di- Passive: Choosing This Construction | Indonesian Grammar

Choose the di- passive when the clause is mainly about an affected person or thing and the actor is third-person, unknown, obvious, or unimportant. Indonesian voice choice answers “What are we tracking?” rather than merely converting an English active sentence into a passive one. The overview supplies the base pattern; here the focus is why formally possible alternatives are not pragmatically interchangeable.

One event presented three ways

Suppose Rina read a particular book. Indonesian can package that event from three viewpoints.

Rina membaca buku itu tadi malam.

Rina read that book last night.

Buku itu dibaca Rina tadi malam.

That book was read by Rina last night.

Buku itu dia baca tadi malam.

That book, she read last night. (object voice; conversational)

Voice	Clause topic	Natural question answered
meN- actor voice	Rina	What did Rina do?
di- passive	the book	What happened to the book?
object voice	the book, with a short given actor	What did she do with the book?

All three preserve Rina as reader and the book as theme. They are not pragmatically interchangeable: a story following Rina favors actor voice, while a discussion reviewing a reading list favors one of the patient-oriented choices.

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Before choosing voice, complete this sentence: “The next clause is about _.” Put that participant in the voice's privileged subject/topic position.

When di- is the natural choice

The patient is already the topic

Once a patient has been introduced, di- lets later clauses continue tracking it without repeatedly switching to new actors.

Paket itu tiba pagi ini. Paket tersebut diperiksa, ditimbang, lalu dikirim ke gudang.

The package arrived this morning. It was inspected, weighed, then sent to the warehouse. (formal)

Saya menemukan buku lama di loteng. Buku itu dibaca nenek ketika masih sekolah.

I found an old book in the attic. That book was read by Grandmother when she was still in school.

Actor voice would make each inspector, weigher, sender, or reader the new subject. The passive maintains patient continuity.

The agent is unknown or irrelevant

Sepeda saya dicuri tadi malam.

My bicycle was stolen last night.

Jadwal rapat sudah diubah.

The meeting schedule has already been changed.

Kuncinya diambil tanpa meninggalkan pesan.

The key was taken without leaving a message.

The missing agent is not a grammatical defect. Naming “someone” would add information the speaker may not have or care about.

The actor is third-person and the patient leads

Buku itu dibaca Rina sebelum ujian.

That book is read by Rina before the exam.

Surat itu ditulis oleh Ali atas nama seluruh panitia.

That letter was written by Ali on behalf of the whole committee.

Laporan tersebut disusun oleh tim yang dibentuk bulan lalu.

That report was prepared by a team formed last month. (formal)

A short agent may follow directly; a long or formally identified agent favors oleh.

The two nearest alternatives

Actor voice: choose the actor as topic

Actor voice is natural when the actor is new, contrastive, responsible, or maintained across several actions.

Rina membaca buku itu, mencatat bagian penting, lalu mengembalikannya ke rak.

Rina reads that book, notes the important parts, then returns it to the shelf.

Petugas mengambil kuncinya dan membuka pintu belakang.

The officer takes the key and opens the back door.

Changing these to passive would redirect attention toward the book or key. That may be grammatical, but it no longer answers the same discourse need.

Object voice: choose a patient topic with a pronoun agent

With first- or second-person agents, Indonesian normally puts the pronoun before a bare verb rather than using di-.

Buku itu sudah saya baca minggu lalu.

I read that book last week.

Surat ini perlu kamu tulis sebelum siang.

You need to write this letter before noon.

Kuncinya belum kami ambil.

We have not taken the key yet.

Third-person pronouns and short names can also occur in object voice, especially in conversation: Buku itu sudah dia baca. The di- alternative Buku itu sudah dibaca olehnya is grammatical but more explicit and often more formal or contrastive.

Buku itu sudah dibaca olehnya, bukan oleh Rina.

That book has been read by him/her, not by Rina. (contrastive)

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A patient topic does not automatically mean di-. Check the agent: a simple saya, kamu, or kami usually selects object voice.

Three genre contexts

Dialogue: a known book

A: Bagaimana dengan buku itu? B: Sudah dibaca Rina tadi malam.

A: What about that book? B: Rina read it last night. (conversation)

The question establishes buku itu as topic, so the answer naturally keeps patient orientation. A full actor-voice answer is possible if the speaker instead wants to contrast Rina with another reader.

News: an identified author

Surat itu ditulis oleh Ali Rahman, juru bicara organisasi tersebut.

