ber-...-an: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register | Indonesian Grammar

Predicates in ber-...-an are normally intransitive: they organize participants into a reciprocal set or distribute one type of event across several entities, times, or paths. That makes their valency different from a superficially similar English transitive verb. This page concentrates on argument structure, competition, lexicalized frames, and register; word formation and the reciprocal-distributive meaning network are treated separately.

Reciprocal valency: one participant set

With bersalaman “shake hands” and berkejaran “chase one another around,” a plural or coordinated subject can contain all reciprocal participants. No direct object follows.

Kedua menteri bersalaman sebelum konferensi pers dimulai.

The two ministers shook hands before the press conference began.

Tiga anak berkejaran di antara meja tamu.

Three children chased one another around between the guest tables.

Para pemain berpelukan ketika peluit akhir berbunyi.

The players hugged one another when the final whistle blew.

The plural subject does more than mark number: it supplies both sides of the relationship. Indonesian does not need an added satu sama lain unless the discourse calls for emphasis or contrast.

Dua saksi itu saling berpandangan, tetapi tidak berbicara.

The two witnesses looked at each other but did not speak.

Saling can make reciprocity explicit, but piling it onto an already unambiguous reciprocal derivative often feels heavy. Choose it when it helps contrast participants or disambiguate a lexicalized verb, not as automatic agreement.

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For a reciprocal ber-...-an verb, first locate both semantic participants. They may form one plural subject, or one may appear later in a dengan phrase.

A singular subject requires an expressed partner

One participant may be the grammatical subject while the other follows dengan. The whole event remains reciprocal or relational even though the subject is singular.

Saya bersalaman dengan ketua panitia setelah acara.

I shook hands with the committee chair after the event.

Rani berpelukan dengan adiknya di ruang kedatangan.

Rani hugged her younger sibling in the arrivals hall.

Rumah lama kami bersebelahan dengan sebuah toko roti.

Our old house was next to a bakery.

The partner is not a bare direct object. Dengan is part of the established frame: bersalaman dengan seseorang, berpelukan dengan seseorang, bersebelahan dengan sesuatu.

This structure also appears inside noun phrases. A relative clause preserves the same preposition.

Orang yang bersalaman dengan gubernur itu adalah kepala sekolah kami.

The person who shook hands with the governor is our school principal.

Gedung yang bersebelahan dengan museum sedang direnovasi.

The building next to the museum is being renovated.

Anak yang berpelukan dengan ibunya tadi terlihat sangat lega.

The child who hugged their mother earlier looked very relieved.

English uses a direct object in “hugged her mother,” so omitting dengan is a predictable transfer error. Indonesian is packaging the two-way relationship inside the derived predicate.

Distributed verbs select a pluralizable subject

Berdatangan and berjatuhan do not introduce a partner. Instead, they distribute the event across a set of arrivals or falling entities. Their subject can be an unreduplicated noun with a collective interpretation.

Pelamar berdatangan sejak loket dibuka.

Applicants began arriving from the time the counter opened.

Pesan dukungan terus berdatangan dari luar negeri.

Messages of support kept arriving from abroad.

Genteng tua berjatuhan saat gempa terjadi.

Old roof tiles fell one after another during the earthquake.

Air mata berjatuhan ketika ia membaca surat itu.

Tears fell down her cheeks as she read the letter.

The subject does not have to show overt plural morphology. Pelamar berdatangan is already interpreted as multiple applicants or arrivals. Conversely, an explicitly singular punctual subject normally clashes with the distributed construal.

Seorang pelamar datang tepat pukul delapan.

One applicant arrived at exactly eight.

Para pelamar berdatangan antara pukul delapan dan sembilan.

Applicants arrived over the period between eight and nine.

Noun phrases again retain the verbal distribution:

Bantuan yang berdatangan dari berbagai kota langsung disortir.

The aid arriving from various cities was sorted immediately.

Daun yang berjatuhan menutupi saluran air.

The falling leaves covered the drain.

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Berdatangan and berjatuhan contribute event plurality, not grammatical agreement. A bare noun may receive a plural interpretation, but a genuinely single event usually needs datang or jatuh.

Competition changes the argument frame

bersalaman, menyalami, and saling menyalami

Bersalaman makes the handshake reciprocal and normally uses a plural subject or dengan partner. Menyalami is transitive: its object is the person greeted, and the event need not be presented as symmetrical. Saling menyalami builds reciprocity compositionally with saling plus a transitive lexical family.

Mira bersalaman dengan setiap tamu di pintu.

Mira shook hands with every guest at the door.

Mira menyalami neneknya lalu duduk di sebelahnya.

Mira greeted her grandmother respectfully and then sat beside her.

Para peserta saling menyalami setelah hasil diumumkan.

The participants greeted one another after the result was announced.

Only the transitive family supports an ordinary passive object:

Setiap tamu disalami oleh ketua panitia.

Every guest was greeted with a handshake by the committee chair.

There is no corresponding passive disalaman for bersalaman. The circumfixed verb has not projected one participant as an affected direct object.

berkejaran, mengejar, and berkejar-kejaran

Berkejaran presents mutual or crisscrossing pursuit. Mengejar selects one pursued object. Reduplicated berkejar-kejaran is often more playful, prolonged, or vividly iterative (neutral/informal depending on context).

Dua anak anjing berkejaran mengelilingi kolam.

Two puppies chased one another around the pond.

Anjing itu mengejar sepeda sampai ujung gang.

