terima and menerima: Verb Family and Usage | Indonesian Grammar

The terima family begins with transfer toward a recipient, but it has expanded into acceptance, admission, institutional intake, and gratitude. Menerima can mean receive or accept, diterima can report either successful delivery or approval, and the fixed expression terima kasih is the ordinary way to say thank you. English uses several unrelated words here; Indonesian reveals them as a lexical family.

No person or tense endings

The family does not conjugate for person, number, or tense. Separate aspect and time expressions locate the event, while voice and derivational affixes change structure or lexical category.

Function	Form	Typical sense
Instruction/object voice	terima	accept; receive
Actor voice	menerima	receive; accept
Passive	diterima	be received; be accepted
Recipient noun	penerima	recipient, beneficiary
Event/process noun	penerimaan	receipt, acceptance, intake, revenue
Fixed expression	terima kasih	thank you

Saya menerima hadiah buatan tangan dari rekan-rekan kantor.

I received a handmade gift from my colleagues.

Minggu lalu perpustakaan menerima sumbangan seratus buku.

Last week the library received a donation of one hundred books.

Besok petugas akan menerima kiriman obat di gudang utama.

Tomorrow the officers will receive a shipment of medicine at the main warehouse.

English changes receive to received. Indonesian keeps menerima and uses minggu lalu, akan, sudah, or context.

Bare terima: instructions and object voice

Bare terima is natural in instructions, slogans, and first- or second-person object voice. It is not an infinitive from which a tense paradigm is built.

Terima paket ini hanya jika segelnya masih utuh.

Accept this parcel only if its seal is still intact.

Tolong terima permintaan maaf saya dengan tulus.

Please accept my sincere apology.

Undangan itu saya terima tepat sebelum berangkat.

I received the invitation just before leaving.

Apakah pesan yang kamu terima mencantumkan nomor pesanan?

Does the message you received include the order number?

The last two clauses foreground the received item, then place a definite agent before bare terima. In careful actor-oriented prose, use saya menerima undangan. Actor-first saya terima also occurs in (informal) speech, but its distribution reflects voice and register, not past tense.

Menerima is an active transitive verb. Its subject is the recipient or accepting institution; the following object is what arrives, is admitted, or is acknowledged.

Resepsionis menerima dua amplop untuk direktur pagi tadi.

The receptionist received two envelopes for the director this morning.

Setiap peserta menerima kartu nama dan buku acara.

Each participant receives a name badge and a program booklet.

Kami menerima tamu dari cabang Makassar setelah makan siang.

We are receiving guests from the Makassar branch after lunch.

With people as the object, menerima tamu means welcome, receive, or meet visitors, not possess them. Context supplies this conventional social reading.

Menerima also means accept a proposal, condition, explanation, responsibility, or difficult reality. The transfer is abstract: the subject admits something into a decision, belief, or sphere of responsibility.

Dewan akhirnya menerima usulan perubahan jadwal.

The board finally accepted the proposal to change the schedule.

Saya menerima penjelasannya, tetapi masih ingin melihat buktinya.

I accept his explanation, but I still want to see the evidence.

Manajer itu bersedia menerima tanggung jawab atas kesalahan timnya.

That manager is willing to accept responsibility for her team's mistake.

Sulit baginya menerima kenyataan bahwa toko itu harus ditutup.

It is difficult for him to accept the fact that the shop must close.

These senses cannot be selected by translating English mechanically. English take responsibility, accept reality, and receive guests all use menerima in Indonesian because each frames something as entering the subject's possession, decision, or acknowledgment.

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The common core of menerima is not merely physical delivery. Something reaches the subject and is taken in—materially, socially, institutionally, or mentally.

Diterima: delivered, approved, admitted, or understood

Passive diterima makes the incoming item, person, or proposal the grammatical subject. The agent may follow with oleh, appear without it in some structures, or remain unstated.

Paket pengganti sudah diterima oleh pelanggan tadi siang.

The replacement parcel was received by the customer this afternoon.

Proposal penelitian itu diterima tanpa perubahan besar.

The research proposal was accepted without major changes.

Dua puluh siswa diterima melalui jalur prestasi tahun ini.

Twenty students were admitted through the achievement track this year.

Permintaan kami diterima dengan baik oleh pengelola gedung.

Our request was well received by the building management.

In communication, dapat diterima can mean technically receivable, intelligible, or socially acceptable. The surrounding noun tells you which.

Sinyal radio baru dapat diterima setelah antenanya dipindahkan.

The radio signal could only be received after the antenna was moved.

Penjelasan itu masuk akal dan dapat diterima oleh semua pihak.

That explanation is reasonable and acceptable to all parties.

Write passive di- solid in diterima. Locative di remains separate: diterima di kantor. See passive argument structure for agent choices.

