The Indonesian di- passive is neither rare nor merely a formal translation of English be + past participle. It is one member of a symmetrical voice ecology: actor voice tracks an actor, di- passive tracks a patient with a typical third-person or omitted agent, and object voice tracks a patient while placing a pronominal actor before a bare verb.
This page assumes the basic di- argument pattern, patient + di-verb + optional agent. It focuses instead on relative clauses, extraction limits, lexicalized patterns, agentless uses, and register. These advanced facts explain why forms such as Buku itu dibaca Rina, Surat itu ditulis oleh Ali, and Kuncinya diambil are central Indonesian syntax even where English would prefer an active translation.
Relative clauses expose the voice system
Standard Indonesian relative clauses with yang strongly favor a gap corresponding to the relative clause's subject or pivot. To modify a patient, speakers therefore select a patient-oriented voice.
Buku yang dibaca Rina itu sudah dikembalikan ke perpustakaan.
The book that Rina read has been returned to the library.
Surat yang ditulis oleh Ali belum ditandatangani ketua.
The letter written by Ali has not yet been signed by the chair.
Kunci yang diambil tadi pagi sudah ditemukan.
The key that was taken this morning has been found.
In buku yang dibaca Rina, the head noun buku corresponds to the patient subject of dibaca. Actor voice instead makes the actor accessible as the relative head:
Orang yang membaca buku itu adalah Rina.
The person who read that book is Rina.
Ali adalah orang yang menulis surat itu.
Ali is the person who wrote that letter.
The difference is not cosmetic. Buku yang Rina membaca keeps actor morphology while attempting to relativize the object, which conflicts with the ordinary Standard Indonesian relative strategy.
Extraction is limited by grammatical relation
Direct patients can become the pivot
An active direct object can become the subject of a di- passive and therefore the gap in a relative clause or the focus of a question.
Rina membaca buku sejarah itu.
Rina reads that history book.
Buku sejarah yang dibaca Rina itu milik saya.
The history book that Rina reads belongs to me.
Buku mana yang dibaca Rina?
Which book did Rina read?
Obliques cannot simply lose their preposition
English permits patterns such as the city I live in. Indonesian does not normally strand a preposition after a bare gap. Use tempat, retain a suitable prepositional relationship, or choose a derived verb whose valency genuinely selects that participant.
Kota tempat saya tinggal sering dilanda banjir.
The city where I live is often affected by flooding.
Rumah yang ditinggali keluarga itu akan direnovasi.
The house occupied by that family will be renovated.
Tinggal di rumah itu contains a locative di-phrase, so the place cannot become rumah yang ditinggal di. Derived meninggali rumah itu selects the location as an object; its passive ditinggali can then make the house the relative pivot. Morphology changes valency before voice applies.
❌ Kota yang saya tinggal di sangat tenang.
Incorrect in Standard Indonesian—do not strand locative di after a relative gap.
✅ Kota tempat saya tinggal sangat tenang.
The city where I live is very quiet.
Extracting the agent calls for actor voice
The postverbal agent of a di- passive is not its subject. If the person performing the action is the relative head, actor voice is the direct solution.
Rina yang membaca buku itu sudah pulang.
Rina, who read that book, has gone home.
Siapa yang menulis surat ini?
Who wrote this letter?
The formal question Oleh siapa surat ini ditulis? is also grammatical, but it retains oleh siapa as an agent phrase rather than pretending that the agent is the passive subject.
Oleh siapa surat ini ditulis?
By whom was this letter written? (formal)
Coordination must maintain a coherent pivot
A patient can remain understood across a chain of passive predicates. This is particularly efficient in procedural and narrative prose.
Buku itu dibaca Rina, diberi catatan, lalu dikembalikan ke rak.
The book is read by Rina, annotated, then returned to the shelf.
Surat itu ditulis oleh Ali, diperiksa sekretaris, dan dikirim pada hari yang sama.
The letter was written by Ali, checked by the secretary, and sent the same day.
The understood subject of diberi, dikembalikan, diperiksa, and dikirim is the same patient. A sudden switch to actor voice without expressing its actor breaks the chain.
