ber-...-kan: Meanings and Derivational Network | Indonesian Grammar

The core ber-...-kan pattern incorporates a role noun into the predicate and licenses a following complement that fills that role. In rencana berdasarkan data, the data serves as the dasar “basis”; in pasukan bersenjatakan tombak, the spear serves as the senjata “weapon”; in usaha bermodalkan tabungan, the savings serve as the modal “capital.” This page maps those meanings and their lexical extensions; formation and syntactic and register choices are handled separately.

A role-assignment schema

The construction can be represented as follows:

dasar   → berdasarkan   + X  = X is the basis for the subject/proposition
senjata → bersenjatakan + X  = X serves as the subject's weapon
modal   → bermodalkan   + X  = X serves as the subject's capital/resource

The base is not a free object inside the clause; it has been incorporated into the derived predicate. The phrase labeled X is the complement that supplies the concrete or abstract value of that role.

Rekomendasi tersebut berdasarkan hasil uji laboratorium.

That recommendation is based on laboratory test results. (formal)

Prajurit dalam upacara itu bersenjatakan tombak panjang.

The soldiers in the ceremony are armed with long spears.

Perusahaan rintisan itu tumbuh bermodalkan dana pribadi pendirinya.

That startup grew using its founder's personal funds as capital.

Without the following constituent, these predicates are usually incomplete: rekomendasi itu berdasarkan, prajurit itu bersenjatakan, and usaha itu bermodalkan leave the selected role unfilled. Context can occasionally license ellipsis, but the lexical frame itself anticipates a complement.

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The final constituent is not a loose circumstance like “yesterday.” It answers a question selected by the whole predicate: based on what, armed with what, capitalized by what?

Dasar: evidence, authority, and organizing principle

Berdasarkan assigns its complement the role of evidential, legal, conceptual, or practical basis. The subject may be a conclusion, policy, action, story, or classification. English uses based on, according to, or on the basis of depending on clause structure.

Diagnosis awal dibuat berdasarkan gejala yang dilaporkan pasien.

The preliminary diagnosis was made on the basis of the symptoms reported by the patient. (formal)

Pembagian kelompok dilakukan berdasarkan tingkat pengalaman peserta.

The group allocation is based on the participants' level of experience. (formal)

Film itu dibuat berdasarkan kisah nyata.

The film was made based on a true story.

Berdasarkan peraturan yang berlaku, izin harus diperbarui setiap tahun.

Under the applicable regulations, the permit must be renewed every year. (formal/legal)

The last example shows a highly conventional clause-initial use. Berdasarkan peraturan yang berlaku frames the proposition that follows. The role remains “basis,” but the construction has extended from a predicate describing one noun to a discourse-level evidential or normative frame.

Berlandaskan belongs to the same semantic neighborhood but often sounds more programmatic or elevated: a policy, institution, or argument is “grounded in” a principle.

Program itu berlandaskan prinsip keterbukaan dan kesetaraan.

The program is founded on the principles of openness and equality. (formal)

This is lexical differentiation, not a predictable synonym created by swapping dasar and landas. Berdasarkan is the broadly usable member; berlandaskan favors principles, values, and foundations.

Senjata: literal equipment and metaphorical means

With bersenjatakan, the complement is construed as the subject's weapon. It may be literal equipment or a metaphorical resource used in conflict, advocacy, investigation, or argument.

Kelompok itu menyerang pos penjagaan bersenjatakan senapan rakitan.

The group attacked the guard post armed with homemade rifles.

Para petani mempertahankan lahan mereka hanya bersenjatakan cangkul.

The farmers defend their land armed only with hoes.

Tim hukum datang bersenjatakan dokumen dan rekaman percakapan.

The legal team arrived armed with documents and conversation recordings. (figurative/formal)

Wartawan itu membongkar kasus tersebut bersenjatakan data publik.

The journalist exposed the case armed with public data. (figurative/journalistic)

The metaphor works because the base senjata contributes an instrument of confrontation. The template does not itself mean “carry”; it presents the complement as fulfilling that weapon role.

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Metaphorical complements are licensed by the base's conceptual role. Data can be a “weapon” in an investigation, but that does not give bersenjatakan a generic meaning “use.”

Bermodalkan treats its complement as the resource with which an undertaking begins or proceeds. Literal capital is common, but knowledge, trust, courage, or a social network can be conceptualized as capital.

Mereka menyewa kios itu bermodalkan pinjaman koperasi.

They rented the stall using a cooperative loan as capital.

Ia membangun usaha penerjemahan bermodalkan kemampuan bahasa dan sebuah laptop.

She built a translation business with language skills and a laptop as her resources.

Pemuda itu berangkat ke kota bermodalkan keberanian dan alamat seorang kerabat.

The young man left for the city with only courage and a relative's address as resources.

Hubungan kerja itu bertahan bermodalkan kepercayaan kedua pihak.

That working relationship survives on the mutual trust of both parties.

English moves between with, using, funded by, and on the strength of. The unifying Indonesian idea is that the complement serves as modal, not that -kan contributes one of those English prepositions.

Membership and composition

Beranggotakan selects a complement that states who the members are or how many there are. The subject is the containing organization, committee, team, or group.

Dewan etik itu beranggotakan lima dokter dan dua ahli hukum.

The ethics council consists of five doctors and two legal experts. (formal)

Kelompok belajar kami beranggotakan mahasiswa dari empat negara.

Our study group has students from four countries as members.

Tim kecil yang beranggotakan tiga teknisi menangani perbaikan darurat.

