlier	tadi dia memberi Rina buku	tadi
they, ongoing	mereka sedang memberi Rina buku	sedang
we, tomorrow	besok kami akan memberi Rina buku	besok, akan

Saya memberi Rina buku tentang sejarah kota.

I give Rina a book about the city's history.

Tadi dia memberi penjaga itu sebotol air.

Earlier she gave that guard a bottle of water.

Besok kami akan memberi peserta petunjuk tambahan.

Tomorrow we will give the participants additional instructions.

English give, gives, and gave do not correspond to conjugated Indonesian forms. Beri is a base used in specific frames, not an infinitive.

Bare beri: commands and object voice

Bare beri is natural in direct instructions. It also appears in object voice after a first- or second-person actor when a selected object has been placed first.

Beri saya waktu lima menit untuk memeriksa datanya.

Give me five minutes to check the data.

Tolong beri anak itu kesempatan kedua.

Please give that child a second chance.

Saran itu saya beri setelah membaca laporan lengkap.

I gave that advice after reading the full report.

Jawaban yang kamu beri sudah cukup jelas.

The answer you gave is clear enough.

The last two clauses place the transferred theme first, so they do not display the ordinary recipient-first actor-voice sequence. Voice and information structure—not tense—license bare beri.

memberi: recipient before theme

In its characteristic ditransitive frame, memberi places the recipient directly after the verb and the transferred theme after the recipient:

giver + memberi + recipient + theme

Paman memberi saya buku bekas yang masih bagus.

My uncle gives me a used book that is still in good condition.

Guru memberi setiap kelompok satu peta kosong.

The teacher gives each group one blank map.

Petugas memberi pengunjung kartu antrean.

The officer gives visitors queue cards.

Dokter memberi pasien itu waktu untuk bertanya.

The doctor gives that patient time to ask questions.

This pattern makes the recipient a primary object. English has a similar “give me a book” order, but Indonesian passivization reveals the recipient's special status: saya diberi buku.

Memberi also occurs with one overt object when the other participant is understood or when the object is an abstract contribution.

Semua anggota diminta memberi pendapat sebelum pemungutan suara.

All members are asked to give an opinion before the vote.

Senyumnya memberi harapan kepada keluarga pasien.

Her smile gives hope to the patient's family.

💡

For the most transparent contrast, learn memberi seseorang sesuatu beside memberikan sesuatu kepada seseorang. Both describe transfer, but they select and order the participants differently.

memberikan: theme before recipient

Canonical memberikan selects the transferred theme as its direct object. A human recipient normally follows in a kepada phrase:

giver + memberikan + theme + kepada recipient

Direktur memberikan buku panduan kepada semua pegawai baru.

The director gives the handbook to all new employees.

Kami memberikan salinan kontrak kepada pemilik rumah.

We give a copy of the contract to the homeowner.

Panitia memberikan hadiah utama kepada pemenang lomba.

The committee gives the main prize to the contest winner.

Perawat memberikan obat itu kepada pasien setelah pasien selesai makan.

The nurse gives the medicine to the patient after the patient finishes eating.

This theme-first frame is frequent in careful speech, administration, news, and formal writing. Actual usage also shows memberikan + recipient + theme, especially with pronouns and abstract nouns, but the theme-plus-kepada pattern gives learners the clearest structural contrast and the most reliable passive counterpart.

The meaning of memberikan extends beyond physical transfer to supplying an effect, response, access, support, or opportunity.

Lampu tambahan memberikan rasa aman bagi pejalan kaki.

Additional lighting gives pedestrians a sense of safety.

Program itu memberikan akses internet kepada sekolah terpencil.

The program provides internet access to remote schools.

These are conventional extensions, not evidence that -kan always translates English “provide.”

diberi and diberikan: two passive centers

Diberi canonically makes the recipient the passive subject; the theme remains after the verb. Diberikan makes the transferred theme the passive subject and normally retains the recipient with kepada.

Saya diberi sebuah buku oleh dosen pembimbing.

My supervisor gave me a book.

Setiap peserta diberi dua lembar kupon makan.

Each participant is given two meal coupons.