❌ Buku itu dibaca Rina, mencatat bagian penting, lalu dikembalikan.
Incorrect coordination—mencatat requires an actor subject, but the continuing subject is buku itu.
✅ Rina membaca buku itu, mencatat bagian penting, lalu mengembalikannya.
Rina reads the book, notes the important parts, then returns it.
This is a control-like dependency across coordinated predicates: the omitted argument must be compatible with the voice of each predicate.
Agent order and the role of oleh
A short third-person agent may immediately follow the verb: dibaca Rina. Oleh is especially useful when the agent is long, contrastive, or separated from the verb by other material.
Buku itu dibaca Rina selama perjalanan.
Rina read that book during the journey.
Surat keberatan itu ditulis oleh Ali atas nama seluruh panitia.
That letter of objection was written by Ali on behalf of the whole committee.
Laporan tersebut disusun dengan sangat hati-hati oleh tim yang dibentuk bulan lalu.
The report was prepared very carefully by a team formed last month. (formal)
Without oleh, a bare agent must stay adjacent to the passive verb. A time or manner phrase cannot casually intervene.
❌ Surat pengantar itu ditulis tadi malam Ali.
Incorrect in careful Standard Indonesian—the delayed bare agent needs oleh.
✅ Surat pengantar itu ditulis tadi malam oleh Ali.
That cover letter was written last night by Ali.
The enclitic agent -nya attaches directly: dibacanya, ditulisnya, diambilnya. This compact pattern is frequent in literary and careful narrative prose.
Buku itu dibacanya sampai larut malam.
He/She read that book until late at night. (written narrative)
Kuncinya diambilnya tanpa menyalakan lampu.
He/She took the key without turning on the light. (written narrative)
Agentless passives do several jobs
Kuncinya diambil does not encode why the agent is absent. Context can make the agent unknown, obvious, irrelevant, deliberately concealed, or generic.
Kuncinya diambil saat rumah sedang kosong.
The key was taken while the house was empty. (agent unknown)
Semua telepon dimatikan sebelum ujian dimulai.
All phones are turned off before the exam begins. (generic instruction)
Permohonan diajukan melalui laman resmi.
Applications are submitted through the official website. (formal procedure)
Data pribadi hanya digunakan untuk keperluan verifikasi.
Personal data is used only for verification purposes. (formal policy)
English often inserts generic you, we, or people. Indonesian institutional prose commonly leaves that actor unexpressed and organizes the instruction around the form, phone, or data.
Agent omission can also manage responsibility. A bureaucratic sentence such as Terjadi kesalahan dalam penginputan data avoids an agent even more completely, while Data dimasukkan secara keliru keeps the affected data visible. Such choices can be rhetorically strategic, not merely grammatical.
Data tersebut dimasukkan secara keliru dan baru diperbaiki dua hari kemudian.
The data was entered incorrectly and was corrected only two days later. (formal)
Lexicalized passive families
Some frequent di- forms occur in conventional frames whose English translations no longer feel like ordinary event passives. Learn the complete construction.
| Construction | Conventional use |
|---|---|
| dikenal sebagai X | be known as X |
| dianggap + adjective/noun | be considered... |
| dimaksud dengan X | be meant by X |
| dibutuhkan untuk X | be needed for X |
| digunakan untuk X | be used for X |
Daerah itu dikenal sebagai penghasil kopi arabika.
That region is known as a producer of arabica coffee.
Pengalaman kerja dianggap penting untuk posisi ini.
Work experience is considered important for this position.
Apa yang dimaksud dengan akses terbuka?
What is meant by open access? (academic)
Kartu identitas asli dibutuhkan untuk mengambil paket di loket.
An original identity card is needed to collect the package at the counter.
Ruangan ini digunakan untuk menyimpan arsip.
This room is used to store archives.
The grammar still identifies a patient-oriented predicate, but collocation supplies the conventional complement and meaning. Do not manufacture parallel expressions solely from an English passive.
