The suffix -i commonly makes a location, goal, recipient, container, surface, or other target the direct object of an Indonesian verb. Compare datang ke rumah “come to a house” with mendatangi rumah “visit a house”: rumah moves out of a prepositional phrase and into core-object position. That remapping—not any single English word or preposition—is the organizing principle of -i applicative patterns.
This page introduces their forms and central meanings. Detailed arguments, discourse choice, aspect or negation, and advanced constraints belong to the other four pages in the -i voice series.
Four core families
| Actor-voice form | Useful frame | Role of the direct object | Natural English rendering |
|---|---|---|---|
| mengisi formulir | mengisi wadah dengan isi | container or field supplied with content | fill out a form |
| mendatangi rumah | mendatangi tujuan | goal approached or visited | visit a house |
| mengirimi teman surat | mengirimi penerima barang | recipient supplied with a theme | send a friend a letter |
| menandai halaman | menandai benda | item or surface receiving a mark | mark a page |
Pemohon mengisi formulir pendaftaran dengan data paspor.
The applicant fills out the registration form with passport data.
Perawat mendatangi rumah pasien setelah klinik tutup.
The nurse visits the patient's house after the clinic closes.
Saya mengirimi teman lama surat dari Makassar.
I send an old friend a letter from Makassar.
Editor menandai halaman yang perlu dicetak ulang.
The editor marks the page that needs to be reprinted.
English uses a lexical verb with no preposition in fill a form, visit a house, and mark a page, but a double-object pattern in send a friend a letter. -I does not mean “in,” “to,” “on,” or “for.” It establishes the target-oriented Indonesian frame, while the base determines what kind of targeting is involved.
Identifying the morphology
The finished suffix is attached directly to the base, with no hyphen or space: datang + -i → datangi, kirim + -i → kirimi, tanda + -i → tandai. Actor voice adds meN- outside that stem.
| Derived stem | Actor voice | di- passive | Pronoun-agent object voice |
|---|---|---|---|
| datangi | mendatangi | didatangi | saya datangi |
| kirimi | mengirimi | dikirimi | saya kirimi |
| tandai | menandai | ditandai | saya tandai |
Tim bantuan mendatangi desa itu setiap pekan.
The aid team visits that village every week.
Desa itu didatangi tim bantuan setiap pekan.
That village is visited by the aid team every week.
Desa itu akan kami datangi pada hari Senin.
We will visit that village on Monday.
Bank mengirimi nasabah kode verifikasi baru.
The bank sends the customer a new verification code.
Nasabah itu dikirimi kode verifikasi baru.
That customer is sent a new verification code.
Nasabah itu sudah saya kirimi kode pengganti.
I have sent that customer a replacement code.
Initial t in tanda and k in kirim undergo regular nasal substitution under meN-, producing menandai and mengirimi. Passive ditandai and dikirimi retain the root consonants. The suffix itself remains -i.
The surface overlap in isi
The family isi, mengisi, diisi is target-oriented, but standard spelling never writes isii or mengisii. The base already ends in i, so the base and the applicative-like stem share the visible form isi.
Silakan isi formulir ini sebelum mengambil nomor antrean.
Please fill out this form before taking a queue number.
Formulir tersebut diisi secara daring oleh sebagian peserta.
That form is filled out online by some participants.
The absence of a second visible i is a lexical surface overlap. It does not make mengisi formulir intransitive, and it does not license deleting vowels in transparent forms such as tandai or warnai.
Locations and goals become objects
With motion or orientation bases, a goal that once followed ke or another preposition may become the direct object of an established -i derivative.
Dokter datang ke rumah pasien menjelang malam.
The doctor comes to the patient's house toward evening.
Dokter mendatangi rumah pasien menjelang malam.
The doctor visits the patient's house toward evening.
Para peserta masuk ke aula melalui pintu samping.
The participants go into the hall through the side door.
Para peserta memasuki aula melalui pintu samping.
The participants enter the hall through the side door.
Once rumah pasien is the object of mendatangi, do not retain ke: mendatangi ke rumah pasien is not the Standard Indonesian frame. Similarly, memasuki gedung selects the building itself, unlike causative memasukkan barang ke gedung, which selects a moving theme and retains a goal phrase.
Recipients become objects
Transfer-related -i verbs often select the recipient immediately after the verb and leave the transferred theme after it.
Perusahaan kami mengirimi karyawan baru kartu akses sementara.
Our company sends new employees temporary access cards.
Paman meminjami kami mobil selama akhir pekan.
Uncle lends us a car for the weekend.
Pelayan menawari tamu itu secangkir teh hangat.
The server offers that guest a cup of hot tea.
Compare the theme-oriented -kan alternative:
Perusahaan mengirimkan kartu akses baru kepada semua karyawan.
The company sends new access cards to all employees.
Saya mengirimi teman saya surat singkat.
I send my friend a short letter.
Saya mengirimkan surat singkat kepada teman saya.
I send a short letter to my friend.
The real-world transfer is similar. The direct object differs: recipient teman saya after mengirimi, theme surat singkat after mengirimkan. This difference later controls which participant becomes passive subject or the head of an object relative.