The dog chased the bicycle to the end of the alley.

Anak-anak berkejar-kejaran sampai napas mereka terengah-engah.

The children chased one another around until they were out of breath.

Do not attach a chased object to berkejaran. If there is one directional target, select mengejar objek.

datang, berdatangan, jatuh, berjatuhan, and menjatuhkan

The unsuffixed verbs are compatible with one bounded event. The circumfixed forms distribute occurrences. Causative menjatuhkan adds an external causer and a direct object.

Paket terakhir datang menjelang sore.

The last package arrived toward evening.

Paket bantuan berdatangan sepanjang akhir pekan.

Aid packages arrived throughout the weekend.

Satu pot bunga jatuh dari balkon.

One flowerpot fell from the balcony.

Angin kencang menjatuhkan beberapa pot dari rak.

The strong wind knocked several pots off the shelf.

Buah yang terlalu matang berjatuhan semalaman.

Overripe fruit kept falling throughout the night.

These are differences in event structure, not stylistic variants of one English verb.

Lexicalized families need their own complements

The productive schema coexists with forms whose current behavior is less transparently plural. Bepergian permits one traveler; berhadapan dengan can mean face a person, building, or problem; berpandangan bahwa means hold the view that. Store each with its complement.

Direktur sedang bepergian ke luar kota.

The director is traveling out of town.

Tim itu berhadapan dengan tenggat yang sangat ketat.

That team faces a very tight deadline.

Para peneliti berpandangan bahwa sampel tersebut belum memadai.

The researchers hold the view that the sample is not yet adequate. (academic)

Berhalangan is structurally different again: it is best understood as ber- + halangan “have an obstacle/be unable to attend,” not a productive reciprocal ber-...-an derivative from halang.

Wakil ketua berhalangan hadir karena sakit.

The deputy chair is unable to attend because of illness. (formal/polite)

A dictionary-listed form proves that the form exists. It does not guarantee a compositional meaning, plural subject, or freely predictable complement.

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Store lexical exceptions as frames: bepergian ke, berhadapan dengan, berpandangan bahwa, and berhalangan hadir.

Productivity has real limits

Reciprocity is a meaning, not a license to surround any English-equivalent root with ber-...-an. Indonesian already uses bertemu for “meet,” so bertemuan is not the ordinary reciprocal verb. Similarly, “talk to one another” is saling berbicara or berbicara satu sama lain, not a mechanically coined berbicaraan.

Kami bertemu di depan perpustakaan setelah kelas.

We met in front of the library after class.

Kedua pihak saling berbicara melalui seorang mediator.

The two sides speak to one another through a mediator.

The productive schema helps interpret bersalaman and berdatangan; lexical families determine which new-looking forms contemporary speakers actually accept.

Formal and conversational distribution

Full ber-...-an forms are comfortable in careful speech and writing. Conversation often chooses shorter roots, partial reduplication, or analytic phrases (informal), but the alternative is family-specific.

Setelah para delegasi bersalaman, pengunjung berdatangan; anak-anak berkejaran di halaman, sementara daun berjatuhan akibat angin kencang.

After the delegates shook hands, visitors arrived in succession; children chased one another in the yard while leaves fell in numbers because of the strong wind. (formal)

Habis salaman, tamunya datang satu-satu; anak-anak kejar-kejaran di luar, terus daunnya jatuh terus kena angin.

After the handshakes, the guests came one by one; the kids chased each other outside, and the leaves kept falling in the wind. (informal)

Conversational salaman and kejar-kejaran are common, while datang satu-satu and jatuh terus unpack the distributed meaning. Do not delete ber- mechanically in formal prose.

Common Mistakes

Adding a direct object to berkejaran

❌ Anak-anak berkejaran layang-layang yang putus.

Incorrect — berkejaran does not take a pursued direct object.

✅ Anak-anak mengejar layang-layang yang putus.

The children chase the broken-away kite.

Omitting dengan before an external partner

❌ Saya bersalaman narasumber seusai lokakarya.

Incorrect — the separately expressed partner requires dengan.

✅ Saya bersalaman dengan narasumber seusai lokakarya.

I shook hands with the presenter after the workshop.

Using a distributed verb for one event

❌ Satu surat berdatangan pagi ini.

Incorrect for one arrival — berdatangan distributes multiple arrivals.

✅ Satu surat datang pagi ini.

One letter arrived this morning.

Assuming every form must have a plural subject

❌ Dia tidak bisa bepergian sendiri karena bepergian selalu jamak.

Incorrect generalization — lexicalized bepergian permits a singular traveler.

✅ Dia sering bepergian sendiri untuk pekerjaannya.

She often travels alone for work.

Coining a reciprocal circumfix mechanically

❌ Kami bertemuan di kafe setelah bekerja.

Nonstandard for ordinary ‘meet’ — Indonesian uses bertemu.

✅ Kami bertemu di kafe setelah bekerja.

We met at a café after work.

Key Takeaways

Reciprocal ber-...-an predicates contain both participants in a plural subject or split them between a subject and dengan complement.
Distributed berdatangan and berjatuhan favor a pluralizable subject but do not require noun reduplication.
Competing forms change valency: bersalaman/menyalami, berkejaran/mengejar, jatuh/menjatuhkan.
Lexicalized bepergian, berhadapan, and berpandangan require their own stored frames.
Learn ber-...-an as a productive expansion schema plus conventional lexical families, with casual alternatives learned word by word.

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