The suffix -kan builds a verb stem that adds or reorganizes a participant. Depending on the base, it can mean cause someone to enter a state, move something to a destination, bring about a result, or perform an action for someone. The important constant is not one English translation such as “make,” but a change in who participates and which participant becomes central.
This page introduces the major forms and neutral clause shapes. The word-formation guide gives full spelling detail; the following voice pages examine argument tests, discourse choice, and preverbal particles.
Four model frames
| Model phrase | Pattern | Participant selected next to the verb |
|---|---|---|
| membacakan anak buku | benefactive/applicative | the child benefited by the reading |
| memasukkan kunci | caused motion | the key made to move inward |
| membersihkan meja | caused result | the table made clean |
| dibukakan pintu | benefactive passive | the beneficiary is the preceding subject; door is the remaining theme |
The first row is a schematic double-object frame. In a natural sentence, Indonesian normally makes the participants more specific:
Ibu membacakan anak itu buku tentang dinosaurus.
Mother reads that child a book about dinosaurs.
Petugas memasukkan kunci cadangan ke laci paling atas.
The officer puts the spare key into the top drawer.
Kami membersihkan meja makan sebelum tamu datang.
We clean the dining table before the guests arrive.
Saya dibukakan pintu oleh satpam ketika membawa banyak barang.
The security guard opened a door for me when I was carrying many things.
In every example, -kan is part of the verb stem. Its added or promoted role differs: child as beneficiary, key as moving theme, table as affected entity, and saya as beneficiary of someone else's opening.
Causative: making an event or state happen
With an intransitive event, -kan adds a causer. The original sole participant becomes the object of the new verb.
Bayi itu tidur lebih awal malam ini.
The baby sleeps earlier tonight.
Ayah menidurkan bayi itu lebih awal malam ini.
Dad puts the baby to sleep earlier tonight.
Para peserta duduk di baris depan.
The participants sit in the front row.
Panitia mendudukkan para peserta di baris depan.
The committee seats the participants in the front row.
English may use put to sleep, seat, make, have, or get. Indonesian selects an established -kan stem. The object is a “causee” in the structural sense, but it need not act willingly: a baby, machine, or door can undergo the caused event.
Teknisi menjalankan mesin selama lima menit.
The technician runs the machine for five minutes.
Tombol ini menyalakan lampu lorong.
This button turns on the corridor light.
Caused motion: move a theme toward a goal
Masuk means “enter/go in.” Memasukkan adds a causer and selects the thing caused to move as its object. The destination remains in a phrase with ke or dalam.
Kuncinya masuk ke celah sofa.
The key went into a gap in the sofa.
Rani memasukkan kunci itu ke saku tasnya.
Rani puts that key into her bag pocket.
Tolong masukkan kartu ke mesin dengan bagian depan menghadap ke atas.
Please insert the card into the machine with the front facing upward.
Petugas memasukkan koper kami ke ruang pemeriksaan.
The officer moves our suitcase into the inspection room.
The kunci, kartu, or koper moves. The pocket, machine, or room is the goal. This is why memasukkan gedung cannot mean “enter a building”: use memasuki gedung or masuk ke gedung when the person enters and the building is the location.
Resultative: bring an object into a state
With a property base, -kan often builds a verb meaning “cause the object to have this property.”
Meja itu bersih sekarang.
That table is clean now.
Raka membersihkan meja itu dengan kain lembap.
Raka cleans that table with a damp cloth.
Tolong keringkan gelas sebelum menyimpannya.
Please dry the glasses before putting them away.
Musik pelan membantu menenangkan anak yang menangis.
Soft music helps calm the crying child.
Petugas medis membekukan sampel pada suhu rendah.
The medical staff freeze the sample at a low temperature.
Membersihkan meja asserts an achieved or intended clean result, but it does not specify the manner. The person may wipe, wash, scrub, or vacuum. English often hides this result structure inside a separate lexical verb such as clean or dry.
Benefactive and applicative: doing something for someone
With an already transitive activity, -kan can add a beneficiary or addressee. The promoted beneficiary immediately follows the actor-voice verb, and the original theme follows it.
Kakak membacakan adiknya sebuah cerita sebelum tidur.
The older sibling reads the younger sibling a story before bed.
Rina mengambilkan ayahnya segelas air.
Rina gets her father a glass of water.
Penjahit itu membuatkan saya kemeja untuk acara wisuda.
That tailor makes me a shirt for the graduation ceremony.
The child does not read in membacakan anak buku. The actor performs the base action, and the child benefits from or receives that performance. This is why translating -kan as “make” fails here.
An alternative keeps the theme directly after the verb and puts the beneficiary in an untuk or kepada phrase.
Kakak membacakan cerita itu untuk adiknya.
The older sibling reads that story for the younger sibling.
Rina mengambilkan segelas air untuk ayahnya.
Rina gets a glass of water for her father.
These two frames package the same participant set differently:
- membacakan adik cerita: beneficiary first, then theme;
- membacakan cerita untuk adik: theme first, beneficiary in a prepositional phrase.
English permits both “read the child a story” and “read a story to the child,” but Indonesian does not copy English object order freely. A bare buku anak is normally understood as “a children's book” or “the child's book,” not automatically “a book to the child.”
The -kan stem across voice
Voice morphology surrounds the same derived stem. The suffix never disappears merely because the clause becomes passive, imperative, or object voice.
| Environment | Form | Example frame |
|---|---|---|
| actor voice | meN-...-kan | Ibu membacakan anak buku |
| di- passive | di-...-kan | Anak dibacakan buku |
| pronoun-agent object voice | pronoun + base...-kan | Buku itu saya bacakan |
| imperative | base...-kan | Bacakan anak itu buku |
Guru membacakan murid-murid sebuah pengumuman.
