Bare Verbal Roots: Overview and Formation | Indonesian Grammar

Many Indonesian verbs can appear with no prefix or suffix at all. Makan “eat,” minum “drink,” tidur “sleep,” and pergi “go” are complete predicates in ordinary clauses; baca “read” and tulis “write” also appear bare in commands, object-oriented clauses, and casual actor-first speech.

A bare root is not an English infinitive waiting for to. It is an uninflected Indonesian predicate whose acceptability depends on the lexical root, the construction, the chosen voice, and the register. This page identifies the forms and their main environments; the next pages treat arguments and order, discourse choice, and preverbal particles separately.

No verbal ending is required

Indonesian verbs do not change for person or number. The same root follows saya, dia, and mereka, and context or separate time expressions locate the event.

Saya makan di kantin setiap siang.

I eat in the cafeteria every afternoon.

Dia makan di kantin setiap siang.

He eats in the cafeteria every afternoon.

Mereka makan di kantin setiap siang.

They eat in the cafeteria every afternoon.

Nothing in makan corresponds to English eat/eats/ate. Indonesian can add separate words such as sudah “already,” sedang “in progress,” and besok “tomorrow,” but the verb itself remains makan.

Tadi pagi saya minum kopi di rumah.

I drank coffee at home this morning.

Adik tidur di kamar sebelah.

My younger sibling is sleeping in the next room.

Kami pergi ke pasar besok pagi.

We are going to the market tomorrow morning.

English speakers often search for an Indonesian form equivalent to an infinitive because dictionaries list to eat and to sleep. That to is an English dictionary convention, not part of the Indonesian word.

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Think “predicate,” not “infinitive.” Makan can mean “eat,” “eats,” “ate,” or “will eat” once the clause supplies the relevant time and aspect.

Form-and-function map

The six roots below illustrate different distributions. A check means that the use is ordinary; a register note marks an important limitation.

Root	Core meaning	Neutral unaffixed predicate	Direct command	Important transitive pattern
makan	eat	Saya makan.	Makan dulu!	Saya makan nasi.
minum	drink	Dia minum.	Minum airnya!	Dia minum teh.
tidur	sleep	Anak itu tidur.	Tidur dulu!	normally no direct object
pergi	go, leave	Kami pergi.	Pergi sekarang!	destination follows ke
baca	read	Saya baca pesannya. (informal)	Baca ini!	Pesan itu saya baca.
tulis	write	Aku tulis alamatnya. (informal)	Tulis namamu!	Alamat itu saya tulis.

The table does not imply that the six roots behave identically. Tidur and pergi are inherently intransitive in these uses. Makan and minum readily occur alone or with the food or drink named. Baca and tulis normally use membaca and menulis in a careful actor-oriented declarative, but the bare roots are standard in commands and in the pronominal-agent object-oriented construction.

Unaffixed activity predicates

Some roots are naturally complete as unaffixed predicates across speaking and writing styles.

Kami makan setelah rapat selesai.

We eat after the meeting ends.

Ibu minum obat setelah sarapan.

Mom takes her medicine after breakfast.

Bayinya tidur hampir tiga jam.

The baby sleeps for almost three hours.

Rina pergi sebelum hujan turun.

Rina leaves before the rain starts.

These are not shortened versions of memakan, meminum, menidurkan, or another imagined full form. Some related affixed verbs exist, but they can add transitivity, change voice, or have a different lexical distribution. Tidur means “sleep”; menidurkan bayi means “put a baby to sleep.”

Dodi tidur di sofa.

Dodi sleeps on the sofa.

Dodi menidurkan anaknya di kamar.

Dodi puts his child to bed in the bedroom.

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Do not add a prefix merely to make a root look more verbal. The absence of an affix can itself be the normal morphology of a full verb.

Colloquial actor-first transitive roots

In everyday conversation, especially (informal; urban and Jakarta-influenced speech), speakers often omit actor-voice meN- from transitive verbs.

Aku baca pesannya tadi malam.

I read the message last night. (informal)

Nanti aku tulis alamatnya di grup.

I'll write the address in the group chat later. (informal)

Kamu baca berita itu, enggak?

Did you read that news story? (informal)

Careful writing normally uses membaca and menulis when the actor comes first and an object follows.

Peneliti membaca semua jawaban sebelum menyusun laporan.

The researcher reads all the responses before preparing the report. (formal)

Sekretaris menulis ringkasan rapat pada hari yang sama.

The secretary writes the meeting summary on the same day. (formal)

The casual root is not an error inside its register. The mistake is treating it as automatically appropriate in a formal report—or assuming the formal prefix is required in every Indonesian clause.