Pasien itu diberi obat pereda nyeri sebelum tidur.

That patient is given pain medication before sleeping.

Buku panduan diberikan kepada semua pegawai baru.

The handbook is given to all new employees.

Penghargaan tersebut diberikan kepada tiga relawan.

The award was given to three volunteers.

Compare the same transfer from two viewpoints:

Rudi diberi kunci cadangan oleh pemilik rumah.

The homeowner gives Rudi a spare key.

Kunci cadangan diberikan oleh pemilik rumah kepada Rudi.

The spare key is given to Rudi by the homeowner.

The first continues a discourse about Rudi; the second continues one about the key. Passive di- is attached in both diberi and diberikan. Locative di remains separate in di kantor.

The ditransitive syntax guide develops these recipient-versus-theme diagnostics across other transfer verbs.

Kartu itu diberikan kepada saya di kantor cabang.

The card was given to me at the branch office.

pemberian: gift, grant, or act of giving

Pemberian is an established noun. It can mean the act or process of giving (formal), or a gift, grant, or thing bestowed. Context and possessive phrases determine the reading.

Jam tangan ini pemberian dari kakek saya.

This watch was a gift from my grandfather.

Pemberian bantuan dilakukan melalui pemerintah desa.

The distribution of aid is carried out through the village government. (formal)

Mereka menolak pemberian yang dapat memengaruhi keputusan.

They reject gifts that could influence a decision. (formal)

Beasiswa itu merupakan pemberian sebuah yayasan pendidikan.

The scholarship is a grant from an educational foundation. (formal)

Do not use pemberian mechanically for every English noun “giving.” Learn its administrative and gift-related collocations.

memberi tahu: tell or inform

Memberi tahu is a conventional two-word expression meaning tell or inform. Tahu remains a separate word in this construction. It takes the informed person directly, then the information as a clause or phrase.

Tolong beri tahu saya kalau jadwalnya berubah.

Please tell me if the schedule changes.

Mira memberi tahu orang tuanya bahwa ia sudah tiba.

Mira tells her parents that she has arrived.

Petugas belum memberi tahu kami alasan penundaan itu.

The officer has not yet told us the reason for the delay.

Saya akan memberi tahu mereka setelah keputusan diumumkan.

I will tell them after the decision is announced.

The related derivative memberitahukan is written solid and commonly means notify or communicate information (formal). Its spelling does not license the nonstandard split mem beri or the wrong nasal form menberi.

Common Mistakes

Using the wrong nasal form

❌ Ibu menberi saya uang untuk membeli tiket.

Incorrect spelling — the actor-voice derivative is memberi, not menberi.

✅ Ibu memberi saya uang untuk membeli tiket.

Mother gives me money to buy a ticket.

Reversing the canonical memberi frame

❌ Guru memberi sebuah peta setiap kelompok.

Incorrect in the intended recipient-first frame — the recipient follows memberi directly.

✅ Guru memberi setiap kelompok sebuah peta.

The teacher gives each group a map.

Omitting kepada after theme-focused memberikan

❌ Panitia memberikan hadiah utama pemenang.

Incomplete in the canonical theme-first frame — mark the recipient with kepada.

✅ Panitia memberikan hadiah utama kepada pemenang.

The committee gives the main prize to the winner.

Choosing the wrong passive center

❌ Hadiah itu diberi pemenang oleh panitia.

Incorrect for a theme-centered passive — diberi selects the recipient, not hadiah, in the canonical contrast.

✅ Hadiah itu diberikan kepada pemenang oleh panitia.

The committee gave the prize to the winner.

Separating passive di-

❌ Hadiah itu di berikan kepada pemenang.

Incorrect spelling — passive di- attaches to the verb.

✅ Hadiah itu diberikan kepada pemenang.

The prize is given to the winner.

Key Takeaways

Canonical memberi + recipient + theme contrasts with memberikan + theme + kepada recipient.
Recipient-centered passive uses diberi; theme-centered passive uses diberikan.
The correct actor-voice form is memberi, never menberi, and passive forms are solid.
Pemberian is a lexical noun, while memberi tahu is a conventional two-word expression meaning tell or inform.

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