The letter was written by Ali Rahman, the organization's spokesperson. (journalistic)

The news sentence foregrounds the document while retaining a long, newsworthy agent through oleh.

Narrative: suspense around a key

Kuncinya diambil. Beberapa detik kemudian, pintu belakang terbuka.

The key was taken. A few seconds later, the back door opened. (narrative)

Omitting the agent delays identification and keeps attention on the key and resulting event. Adding an agent would change the suspense structure.

Definiteness and identifiability

Passive patients are often definite because topics are commonly already identifiable: buku itu, suratnya, kunci tersebut. This is a discourse tendency, not an absolute grammatical requirement.

Buku tersebut dibaca Rina.

That book is read by Rina.

Seorang tersangka ditangkap tadi malam.

A suspect was arrested last night. (news)

Dua surat ditemukan di bawah pintu.

Two letters were found under the door.

An indefinite patient is natural when the passive introduces a newsworthy event or when its quantity matters. It may become the topic only after being introduced.

Sebuah paket ditemukan di depan rumah. Paket itu kemudian dibawa ke kantor polisi.

A package was found in front of the house. It was then taken to the police station.

Animacy does not determine voice

Both animate and inanimate patients can be passive subjects.

Anak itu dipanggil gurunya.

That child was called by the teacher.

Meja itu dipindahkan ke ruang sebelah.

That table was moved to the next room.

Animacy influences expectations: humans often make salient actors, and inanimate entities are easy patients. But topicality can override that tendency. A report about a missing child naturally uses Anak itu ditemukan..., while a biography tracking a rescuer may use actor voice.

Anak itu ditemukan oleh tim penyelamat pada pagi hari.

The child was found by the rescue team in the morning. (news)

Tim penyelamat menemukan anak itu pada pagi hari.

The rescue team found the child in the morning.

Formal and conversational realization

The di- passive itself is standard across registers. Formal prose often uses tersebut, telah, and explicit oleh phrases; conversation often uses -nya, omits the agent, or uses sama as an agent marker (informal; widespread colloquial).

Permohonan tersebut telah diperiksa oleh petugas yang berwenang.

The application has been examined by the authorized officer. (formal)

Permohonannya sudah diperiksa belum?

Has the application been checked yet? (informal)

Bukunya dipinjam sama Dito.

The book was borrowed by Dito. (informal; colloquial)

Use oleh Dito or bare Dito in careful Standard Indonesian. Do not import colloquial sama into an official report.

Common Mistakes

Treating all voice alternatives as interchangeable

❌ Dalam cerita tentang Rina, setiap kalimat harus diubah menjadi Buku dibaca Rina karena pasif juga benar.

Incorrect reasoning — grammatical possibility does not preserve the story's actor-centered flow.

✅ Rina membaca buku itu, mencatat isinya, lalu mengembalikannya.

Rina reads the book, notes its contents, then returns it.

Assuming every patient topic requires di-

❌ Laporan itu diperiksa saya pagi tadi.

Marked for an ordinary first-person agent — object voice is more natural.

✅ Laporan itu saya periksa pagi tadi.

I examined that report this morning.

Rejecting an indefinite passive subject

❌ Seorang tersangka ditangkap tidak mungkin karena subjek pasif harus pasti.

Incorrect rule — news passives can introduce indefinite patients.

✅ Seorang tersangka berhasil ditangkap di stasiun.

A suspect was successfully arrested at the station. (news)

Adding an empty agent

❌ Kuncinya diambil oleh seseorang, meskipun pelakunya tidak diketahui dan tidak relevan.

Unhelpful choice — oleh seseorang adds a vague agent where omission is more natural.

✅ Kuncinya diambil saat rumah kosong.

The key was taken while the house was empty.

Using colloquial sama in formal prose

❌ Dokumen tersebut diperiksa sama kepala bagian.

Not appropriate in this official report — use standard oleh.

✅ Dokumen tersebut diperiksa oleh kepala bagian.

The document was examined by the section head. (formal)

Key Takeaways

Choose di- when an affected patient is the clause's discourse center and the agent is third-person or omitted.
Actor voice tracks the actor; object voice commonly combines a patient topic with a short pronoun agent.
Definiteness and animacy influence typical choices but do not impose absolute grammatical bans.
Dialogue, news, and narrative use the same voice system for different information-structure effects.
A formally possible voice alternative can still be pragmatically wrong for the surrounding discourse.

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