An -i applicative does more than add a suffix: it determines which location, goal, recipient, container, or target receives core-object status. In actor voice that object normally follows the meN-...-i verb; in di- passive it becomes the patient subject; with a first- or second-person pronominal actor it can precede the pronoun and bare -i stem. Morphology, relativization, and topic continuity jointly reveal these roles—English word order alone does not.
This page focuses on arguments and order. Formation, discourse choice, aspect or negation, and advanced constraints are treated separately in the -i series.
Actor subject and target object
The neutral actor-voice template is:
actor subject + meN-...-i + target object (+ remaining theme/material/adjunct)
Raka mengisi formulir beasiswa di perpustakaan.
Raka fills out the scholarship form at the library.
Petugas sensus mendatangi rumah paling ujung.
The census officer visits the house at the far end.
Mira mengirimi teman sekamarnya surat dari rumah.
Mira sends her roommate a letter from home.
Penyunting menandai halaman terakhir dengan klip hijau.
The editor marks the last page with a green clip.
Raka, petugas sensus, Mira, and penyunting are actor subjects. Formulir beasiswa, rumah paling ujung, teman sekamarnya, and halaman terakhir are the objects selected by the relevant target-oriented frames. In the transfer example, surat remains after recipient-object teman sekamarnya as the theme transferred.
Passive promotes the selected target
Replacing actor-voice meN- with attached di- promotes the -i object's role to passive subject. The actor becomes an optional postverbal agent.
Formulir beasiswa itu diisi Raka di perpustakaan.
Raka fills out that scholarship form at the library.
Rumah paling ujung didatangi petugas sensus menjelang siang.
The house at the far end was visited by the census officer toward noon.
Teman sekamarnya dikirimi surat oleh Mira setiap bulan.
Her roommate is sent a letter by Mira every month.
Halaman terakhir ditandai penyunting dengan klip hijau.
The last page is marked by the editor with a green clip.
The theme surat does not become subject of dikirimi in the recipient-oriented frame. To make the letter the patient subject, Indonesian normally chooses dikirim or dikirimkan and expresses the recipient with kepada.
Surat itu dikirimkan kepada teman sekamar Mira kemarin.
The letter was sent to Mira's roommate yesterday.
Teman sekamar Mira dikirimi surat kemarin.
Mira's roommate was sent a letter yesterday.
The real-world event can be the same, but suffix choice selects a different object and therefore a different passive subject.
Subject diagnostics beyond first position
Topic continuity
A passive subject can remain understood across coordinated predicates.
Formulir itu diisi, diperiksa, lalu disimpan dalam map biru.
The form is filled out, checked, then stored in a blue folder.
Rumah tersebut didatangi petugas dan difoto dari depan.
The house was visited by an officer and photographed from the front.
Pelanggan itu dikirimi kode baru lalu diminta mencoba masuk kembali.
The customer was sent a new code and then asked to try logging in again.
The form, house, and customer remain the understood subjects of the following passive predicates. That continuity is stronger evidence than simply noting which noun appears first.
Relativization
The selected target can be the missing subject represented by a yang relative head.
Formulir yang diisi Raka tadi belum ditandatangani.
The form Raka filled out earlier has not been signed.
Rumah yang didatangi petugas itu ternyata kosong.
The house visited by the officer turned out to be empty.
Pelanggan yang dikirimi kode baru harus mengaktifkannya hari ini.
The customer who was sent a new code must activate it today.
Halaman yang saya tandai berisi jadwal terbaru.
The page I marked contains the latest schedule.
Actor voice remains when the relative head is the actor:
Petugas yang mengisi formulir itu duduk di loket tiga.
The officer who fills out that form is sitting at counter three.
Kurir yang mengirimi warga paket-paket itu sudah kembali.
The courier who sends residents those packages has already returned.
Voice morphology identifies whether the missing participant is actor or target; yang alone does not.
Agent expression and adjacency
A short third-person agent may immediately follow a di-...-i verb without oleh.
Berkas itu ditandai Sinta tadi pagi.
Sinta marked that file this morning.
Alamat lama kami didatangi kurir dua kali.
A courier visited our old address twice.
If an adjunct intervenes, oleh clearly marks the delayed agent. Long agents also favor oleh, especially in formal writing.
Formulir itu diisi kemarin oleh petugas dari kantor pusat.
The form was filled out yesterday by an officer from headquarters.
Semua halaman ditandai dengan teliti oleh tim pemeriksa independen.
All pages were carefully marked by the independent review team. (formal)
The postverbal agent is still the actor, not a second object. In Formulir itu diisi Raka, Raka fills; Raka is not something put into the form.
Pronoun placement and object voice
First- and second-person pronominal actors normally precede the bare -i stem in object voice. The target object remains before that pronoun.
Formulir ini akan saya isi setelah makan siang.
I will fill out this form after lunch.
Rumah itu perlu kamu datangi sebelum gelap.
You need to visit that house before dark.
Pelanggan tersebut sudah kami kirimi surat pemberitahuan.
We have sent that customer a notification letter.
Halaman ini harus kalian tandai dengan warna merah.
You all must mark this page in red.
Do not retain meN- after the pronoun: Formulir ini saya mengisi is not neutral Standard Indonesian object voice. The suffix remains: saya isi, kamu datangi, kami kirimi, kalian tandai.
Third-person agent -nya may attach to the passive verb in compact written narration:
Setiap kolom diisinya dengan tulisan kecil dan rapi.
He/She filled every field in small, neat handwriting. (written narrative)
Rumah tua itu didatanginya seorang diri.