Repeated, distributed, and exhaustive application
With suitable bases and plural, extended, or bounded objects, -i can suggest action applied repeatedly, across a surface, or to all relevant parts.
Petugas menandai setiap halaman yang memuat data pribadi.
The officer marks every page containing personal data.
Anak-anak menulisi papan itu dengan berbagai pesan.
The children cover the board with various written messages.
Petani menyirami seluruh bedeng sebelum matahari terbit.
The farmer waters all the garden beds before sunrise.
Mereka memagari kebun itu dengan bambu.
They fence the garden with bamboo.
Repetition is not encoded mechanically in every -i word. A single mark on a single page is fully possible:
Saya menandai satu halaman dengan satu klip merah.
I mark one page with one red clip.
The distributive or exhaustive interpretation emerges from the lexical verb, the nature and number of the target, and context. -I makes the target structurally central; it does not mean “many times.”
Alternation with bare and -kan verbs
Three related patterns may select different participants.
| Construction | Selected object or complement | Core viewpoint |
|---|---|---|
| datang ke rumah | no direct object; goal after ke | arrival/motion |
| mendatangi rumah | goal rumah | visit or approach the goal |
| mengisi gelas dengan air | container gelas | affect/fill the container |
| mengisikan air ke gelas | content air | cause the content to enter |
Nadia mengisi botol itu dengan air matang.
Nadia fills that bottle with boiled water.
Nadia mengisikan air matang ke botol kecil.
Nadia pours boiled water into a small bottle.
Seseorang menulisi dinding belakang dengan nomor telepon.
Someone covers the back wall with written phone numbers.
Petugas menuliskan nomor telepon pada formulir saya.
The officer writes the phone number on my form.
The -i forms select the container or written-on surface; -kan selects the caused-moving liquid or the written content. These are strong lexical patterns, not a universal algorithm that generates every conceivable pair.
Lexical restrictions and extended meanings
Some frequent -i verbs are lexicalized enough that a physical target analysis no longer predicts their full meaning.
Kami belum mengetahui sumber gangguan pada jaringan itu.
We do not yet know the source of the disruption in that network. (formal)
Keluarga itu memiliki dua toko kecil.
That family owns two small shops.
Anak saya menyukai cerita tentang luar angkasa.
My child likes stories about outer space.
Tim teknis berhasil mengatasi kebocoran data.
The technical team managed to address the data leak. (formal)
Learn mengetahui, memiliki, menyukai, and mengatasi with their conventional meanings and objects. There is no honest rule that permits learners to attach -i to every English verb followed by to, on, at, or with.
Common Mistakes
Retaining the old goal preposition
❌ Perawat mendatangi ke rumah pasien sore tadi.
Incorrect — rumah pasien is already the direct object of mendatangi.
✅ Perawat mendatangi rumah pasien sore tadi.
The nurse visited the patient's house this afternoon.
Putting the theme first after recipient-oriented mengirimi
❌ Saya mengirimi surat kepada teman lama.
Incorrect for the recipient-oriented -i frame — the recipient must directly follow mengirimi.
✅ Saya mengirimi teman lama sepucuk surat.
I send an old friend a letter.
Doubling the final vowel in isi
❌ Peserta harus mengisii formulir sebelum masuk.
Incorrect spelling — the established surface form is mengisi.
✅ Peserta harus mengisi formulir sebelum masuk.
Participants must fill out the form before entering.
Assuming every -i form means repeated action
❌ Menandai satu halaman harus berarti memberi halaman itu banyak tanda.
Incorrect interpretation — one target and one mark are possible.
✅ Editor menandai satu halaman dengan satu catatan.
The editor marks one page with a single note.
Using -kan when the location itself is entered
❌ Para pengunjung memasukkan museum melalui pintu utara.
Incorrect for ‘enter the museum’ — memasukkan requires a separate theme caused to enter.
✅ Para pengunjung memasuki museum melalui pintu utara.
The visitors enter the museum through the north door.
Key Takeaways
- -I commonly promotes a location, goal, recipient, container, surface, or other target to direct-object status.
- Finished stems are solid: datangi, kirimi, tandai; isi is a special surface overlap and never becomes isii.
- Transfer -i often selects the recipient, while related -kan selects the transferred theme.
- Repetition or exhaustive coverage is context-sensitive, not the invariant meaning of the suffix.
- Established lexical families and their object frames—not English prepositions—determine where -i is available.
Now practice Indonesian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- -i Applicative Patterns: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderB2 — Track actor subjects, target objects, remaining themes, passive agents, pronouns, and omitted arguments in -i applicative clauses.
- -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.
- -i: Formation and AllomorphyB2 — Learn how invariant -i forms target-oriented verb stems, how vowel-final bases are spelled, and how meN- and di- interact with the same derived stem.
- -i: Meanings and Derivational NetworkB2 — Understand how -i maps locations, goals, recipients, and repeatedly affected targets onto direct-object position across productive and lexicalized families.
- -kan versus -iB1 — Choose -kan when the caused or transferred theme is structurally affected and -i when a recipient, location, container, or surface becomes the affected object.