kata, berkata, and mengatakan: Verb Family and Usage | Indonesian Grammar

The root kata spans several grammatical levels. As a noun, it is a word. Berkata presents a speech act, often with an addressee or direct quotation. Transitive mengatakan selects what is said—a phrase, claim, proposition, or quotation—and passive dikatakan foregrounds that content. Perkataan and kata-kata package utterances or wording, while attached katanya can mark a report as coming from someone else: “he/she says” or “reportedly.”

English uses word, say, tell, and hearsay expressions with different syntax. Indonesian does not simply attach whichever affix seems closest to the English translation. The family moves from lexical word, through speech act, to proposition and evidential source. General affix and reported-speech systems remain on their dedicated pages. Unmarked examples are neutral Standard Indonesian; informal, formal, literary, and other special uses are labeled.

No person or tense paradigm

Berkata and mengatakan never change for person, number, or tense. Subjects, time expressions, and separate aspect markers do that work.

Frame	Form	Interpretive cue
first person	Saya berkata kepada Rina.	saya; no agreement ending
third person	Dia berkata kepada Rina.	dia; the same verb
plural	Mereka berkata kepada Rina.	mereka; no plural ending
past report	Kemarin dia mengatakan itu.	kemarin
ongoing report	Dia sedang mengatakan sesuatu.	separate sedang
completed report	Dia sudah mengatakannya.	separate sudah
future report	Nanti dia akan mengatakannya.	separate nanti and akan

Tadi Dini berkata kepada saya bahwa ia harus pulang lebih awal.

Earlier Dini told me that she had to go home early.

Manajer mengatakan bahwa sistem akan diperbarui malam ini.

The manager said that the system would be updated tonight.

Besok saya akan mengatakan keputusan saya secara langsung.

Tomorrow I will state my decision directly.

English changes say to said and adds agreement. Indonesian keeps each family member unchanged. Bare kata is primarily a noun and a special quotative form, not an infinitive “to say.”

Kata as a noun: word, term, or wording

Noun kata can be counted, modified, compounded, or discussed as a linguistic unit.

Saya belum memahami arti kata terakhir dalam pesan itu.

I do not yet understand the meaning of the last word in that message.

Pilih kata yang lebih netral untuk judul laporan.

Choose a more neutral word for the report title.

Kata sandi baru harus terdiri atas sedikitnya dua belas karakter.

The new password must consist of at least twelve characters.

Dalam kalimat ini, kata kerja muncul sebelum objeknya.

In this sentence, the verb appears before its object. (academic)

Established grammatical and lexical compounds such as kata benda “noun,” kata kerja “verb,” kata sandi “password,” and kata pengantar “preface” are written as separate words. Their meanings are conventional; not every kata + noun sequence creates a new term.

Kata as a quotative frame

Bare kata also appears in a conventional reporting frame before or after the source. This construction is common in conversation, news quotations, and narrative; it does not turn kata into a general actor-oriented verb.

Kata Dini, rapat dipindahkan ke ruang yang lebih besar.

According to Dini, the meeting has been moved to a larger room.

“Jangan menunggu saya,” kata Arif sebelum masuk ke taksi.

'Do not wait for me,' Arif said before getting into the taxi.

Kata siapa pintu belakang selalu dikunci?

Who says the back door is always locked? (everyday challenge)

The source follows directly in kata Dini/Arif/siapa, whereas a fully verbal actor-first clause uses Dini berkata or Dini mengatakan sesuatu. This explains why Saya kata bahwa... is not the neutral Standard equivalent of “I said that...,” even though kata saya can mean “according to me/what I said” in the quotative frame.

Berkata: performing a speech act

Berkata is intransitive in its basic syntax. It foregrounds the event of someone speaking. An addressee follows kepada, while the spoken material may appear as a direct quotation or a bahwa clause.

Ibu berkata kepada saya, “Jangan lupa membawa payung.”

Mother said to me, 'Do not forget to bring an umbrella.'

Petugas itu berkata, “Silakan menunggu di sebelah kanan.”

The officer said, 'Please wait on the right.'

Ia berkata bahwa dirinya tidak mengetahui perubahan jadwal.

She said that she did not know about the schedule change.