He/She visited that old house alone. (written narrative)
Write diisinya and didatanginya solidly. Here -nya expresses the agent; that is different from possessive -nya in rumahnya “his/her house.”
Full nouns, pronouns, and omission
Conversation can replace a full argument with a pronoun or omit it when recoverable.
Filling a form
Nadia mengisi formulir izin itu sekarang.
Nadia is filling out that permit form now. (full actor and object)
Dia mengisinya sekarang.
She is filling it out now. (pronominal actor and object)
A: Formulir izinnya bagaimana? B: Sudah diisi.
A: What about the permit form? B: It has been filled out. (actor and recoverable subject omitted)
Visiting a house
Petugas kelurahan mendatangi rumah Pak Darto pagi ini.
The municipal officer visits Mr. Darto's house this morning. (full nouns)
Dia mendatanginya pagi ini.
He/She visits it/him this morning. (pronouns)
A: Rumah Pak Darto sudah diperiksa? B: Sudah didatangi pagi ini.
A: Has Mr. Darto's house been checked? B: It was visited this morning. (actor omitted)
Sending a friend a letter
Laras mengirimi teman kuliahnya surat panjang.
Laras sends her college friend a long letter. (full nouns)
Dia mengiriminya surat panjang.
She sends him/her a long letter. (pronominal actor and recipient)
A: Temanmu sudah diberi kabar? B: Sudah dikirimi surat.
A: Has your friend been informed? B: He/She has been sent a letter. (actor omitted)
Marking a page
Editor utama menandai halaman ketujuh belas.
The chief editor marks page seventeen. (full nouns)
Dia menandainya dengan dua garis.
He/She marks it with two lines. (pronouns)
A: Halaman itu masih perlu diperiksa? B: Sudah ditandai.
A: Does that page still need checking? B: It has been marked. (actor omitted)
Attached -nya can be object in actor voice (mengisinya, menandainya) or agent in passive narrative (diisinya). Voice morphology and position disambiguate the clitic's role.
Frame setters change order, not roles
Time and location expressions can precede the clause.
Sebelum rapat, Raka mengisi formulir perjalanan.
Before the meeting, Raka fills out the travel form.
Menjelang malam, petugas mendatangi rumah itu lagi.
Toward evening, the officer visits that house again.
Setiap awal bulan, Mira mengirimi temannya surat.
At the beginning of every month, Mira sends her friend a letter.
Dengan pensil biru, penyunting menandai halaman yang bermasalah.
With a blue pencil, the editor marks the problematic page.
The fronted phrases are adjuncts. They do not become subjects, and locative di remains separate from its noun. Argument status still comes from the -i frame and voice.
Common Mistakes
Calling the transferred theme the direct object of mengirimi
❌ Dalam kalimat “Mira mengirimi temannya surat”, surat adalah objek yang dipromosikan oleh -i.
Incorrect analysis — the recipient temannya is the privileged object of this -i frame.
✅ Temannya dikirimi surat oleh Mira setiap awal bulan.
Her friend is sent a letter by Mira at the beginning of every month.
Keeping meN- after a pronoun agent
❌ Formulir itu saya mengisi tadi pagi.
Incorrect in Standard Indonesian object voice — use the bare stem after saya.
✅ Formulir itu saya isi tadi pagi sebelum rapat.
I filled out that form this morning before the meeting.
Treating the postverbal passive agent as an object
❌ Dalam kalimat “Rumah itu didatangi petugas”, petugas adalah rumah yang dikunjungi.
Incorrect — petugas is the visitor and postverbal agent.
✅ Rumah itu didatangi petugas kesehatan kemarin.
That house was visited by a health officer yesterday.
Promoting the transferred theme with dikirimi
❌ Surat itu dikirimi kepada teman saya.
Incorrect — theme subject surat requires dikirim or dikirimkan, not recipient-oriented dikirimi.
✅ Surat itu dikirimkan kepada teman saya melalui pos.
The letter was sent to my friend by mail.
Separating a clitic or locative preposition incorrectly
❌ Rumah nya sudah kami datangi dipagi hari.
Incorrect spelling — possessive -nya attaches, while temporal di is not used before pagi here.
✅ Rumahnya sudah kami datangi pagi tadi.
We visited his/her house earlier this morning.
Key Takeaways
- Actor voice places the actor subject before meN-...-i and the selected target object after it.
- Passive promotes that target, not whichever Indonesian noun happens to match the English object.
- Recipient-oriented mengirimi keeps the recipient as privileged object and the transferred theme as a remaining participant.
- First- and second-person agents precede the bare -i stem in object voice; third-person -nya may attach differently according to voice.
- Relativization, topic continuity, morphology, and information structure jointly diagnose arguments despite omission or changed surface order.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- -i Applicative Patterns: Overview and FormationB2 — Recognize how -i stems select locations, goals, recipients, containers, and repeatedly affected targets as direct objects.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Choosing This ConstructionB2 — Choose -i when a goal, recipient, container, or target deserves object status, then select actor, passive, or object voice for the discourse topic.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Aspect, Modality, and NegationC1 — Place aspect, modal, and negative particles before unchanged -i predicates while controlling scope, voice, event type, and volitional control.
- di- Passive: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderA2 — Track patient subjects, demoted agents, remaining complements, pronouns, and word-order changes in Indonesian di- passive clauses.
- meN- Actor Voice: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderA2 — Identify actor-voice subjects and objects through verb morphology, position, omission, clitics, relativization, and voice alternations.
- Valency-Changing MorphologyB2 — See how Indonesian derivation adds, removes, and promotes participants through causative, applicative, reciprocal, middle, and ter- constructions.