Bare roots in object-oriented clauses

When a definite object comes first and the actor is a first- or second-person pronoun, the actor normally stands directly before the bare root. This construction is standard, not slang.

Buku itu sudah saya baca.

I have already read that book.

Nama Anda akan kami tulis di kartu peserta.

We will write your name on the participant card.

Kopi ini jangan kamu minum dulu.

Don't drink this coffee yet.

In buku itu saya baca, buku itu is the clause's foregrounded patient, while saya is the actor. English still translates saya as “I,” but Indonesian does not use membaca in this configuration. The argument page explains why word order alone cannot identify all grammatical roles.

Commands normally use the root

Direct positive commands characteristically omit the actor and use a bare verb. This applies both to inherently bare verbs and to roots whose declaratives normally carry meN-.

Makan dulu sebelum berangkat.

Eat first before leaving.

Minum air yang cukup hari ini.

Drink enough water today.

Baca petunjuknya sampai selesai.

Read the instructions all the way through.

Tulis nomor teleponmu di sini.

Write your telephone number here.

Pergi ke meja informasi, lalu tunggu di sana.

Go to the information desk, then wait there.

Polite words such as tolong and attached particles such as -lah can soften the directive. The particle attaches to its host: bacalah, tulislah.

Bacalah syaratnya sebelum mendaftar.

Please read the conditions before registering. (careful directive)

Serial environments

Bare roots also occur in compact sequences of actions. These are especially frequent in speech; the exact degree of compactness varies by register.

Aku pergi beli obat sebentar.

I'm going to buy medicine for a moment. (informal)

Kami duduk minum kopi di teras.

We sit drinking coffee on the terrace. (informal)

Dia pulang, makan, lalu tidur.

She goes home, eats, and then sleeps.

Pergi beli obat is a compact (informal) sequence; careful prose may use pergi membeli obat. In coordinated pulang, makan, lalu tidur, each root is independently predicative. Do not assume every adjacent pair of roots forms one new compound verb.

Roots can participate in more than one word class

Indonesian roots often appear in compounds or noun-like expressions without acquiring an English-style infinitive ending. Ruang baca is a reading room, alat tulis means stationery/writing tools, jam tidur is bedtime or sleeping hours, and air minum is drinking water.

Ruang baca di lantai dua tutup pukul delapan.

The reading room on the second floor closes at eight.

Saya membeli alat tulis untuk semester baru.

I buy stationery for the new semester.

Jam tidur anak itu berubah selama liburan.

That child's sleeping schedule changes during the holiday.

This flexibility does not mean Indonesian has no word classes. It means that an unaffixed root may enter several constructions, and the larger phrase reveals its function.

Spelling signals different structures

Voice prefixes attach to the verb, while aspect and modal words remain separate. The passive di- is attached; the locative preposition di is a separate word.

Buku itu dibaca di ruang tunggu.

That book is read in the waiting room.

Here dibaca contains passive di-, while di ruang tunggu contains the preposition di “in/at.” Likewise write sudah baca, akan pergi, and bisa tidur, never sudahbaca, akanpergi, or bisatidur.

Common Mistakes

Treating the root as an infinitive only

❌ Saya perlu sedang makan sekarang.

Incorrect transfer from an infinitive analysis—sedang directly precedes the full predicate makan.

✅ Saya sedang makan sekarang.

I am eating now.

Adding meN- to every formal predicate

❌ Para peserta menidur selama perjalanan.

Incorrect—tidur is already a complete intransitive verb.

✅ Para peserta tidur selama perjalanan.

The participants sleep during the journey.

Adding a suffix to manufacture a careful actor form

❌ Peneliti membacai seluruh dokumen sebelum wawancara.

Incorrect—the established actor-oriented form is membaca, not membacai.

✅ Peneliti membaca seluruh dokumen sebelum wawancara.

The researcher reads all the documents before the interview. (formal)

Keeping meN- after a pronominal agent in object voice

❌ Proposal itu sudah saya membaca.

Incorrect—the pronominal agent precedes the bare root.

✅ Proposal itu sudah saya baca.

I have already read that proposal.

Confusing passive di- with locative di

❌ Surat itu di baca diruang kerja.

Incorrect spacing—passive dibaca is solid, but locative di ruang is separate.

✅ Surat itu dibaca di ruang kerja.

The letter is read in the office.

Key Takeaways

An unaffixed Indonesian root can be a complete predicate; it is not merely an infinitive or dictionary stem.
Makan, minum, tidur, and pergi are ordinary bare predicates, while actor-first baca and tulis are especially conversational.
Commands and pronominal-agent object-oriented clauses regularly require the root.
Compact serial sequences favor bare forms, especially in informal speech.
Voice prefixes attach to verbs, preverbal markers remain separate, and passive di- must be distinguished from locative di.

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