A small team consisting of three technicians handles the emergency repair. (formal)

The complement does not behave like an affected object. The council does not act on “five doctors”; those doctors instantiate its anggota role. English often uses consist of or have, hiding the incorporated noun visible in Indonesian.

Related composition words are highly lexical. Berisikan may introduce contents, but neutral contemporary prose often prefers berisi. The availability of beranggotakan does not prove that every component noun forms an equally natural ber-...-kan predicate.

Support, enclosure, and covering

Spatial-part nouns produce compressed descriptions in which the complement serves as the subject's support, roof, wall, or decoration. These are common in descriptive prose and often sound (formal/literary).

Para korban tidur beralaskan kardus di teras rumah sakit.

The victims slept on cardboard on the hospital veranda.

Gubuk itu beratapkan daun rumbia.

The hut has sago-palm leaves as its roof.

Pintu tua itu berhiaskan ukiran bunga dan burung.

That old door is decorated with carvings of flowers and birds. (formal descriptive)

Gaun pengantin itu berhiaskan sulaman benang emas.

The wedding dress is decorated with gold-thread embroidery.

Mahkota tua itu bertatahkan batu merah dan hijau.

The old crown is inlaid with red and green stones. (literary/formal)

Here the base specifies a structural slot or decorative relation—alas, atap, hias, or tatah—and the complement supplies its material or realization. These words are not equally productive: beralaskan is broadly useful, while bertatahkan belongs to a narrower decorative vocabulary.

Immersion and profusion

Lexicalized event bases can extend the schema toward surrounding material or abundant coverage. Bermandikan presents the subject as immersed in water, sweat, light, or praise; bertaburkan presents a surface or scene as strewn with many items.

Para pelari mencapai garis akhir bermandikan keringat.

The runners reached the finish line bathed in sweat.

Puncak gunung itu bermandikan cahaya pagi.

The mountain peak is bathed in morning light. (literary)

Langit malam bertaburkan bintang.

The night sky is strewn with stars. (literary)

Meja panjang itu bertaburkan kelopak mawar.

The long table is strewn with rose petals. (literary)

The literal base remains perceptible, but the whole derivatives have conventional collocations. A learner should store bermandikan keringat/cahaya and bertaburkan bintang, not infer that every material can naturally follow either word.

Polysemy comes from role plus context

The base role stays recognizable as readings extend. Modal moves from financial capital to skills or courage; senjata moves from a physical weapon to evidence; dasar moves from factual evidence to legal authority or narrative source. Context determines how literal the role is.

Kebijakan itu berdasarkan data, bukan dugaan.

The policy is based on data, not guesswork. (formal)

Kampanye kecil itu bermodalkan humor dan kerja sukarela.

That small campaign runs on humor and volunteer work.

Dalam debat, ia bersenjatakan angka yang sulit dibantah.

In the debate, she was armed with figures that were hard to dispute. (figurative)

The construction is therefore neither fully idiomatic nor freely compositional. The role schema motivates the family; lexical convention licenses each derivative, complement type, metaphor, and register.

No single English translation

English renders the construction with based on, according to, armed with, funded by, using, consisting of, roofed with, or decorated with. Those expressions do not correspond one-to-one with ber-, -kan, or the base.

Indonesian predicate	Role assigned to complement	Likely English rendering
berdasarkan X	X = basis	be based on / according to X
bersenjatakan X	X = weapon	be armed with X
bermodalkan X	X = capital/resource	using / funded by X
beranggotakan X	X = members	consist of / have X members
beralaskan X	X = supporting surface	on / with X underneath

Translate only after identifying the base role and the relationship between the subject and complement.

Common Mistakes

Reading final -kan as “cause”

❌ Berdasarkan data berarti menyebabkan data menjadi dasar.

Incorrect interpretation — data fills the basis role; it is not caused to become a basis.

✅ Kesimpulan itu berdasarkan data survei.

That conclusion is based on survey data.

Leaving the selected role unfilled

❌ Usaha kecil itu sepenuhnya bermodalkan.

Incomplete — bermodalkan normally requires the resource serving as capital.

✅ Usaha kecil itu sepenuhnya bermodalkan tabungan pribadi.

That small business is funded entirely by personal savings.

Reversing the bearer and the basis

❌ Bukti baru itu berdasarkan putusan hakim.

Wrong role assignment for the intended meaning — the decision, not the evidence, is based on evidence.

✅ Putusan hakim itu berdasarkan bukti baru.

The judge's decision is based on new evidence.

Treating every complement as literal

❌ Tim hukum bersenjatakan data pasti membawa senjata api.

Incorrect inference — data is a metaphorical weapon in this context.

✅ Tim hukum datang bersenjatakan data yang kuat.

The legal team arrived armed with strong data. (figurative)

Extending an established role beyond its lexical domain

❌ Ruang rapat itu beranggotakan dua belas kursi.

Wrong role assignment — chairs do not fill the institutional-member role selected by beranggotakan.

✅ Ruang rapat itu dilengkapi dengan dua belas kursi kayu jati.

The meeting room is furnished with twelve teak chairs.

Key Takeaways

Ber-...-kan incorporates a role noun and selects a complement that instantiates that role.
Dasar, senjata, modal, and anggota organize distinct semantic families rather than contributing one shared English gloss.
Literal roles support conventional metaphors: data as a weapon, courage as capital, and regulation as a basis.
Spatial and covering forms such as beralaskan, beratapkan, berhiaskan, and bermandikan differ in productivity and register.
The following constituent behaves like a selected complement, while each whole derivative remains a lexical family to be learned.

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