-kan versus -i: Overview and Formation | Indonesian Grammar

When both derivatives exist, -kan and -i often select different participants as the clause's affected object. Mengirimkan surat kepada Rina privileges the transferred letter; mengirimi Rina surat privileges the recipient. Memasukkan barang ke kotak privileges the moving goods; memenuhi kotak dengan barang privileges the container brought to fullness. The suffix is therefore not chosen from English word order: it helps define what the Indonesian event is structurally about.

This page introduces formation and neutral clause shapes. Argument diagnostics, discourse choice, particle scope, and advanced restrictions belong to the other four pages in this series; the separate -kan and -i series develop each system independently.

The central contrast in one table

Family	Actor-voice frame	Object directly after verb	Other participant
transfer with -kan	mengirimkan surat kepada Rina	surat, transferred theme	recipient after kepada
transfer with -i	mengirimi Rina surat	Rina, recipient	surat, remaining theme
caused motion with -kan	memasukkan barang ke kotak	barang, moving theme	goal after ke
container-target with -i	memenuhi kotak dengan barang	kotak, affected container	content after dengan

Doni mengirimkan surat permohonan kepada Rina melalui kurir.

Doni sends an application letter to Rina by courier.

Doni mengirimi Rina surat permohonan melalui kurir.

Doni sends Rina an application letter by courier.

Petugas memasukkan beberapa barang bukti ke dalam kotak transparan.

The officer puts several pieces of evidence into a transparent box.

Petugas memenuhi kotak transparan itu dengan barang bukti kecil.

The officer fills that transparent box with small pieces of evidence.

The transfer pair can describe one sending event with a different privileged object. The container comparison changes the construal more substantially: memasukkan depicts caused movement of goods, while memenuhi depicts the box becoming full. Unlike mengirimkan/mengirimi, these two verbs do not share a base: memasukkan is built on masuk, while memenuhi is built on penuh. They are compared because they make the theme-versus-container choice especially clear, not because every root supplies an equivalent pair. English may translate both with put/fill, but the Indonesian roles are overtly reorganized.

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Locate the noun immediately after the actor-voice verb. With productive pairs, that noun is the best first clue to which participant the suffix has selected.

Formation: the suffix belongs to the stem

The derived stem is base + -kan or base + -i. Actor voice adds a meN- allomorph outside it; passive adds attached di-.

Base	-kan stem / actor / passive	-i stem / actor / passive
kirim	kirimkan, mengirimkan, dikirimkan	kirimi, mengirimi, dikirimi
tulis	tuliskan, menuliskan, dituliskan	tulisi, menulisi, ditulisi
masuk	masukkan, memasukkan, dimasukkan	masuki, memasuki, dimasuki

Alamat lengkap dituliskan pada bagian atas formulir.

The full address is written in the top section of the form.

Dinding belakang ditulisi berbagai pesan oleh para pengunjung.

The back wall is covered with various written messages by visitors.

Dua koper dimasukkan ke ruang penyimpanan oleh petugas.

Two suitcases are put into the storage room by an officer.

Ruang penyimpanan hanya boleh dimasuki staf berkartu akses.

The storage room may be entered only by staff with access cards.

Keep both final k letters in masukkan: one belongs to masuk, one begins -kan. Di- is a bound passive prefix in dikirimkan, dikirimi, dimasukkan, and dimasuki; locative di remains separate in di kotak or di gudang.

Theme-goal alternation in transfer

The clearest paired alternation is recipient transfer.

Bagian administrasi mengirimkan kartu baru kepada setiap pelanggan.

The administration department sends a new card to every customer.

Bagian administrasi mengirimi setiap pelanggan kartu baru.

The administration department sends every customer a new card.

In the -kan clause, kartu baru is the direct object; recipient setiap pelanggan follows kepada. In the -i clause, setiap pelanggan is the recipient-object and kartu baru follows as the transferred theme.

The passive subject confirms the choice:

Kartu baru itu dikirimkan kepada pelanggan pada hari Selasa.

The new card was sent to the customer on Tuesday.

Pelanggan itu dikirimi kartu baru pada hari Selasa.

That customer was sent a new card on Tuesday.

This is not merely Indonesian copying the English pair send a card to a customer / send a customer a card. Indonesian maintains the suffix distinction across passive and object voice too.

Moving theme versus affected location

-Kan often selects a theme caused to move; -i often selects the location or goal affected by entry, coverage, or contact.

Mira memasukkan pakaian bersih ke lemari kecil.

Mira puts the clean clothes into the small wardrobe.

Mira memenuhi lemari kecil itu dengan pakaian musim dingin.

Mira fills that small wardrobe with winter clothes.

Para tamu memasuki aula melalui pintu sebelah timur.

The guests enter the hall through the east door.

Memasukkan needs a separate moving theme: clothes go into the wardrobe. Memasuki makes aula the entered goal-object. Memenuhi makes the box, wardrobe, or requirement the target brought to a full or satisfied state.

Peserta harus memenuhi semua persyaratan sebelum wawancara.

Applicants must meet all requirements before the interview.

This lexical extension of memenuhi no longer involves a literal container. The target-oriented logic remains useful, but conventional meaning must be learned.