A realistic register and frequency profile
The di- passive is dense in news, procedures, research writing, regulations, and institutional correspondence because those genres repeatedly track documents, findings, processes, and affected parties. It is also routine in conversation, especially when the agent is obvious or unimportant. Calling it “formal” without qualification badly misrepresents actual Indonesian.
Annotated formal paragraph
Permohonan tersebut telah diterima dan akan diperiksa oleh tim verifikasi. Dokumen yang dinyatakan lengkap akan diproses dalam tiga hari kerja. Jika ditemukan kekurangan, pemohon akan dihubungi melalui surat elektronik.
The application has been received and will be examined by the verification team. Documents declared complete will be processed within three business days. If deficiencies are found, the applicant will be contacted by email. (formal)
The paragraph uses: (1) agentless telah diterima because receipt matters more than the receiver; (2) explicit oleh tim verifikasi because the examining authority is relevant; (3) relative-clause yang dinyatakan lengkap, where dokumen is patient pivot; and (4) agentless conditional ditemukan kekurangan plus pemohon akan dihubungi, both standard institutional choices.
Colloquial exchange
A: Kuncinya di mana? B: Udah diambil Rina. A: Suratnya gimana? B: Lagi ditulis sama Ali.
A: Where's the key? B: Rina already took it. A: What about the letter? B: Ali's writing it. (informal, colloquial)
Here udah and lagi are (informal) counterparts of sudah and sedang, while agent marker sama is (informal; widespread colloquial). The passives themselves are not nonstandard. In careful writing use sudah diambil Rina and sedang ditulis oleh Ali.
Common Mistakes
Retaining actor morphology in a patient relative
❌ Buku yang Rina membaca itu sangat tebal.
Incorrect—the head noun is the patient, so the relative clause needs patient-oriented voice.
✅ Buku yang dibaca Rina itu sangat tebal.
The book that Rina reads is very thick.
Reversing oleh and its agent
❌ Surat resmi itu ditulis Ali oleh.
Incorrect—oleh precedes its agent phrase.
✅ Surat resmi itu ditulis oleh Ali.
The official letter was written by Ali.
Separating the passive prefix
❌ Kuncinya di ambil tanpa izin.
Incorrect spelling—passive di- attaches to the verb.
✅ Kuncinya diambil tanpa izin.
The key was taken without permission.
Extracting an oblique as though Indonesian stranded prepositions
❌ Rumah yang keluarga itu tinggal di akan dijual.
Incorrect—locative di cannot be stranded after the relative gap.
✅ Rumah tempat keluarga itu tinggal akan dijual.
The house where that family lives will be sold.
Rejecting Indonesian agent order because English differs
❌ Buku tebal itu dibaca Rina tidak baku karena bahasa Inggris memerlukan kata by.
Incorrect claim—an adjacent short third-person agent is standard without oleh.
✅ Buku tebal itu dibaca Rina sebelum tidur.
Rina read that thick book before going to bed.
Key Takeaways
- Di- passive is a frequent patient-oriented voice, not a marginal copy of the English passive.
- Patient relatives favor yang + di-verb; actor extraction favors actor voice, and obliques cannot simply strand their prepositions.
- Bare third-person agents remain adjacent to the verb; oleh clearly introduces delayed, long, or contrastive agents.
- Agentless passives support unknown-agent reports, generic instructions, institutional procedures, and strategic responsibility management.
- Formal and colloquial Indonesian both use di-; register differences often reside in telah/sudah/udah, oleh/sama, and the surrounding noun phrases.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- di- Passive: Overview and FormationA1 — Recognize and form the Indonesian di- passive, where an affected patient is subject and a third-person agent may follow or remain unspoken.
- di- Passive: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderA2 — Track patient subjects, demoted agents, remaining complements, pronouns, and word-order changes in Indonesian di- passive clauses.
- 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.
- 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.
- Object Relatives and Voice SwitchingB2 — Relativize a transitive patient by switching to object voice or a di-passive instead of retaining actor-voice meN-.
- Extraction, Gaps, and Resumptive PronounsC2 — Analyze Indonesian questions, relatives, and topics through gaps, voice repair, preserved prepositions, and resumptive strategies.