Tanpa berkata apa-apa, Arman meletakkan kunci di atas meja.

Without saying anything, Arman put the key on the table.

Anak itu berkata jujur tentang apa yang dilihatnya.

The child spoke truthfully about what he or she saw.

Berkata kepada saya identifies the addressee. It does not make saya a direct object comparable to English tell me. In everyday conversation, speakers also choose bilang (informal), but berkata remains neutral in narrative and can sound slightly literary in highly casual talk.

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Use berkata when the clause foregrounds the speaker's act or frames a quotation. Add the hearer with kepada; do not place that person directly after the verb as if Indonesian copied English tell someone.

Mengatakan: making content the object

Mengatakan is transitive. Its object is the word, phrase, proposition, opinion, or other content expressed.

Dia mengatakan sesuatu yang membuat semua orang terdiam.

She said something that made everyone fall silent.

Saksi mengatakan hal yang sama kepada penyidik.

The witness said the same thing to the investigator.

Laporan itu mengatakan bahwa kualitas air sudah membaik.

The report says that water quality has improved. (formal)

Saya tidak pernah mengatakan kalimat tersebut dalam wawancara.

I never said that sentence in the interview.

Dokter mengatakan kepada pasien bahwa hasil pemeriksaannya baik.

The doctor told the patient that the examination result was good.

The content can be a noun phrase or a bahwa clause. An addressee, if named, normally follows kepada.

Ketua tim mengatakan kepada kami bahwa tenggatnya diperpanjang.

The team leader told us that the deadline had been extended.

Saya mengatakan pendapat saya kepada pemilik usaha secara pribadi.

I stated my opinion to the business owner privately.

Unlike English tell, mengatakan does not ordinarily select the recipient as a bare object. The proposition or wording is central; kepada kami identifies who receives it.

Direct quotation and bahwa clauses

A direct quotation preserves the speaker's wording and uses quotation punctuation. A bahwa clause presents reported propositional content without claiming to reproduce every word.

Rudi mengatakan, “Saya akan datang sebelum pukul tujuh.”

Rudi said, 'I will come before seven.'

Rudi mengatakan bahwa ia akan datang sebelum pukul tujuh.

Rudi said that he would come before seven.

Dalam pesannya, Rudi hanya mengatakan, “Tunggu saya.”

In his message, Rudi only said, 'Wait for me.'

Indonesian does not obligatorily shift verb tense in indirect speech because its verbs do not carry tense endings. Pronoun and time-reference choices still depend on viewpoint: direct saya becomes ia/dia when the narrator refers to Rudi from outside the quote.

Dikatakan: content in the foreground

Passive dikatakan starts from the utterance, proposition, description, or claim. The original speaker may follow with oleh or be omitted.

Hal itu sudah dikatakan oleh ketua panitia sejak awal.

That had been said by the committee chair from the beginning.

Dalam laporan disebutkan bahwa korban telah menerima bantuan.

The report states that the victim has received assistance. (formal)

Tidak pernah dikatakan bahwa layanan tersebut sepenuhnya gratis.

It was never said that the service was completely free.

Kalimat itu dapat dikatakan dengan cara yang lebih sederhana.

That sentence can be said in a simpler way.

The second example uses lexical disebutkan, a common formal alternative when a document mentions or states something. It does not make dikatakan wrong; collocation determines which reporting verb sounds most natural.

With a pronominal actor, the object-oriented form is saya katakan, kami katakan, not saya mengatakan after a fronted object:

Hal yang sama sudah saya katakan kepada petugas kemarin.

I already said the same thing to the officer yesterday.

Hal itu baru akan kami katakan setelah semua pihak hadir.

We will only say that after all parties are present.

Passive di- attaches in dikatakan; locative di ruang sidang remains separate.

Katanya: source marking and hearsay

Attached -nya in katanya refers to the source's saying. In everyday discourse it often functions like “he/she says,” “according to them,” or impersonal “reportedly.” It can occur before or after the reported content.

Katanya, kereta tambahan akan mulai beroperasi hari Jumat.

They say an additional train will begin operating on Friday. (hearsay)

Warung itu enak, katanya, tetapi saya belum pernah mencoba.