Terima kasih: gratitude as a lexicalized transfer expression

Terima kasih is a fixed two-word expression meaning thank you. Its historical compositional image involves receiving kindness or goodwill, but modern speakers use it as a conventional formula. Do not conjugate it or force ordinary transitive syntax onto it.

Terima kasih sudah menunggu sampai rapat selesai.

Thank you for waiting until the meeting ended.

Terima kasih atas bantuan Anda selama proses pemindahan.

Thank you for your help during the relocation process.

Terima kasih banyak, makanannya enak sekali.

Thank you very much; the food was delicious.

Use atas + noun for the reason, or a clause such as sudah membantu. Berterima kasih is the verb be thankful / thank, commonly followed by kepada for the person and atas for the reason.

Kami berterima kasih kepada warga atas kesabaran mereka.

We thank the residents for their patience.

Ia mengucapkan terima kasih kepada petugas yang menemukan dompetnya.

She thanked the officer who found her wallet.

Makasih is a very common (informal) reduction. Use full terima kasih in neutral and formal situations.

Makasih ya, nanti aku kembalikan payungnya.

Thanks—I'll return the umbrella later. (informal)

Penerima: the recipient or beneficiary

Penerima names a person, organization, device, or account that receives something. The following noun or dari phrase can specify what is received or where it comes from.

Nama penerima harus sama dengan nama pada kartu identitas.

The recipient's name must match the name on the identification card.

Semua penerima beasiswa wajib menghadiri pengarahan awal.

All scholarship recipients must attend the initial briefing.

Nomor rekening penerima tercetak di bagian bawah faktur.

The recipient's account number is printed at the bottom of the invoice.

In official social programs, penerima manfaat is a conventional term meaning beneficiary. It does not mean a person who happens to receive any pleasant thing.

Program ini memprioritaskan penerima manfaat di wilayah terpencil.

This program prioritizes beneficiaries in remote areas. (formal)

Penerimaan: process, intake, acceptance, and revenue

Penerimaan packages receiving or accepting as a noun, but several institutional meanings are lexicalized. It can name a reception process, admission, intake, acknowledgment of delivery, or government/company revenue.

Loket penerimaan barang tutup pada pukul empat sore.

The goods-receiving counter closes at four in the afternoon.

Penerimaan mahasiswa baru dilakukan melalui dua tahap.

New student admissions are conducted in two stages.

Bukti penerimaan dokumen akan dikirim melalui surel.

Proof of receipt of the documents will be sent by email.

Penerimaan pajak daerah meningkat pada kuartal terakhir.

Regional tax revenue increased in the last quarter. (formal)

The revenue reading is conventional: penerimaan negara can mean state receipts or revenue. It does not follow automatically from every use of English receipt. By contrast, penerima profiles the receiving participant, while penerimaan profiles the process, institution, or incoming total.

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Affixes identify broad roles, but collocations finish the meaning: penerima beasiswa is a recipient, penerimaan mahasiswa is admissions, and penerimaan pajak is tax revenue.

Common Mistakes

Using a recipient noun as the verb

❌ Perusahaan akan penerima lamaran sampai Jumat.

Incorrect — penerima is the noun ‘recipient,’ not an active verb.

✅ Perusahaan akan menerima lamaran sampai Jumat sore.

The company will accept applications until Friday afternoon.

Adding an English tense ending

❌ Kemarin saya menerima-ed dua pesan dari bank.

Incorrect — Indonesian verbs do not take English past-tense endings.

✅ Kemarin saya menerima dua pesan dari bank mengenai transaksi itu.

Yesterday I received two messages from the bank about that transaction.

Separating passive di-

❌ Surat pengunduran dirinya di terima pagi ini.

Incorrect spelling — passive di- attaches to the verb.

✅ Surat pengunduran dirinya diterima pagi ini.

Her resignation letter was received this morning.

Translating every English receipt as penerimaan

❌ Simpan penerimaan belanja ini untuk penukaran barang.

Incorrect noun choice — a shop receipt is struk or nota, not normally penerimaan.

✅ Simpan struk belanja ini untuk penukaran barang.

Keep this purchase receipt for exchanging the item.

Giving terima kasih ordinary object syntax

❌ Saya menerima kasih kamu untuk bantuannya.

Incorrect — gratitude uses the fixed expression berterima kasih, not literal menerima kasih.

✅ Saya berterima kasih kepadamu atas bantuanmu selama acara.

I am grateful to you for your help during the event.

Key Takeaways

Menerima covers material receipt, social reception, and abstract acceptance without person or tense endings.
Bare terima occurs in instructions and object voice; diterima makes the incoming item or admitted person central.
Terima kasih is a fixed gratitude formula; berterima kasih kepada ... atas ... supplies a full predicate.
Penerima profiles the recipient, while penerimaan profiles receiving, admission, intake, or an institutional revenue total.

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