The teacher reads the pupils an announcement.
Murid-murid dibacakan sebuah pengumuman oleh guru.
The pupils are read an announcement by the teacher.
Pengumuman itu akan saya bacakan untuk murid-murid.
I will read that announcement to the pupils.
Bacakan adikmu cerita yang pendek dulu.
Read your younger sibling a short story first.
For caused motion and resultatives, the affected object becomes the di- passive subject:
Kunci itu dimasukkan petugas ke dalam kotak besi.
The key is put into the metal box by the officer.
Meja layanan dibersihkan sebelum loket dibuka.
The service desk is cleaned before the counter opens.
For a beneficiary passive, the beneficiary can be subject while the theme remains after the verb:
Kami dibukakan pintu belakang oleh pemilik rumah.
The homeowner opened the back door for us.
A theme-centered alternative uses an overt beneficiary phrase:
Pintu belakang dibukakan oleh pemilik rumah untuk kami.
The back door was opened for us by the homeowner.
The argument page develops which noun counts as the selected object in each frame.
Formation and spelling checkpoints
Attach -kan solidly: bacakan, bersihkan, bukakan. With a base ending in k, both k letters remain: masuk + -kan → masukkan, duduk + -kan → dudukkan.
Masukkan kunci ke lubangnya, lalu putar ke kanan.
Insert the key into the keyhole, then turn it to the right.
Dudukkan anak itu di kursi yang lebih aman.
Seat the child in the safer chair.
Actor-voice prefixes still undergo their own allomorphy: baca → membacakan, masuk → memasukkan, bersih → membersihkan, buka → membukakan. Passive di- preserves the base: dibacakan, dimasukkan, dibersihkan, dibukakan. Aspect and modal words remain separate: sudah dibacakan, akan dimasukkan.
Lexical and register limits
Not every base accepts every -kan meaning. Membacakan can mean read aloud or read for someone; membersihkan is a conventional resultative; melakukan simply means “carry out/do.” Learn common derivatives with their complete frame.
Panitia melakukan pemeriksaan terakhir sebelum acara.
The committee conducts a final check before the event. (formal)
Dia menggunakan aplikasi itu untuk memesan tiket.
She uses that application to book tickets.
Jakarta-influenced speech often uses -in—bacain, masukin, bersihin, bukain—for standard -kan or -i forms (informal; especially Jakarta/urban speech). Standard writing keeps -kan, and many speakers retain it in conversation too.
Masukin kuncinya ke laci, ya.
Put the key in the drawer, okay? (informal; Jakarta-influenced)
Masukkan kuncinya ke laci, ya.
Put the key in the drawer, okay? (neutral Standard Indonesian)
Common Mistakes
1. Translating every -kan as “make”
❌ Ibu membacakan anak itu berarti Ibu membuat anak itu membaca.
Incorrect interpretation—the mother, not the child, performs the reading in the benefactive frame.
✅ Ibu membacakan anak itu sebuah cerita.
Mother reads that child a story.
2. Copying English double-object order blindly
❌ Ibu membacakan sebuah buku anak itu.
Incorrect for ‘reads the child a book’—a bare beneficiary cannot follow the theme in this order.
✅ Ibu membacakan anak itu sebuah buku.
Mother reads that child a book.
3. Dropping one k in masukkan
❌ Masukan kartu ke mesin pembaca.
Incorrect for the command—masukan with one k is a noun meaning ‘input’ or ‘suggestion.’
✅ Masukkan kartu ke mesin pembaca.
Insert the card into the reader.
4. Separating the suffix
❌ Tolong bersih kan meja sebelum rapat.
Incorrect spelling—the suffix attaches to the base.
✅ Tolong bersihkan meja sebelum rapat.
Please clean the table before the meeting.
5. Removing -kan in passive voice
❌ Saya dibuka pintu oleh petugas.
Incorrect for the beneficiary meaning—the passive stem must retain -kan.
✅ Saya dibukakan pintu oleh petugas.
The officer opened a door for me.
Key Takeaways
- -Kan adds or promotes a role whose identity depends on the base and construction.
- Causatives add a causer; caused-motion verbs select the moving theme; resultatives select the entity reaching a state.
- Benefactive double-object order is verb + beneficiary + theme; alternatively use verb + theme + untuk/kepada + beneficiary.
- Voice changes the clause perspective but retains the stem: membacakan, dibacakan, saya bacakan, bacakan.
- Attach -kan solidly, preserve kk in masukkan/dudukkan, and label colloquial -in accurately.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- -kan: Formation and AllomorphyA2 — Learn how invariant -kan attaches to Indonesian bases, how k-final roots are spelled, and how the resulting stem combines with active and passive voice.
- -kan: Meanings and Derivational NetworkC1 — Understand how -kan adds or promotes participants in causative, caused-result, benefactive, transfer, and lexicalized verb families.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderB2 — Identify actors, caused themes, affected objects, beneficiaries, and secondary themes in -kan clauses across active, passive, and object voice.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Choosing This ConstructionB2 — Choose -kan and its voice according to the participant added by the lexical frame and the actor, beneficiary, or theme that anchors the discourse.
- Valency-Changing MorphologyB2 — See how Indonesian derivation adds, removes, and promotes participants through causative, applicative, reciprocal, middle, and ter- constructions.
- -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.