That food stall is good, she says, but I have never tried it.

Menurut Dimas, rapatnya selesai pukul tiga; katanya semua usulan diterima.

According to Dimas, the meeting ended at three; he says all the proposals were accepted.

Buku itu katanya sulit, tetapi saya justru menikmatinya.

They say the book is difficult, but I actually enjoyed it.

Katanya assigns the information to another source and can reduce the speaker's commitment. It does not automatically mean the speaker believes the report. The referent of -nya must be recoverable from context; otherwise use an explicit source such as menurut Dimas.

The source and discourse functions of attached -nya are developed further in the -nya guide.

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Do not silently translate katanya as a tense form of “said.” It is a source-management device: the current speaker presents a proposition as someone else's report.

Perkataan and kata-kata

Perkataan is a noun for something said, a remark, utterance, or speech content considered as a unit. Kata-kata is genuine reduplication and means words, wording, or someone's verbal expressions as a set.

Perkataannya membuat suasana rapat menjadi tegang.

His remark made the meeting atmosphere tense.

Saya masih mengingat perkataan nenek pada malam itu.

I still remember what Grandma said that night.

Pilih kata-kata yang tidak menyalahkan korban.

Choose wording that does not blame the victim.

Kata-katanya sederhana, tetapi sangat menghibur kami.

Her words were simple but greatly comforted us.

Ia membaca surat itu kata demi kata.

She read the letter word by word.

The hyphen in kata-kata marks repetition; kata demi kata is a separate distributive phrase. Perkataan often points to a whole remark, while kata-kata highlights wording or multiple verbal units, but context can bring them close.

Conventional discourse expressions

The noun appears in connectors and metalinguistic phrases that organize discourse.

Dengan kata lain, kita membutuhkan jadwal yang lebih realistis.

In other words, we need a more realistic schedule.

Singkat kata, kedua pihak akhirnya mencapai kesepakatan.

In short, the two parties finally reached an agreement. (careful)

Jangan memotong kata-kata orang sebelum ia selesai berbicara.

Do not cut someone off before they have finished speaking.

Dengan kata lain reformulates an idea; singkat kata compresses a narrative (careful/literary). Learn them as fixed discourse expressions rather than assembling them from English translations.

Common Mistakes

Treating kata as an ordinary actor verb

❌ Saya kata bahwa jadwalnya sudah berubah.

Incorrect in neutral Standard Indonesian — use berkata or mengatakan for an actor-oriented report.

✅ Saya mengatakan bahwa jadwalnya sudah berubah sejak kemarin.

I said that the schedule had changed since yesterday.

Giving mengatakan a bare recipient object

❌ Ketua panitia mengatakan kami bahwa acara dibatalkan.

Incorrect — mengatakan selects the content; the recipient follows kepada.

✅ Ketua panitia mengatakan kepada kami bahwa acara dibatalkan.

The committee chair told us that the event was canceled.

Misreading katanya as the speaker's own assertion

❌ Katanya saya akan datang berarti saya sendiri sudah berjanji.

Incorrect interpretation — katanya attributes the report to another source.

✅ Saya mengatakan bahwa saya akan datang sebelum makan malam.

I said that I would come before dinner.

Omitting the hyphen in reduplication

❌ Kata kata dalam surat itu sulit dipahami.

Incorrect spelling — repeated kata-kata takes a hyphen.

✅ Kata-kata dalam surat itu sulit dipahami tanpa konteks.

The words in the letter are difficult to understand without context.

Separating passive di-

❌ Pernyataan itu di katakan diruang sidang.

Incorrect spacing — passive dikatakan is solid, while locative di ruang is separate.

✅ Pernyataan itu dikatakan di ruang sidang oleh saksi pertama.

The statement was made in the courtroom by the first witness.

Key Takeaways

Noun kata means a word or term; berkata presents a speech act, often with kepada or a quotation.
Transitive mengatakan selects the content said; dikatakan and object-oriented saya katakan keep that content central.
Katanya manages information source and commonly marks hearsay rather than tense.
Perkataan packages a remark or utterance, while hyphenated kata-kata highlights words or wording.
The family links word, speech act, proposition, and report source, but each established member retains its own argument pattern and register.

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