Content versus surface

Writing and filling families expose the same object-selection contrast.

Sekretaris menuliskan nomor rapat pada halaman pertama.

The secretary writes the meeting number on the first page.

Anak itu menulisi halaman pertama dengan nama teman-temannya.

The child covers the first page with the names of his/her friends.

Petugas mengisikan air bersih ke wadah cadangan.

The officer puts clean water into the spare container.

Petugas mengisi wadah cadangan dengan air bersih.

The officer fills the spare container with clean water.

Menuliskan selects written content; menulisi selects the written-on surface. Mengisikan selects content caused into a destination; mengisi has a special surface overlap because the base isi already ends in i, and it selects the container.

Identifying morphology—and when it is not visible

Transparent pairs visibly contrast -kan and -i: kirimkan/kirimi, tuliskan/tulisi, masukkan/masuki. But form alone is not always enough.

First, mengisi does not show a doubled ii. The conventional spelling is simply isi/mengisi/diisi.

Silakan isi semua kolom yang diberi tanda bintang.

Please fill in all fields marked with an asterisk.

Second, bare mengirim surat is also possible and selects the theme without visible -kan.

Saya mengirim paket itu kepada Rina kemarin pagi.

I sent that package to Rina yesterday morning.

Saya mengirimkan paket itu kepada Rina dengan layanan kilat.

I sent that package to Rina by express service.

The two may be close in many contexts; -kan can strengthen transfer, completion, or benefactive framing depending on the lexical family. Do not claim a meaning contrast where actual usage permits overlap.

Not every root alternates

Some frequent roots license only one conventional derivative or give the two forms unrelated lexical meanings.

Kami membersihkan ruang rapat setelah semua peserta pulang.

We clean the meeting room after all participants leave.

Tim mengetahui hasil pemeriksaan pada sore hari.

The team learns the inspection result in the afternoon. (formal)

Anak-anak menyukai permainan yang melibatkan kerja sama.

The children like games involving cooperation.

There is no ordinary membersihi parallel to membersihkan, nor productive mengetahkan or menyukakan paired with these meanings. Conversely, mendatangi “visit” and mendatangkan “bring/cause to come” both exist, but they select different participants rather than forming a simple theme-recipient transfer pair.

Dokter mendatangi desa terpencil itu setiap bulan.

The doctor visits that remote village every month.

Pemerintah daerah mendatangkan dokter spesialis dari kota.

The local government brings in a specialist doctor from the city.

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A plausible contrast is only a hypothesis. Learn each derivative with one full natural frame, and verify that both members actually exist before applying an alternation.

Neutral clause shapes

The central actor-voice patterns are:

actor + meN-base-kan + theme + kepada/ke goal
actor + meN-base-i + target/recipient + remaining theme/material

Toko itu mengirimkan kuitansi kepada pembeli melalui surel.

The shop sends a receipt to the buyer by email.

Toko itu mengirimi pembeli kuitansi melalui surel.

The shop sends the buyer a receipt by email.

Pekerja memasukkan botol kosong ke dalam peti.

The worker puts empty bottles into the crate.

Pekerja memenuhi peti itu dengan botol kosong.

The worker fills the crate with empty bottles.

Aspect and modal markers remain separate before the unchanged verb: sudah mengirimkan, akan mengirimi, sedang memasukkan, bisa memenuhi.

Common Mistakes

Choosing the suffix from English double-object order alone

❌ Saya mengirimkan Rina sebuah surat dari Kupang.

Incorrect frame — mengirimkan selects the letter, not bare recipient Rina.

✅ Saya mengirimi Rina sebuah surat dari Kupang.

I send Rina a letter from Kupang.

Treating the container as the moving theme

❌ Petugas memasukkan kotak dengan barang bukti.

Incorrect for filling the box — memasukkan makes its object the entity caused to enter.

✅ Petugas memenuhi kotak itu dengan barang bukti berukuran kecil.

The officer fills that box with small pieces of evidence.

Using -kan when the location itself is entered

❌ Para pengunjung memasukkan aula melalui pintu samping.

Incorrect — memasukkan requires a separate theme caused to go in.

✅ Para pengunjung memasuki aula melalui pintu samping sebelah utara.

The visitors enter the hall through the north side door.

Doubling the final vowel of isi

❌ Pemohon harus mengisii formulir ini dengan huruf kapital.

Incorrect spelling — the established visible form is mengisi.

✅ Pemohon harus mengisi formulir ini dengan huruf kapital.

Applicants must fill out this form in capital letters.

Assuming every root forms a pair

❌ Kami membersihi ruang tunggu sebelum tamu datang.

Nonstandard invented partner for membersihkan.

✅ Kami membersihkan ruang tunggu sebelum tamu dari Jakarta datang.

We clean the waiting room before the guests from Jakarta arrive.

Key Takeaways

-Kan often selects a transferred or caused-moving theme; -i often selects a recipient, goal, container, or surface.
The selected object predicts passive subject and later relativization.
Finished suffixes remain attached, with correct nasal allomorphy and kk in masukkan.
Mengisi and bare mengirim show that the contrast is not always fully visible on the surface.
Alternation is lexical: verify both derivatives and learn each with its complete participant frame.

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