di-: Formation and Allomorphy | Indonesian Grammar

The prefix di- forms a patient-oriented passive verb: it presents the person or thing affected by an action as the clause's starting point. Its spelling is simple but important: attach it directly to the base, as in dibaca “read” and dikirim “sent.” This page concentrates on how that word is built; the meaning of di- and its wider clause-level usage are covered separately.

The basic template

The formation rule is di- + transitive base → passive verb. A transitive base describes an action that can affect a patient: someone reads something, writes something, takes something, or sends something. Indonesian dictionaries normally list the base, so look up tulis, not only ditulis.

Analysis	Surface form	Basic meaning
di- + baca	dibaca	be read
di- + tulis	ditulis	be written
di- + ambil	diambil	be taken / picked up
di- + kirim	dikirim	be sent
di- + buka	dibuka	be opened
di- + pilih	dipilih	be chosen

The hyphen belongs only in the abstract label di- and in an analysis such as di- + baca. The finished word has no hyphen and no space.

Pesanmu sudah dibaca.

Your message has been read.

Alamatnya ditulis di belakang amplop.

The address is written on the back of the envelope.

Paket itu diambil kurir sore tadi.

The package was picked up by the courier late this afternoon.

Tiketnya akan dikirim lewat surel.

The ticket will be sent by email.

Pintu utama dibuka pukul tujuh.

The main door is opened at seven.

Tiga peserta dipilih untuk babak final.

Three participants were chosen for the final round.

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When you meet an unfamiliar di- verb, remove only the initial di- first: diperiksa → periksa, dibungkus → bungkus. Then look up that intact base in a dictionary.

An invariant prefix: no nasal substitution

Unlike meN- and peN-, passive di- has just one productive shape. It does not change to match the first sound of the base, and it does not delete an initial p, t, s, or k. Calling this “no allomorphy” is the most accurate rule: the prefix is pronounced and written di- before both consonants and vowels.

This difference becomes visible when active and passive forms share a base. With tulis, active menulis loses the base-initial t, but passive ditulis keeps it. With kirim, active mengirim loses k, but passive dikirim keeps it. The nasal substitution belongs to the other prefix, not to the root itself.

Base	Active with meN-	Passive with di-
tulis	menulis	ditulis
kirim	mengirim	dikirim
pilih	memilih	dipilih
sapu	menyapu	disapu

Laporan itu ditulis Maya, bukan saya.

That report was written by Maya, not me.

Barangnya dikirim dari Surabaya pagi ini.

The goods were sent from Surabaya this morning.

Calon ketua dipilih melalui pemungutan suara.

The chair candidate is chosen through a vote.

Lantainya disapu setiap pagi.

The floor is swept every morning.

Vowel-initial bases behave just as regularly. The two vowels meet across the morpheme boundary in spelling, with no apostrophe or hyphen: di- + ambil → diambil, di- + olah → diolah, and di- + ikat → diikat.

Data mentah diolah sebelum dipublikasikan.

The raw data is processed before being published.

Kardus-kardus itu diikat dengan tali.

Those boxes are tied with rope.

💡

Do not reverse-engineer a passive from the surface active form. Start from the base: menulis → tulis → ditulis, not menulis → diulis.

Which bases accept di-?

Productive di- normally requires a base whose event has an affected participant. Baca, potong, and periksa naturally take an object, so dibaca, dipotong, and diperiksa are straightforward. Purely intransitive bases such as tidur “sleep” and datang “come” do not acquire an object merely because di- is added.

Sayurnya dipotong tipis-tipis.

The vegetables are sliced thinly.

Semua jawaban diperiksa dua kali.

All the answers are checked twice.

Anak itu tidur di sofa.

The child is sleeping on the sofa.

Mereka datang lebih awal.

They arrived earlier.

Other suffixes can first change a base's valency. Tidur is intransitive, but menidurkan anak means “put a child to bed”; its passive is anak ditidurkan. Datang is intransitive, but mendatangi kantor means “go to/visit the office”; its passive is kantor didatangi. These are built as di- + tidur + -kan and di- + datang + -i, not as simple ditidur and didatang. The choice between -kan and -i is lexical and deserves separate study.

Adiknya ditidurkan lebih awal karena demam.

His younger sibling was put to bed early because of a fever.

Warung itu sering didatangi mahasiswa.

That food stall is often visited by university students.

There is no completely mechanical test for whether every newly imagined di- form is established. Productivity is constrained by the base's meaning and by conventional vocabulary. When a derivative feels uncertain, checking the base's dictionary family is genuine lexical work, not a failure of grammar.

Prefix di- versus preposition di

Two unrelated items happen to have the spelling di. The prefix di- attaches to a verb base and forms one word: dibaca, ditulis, diambil. The preposition di introduces a location and remains separate: di rumah, di kantor, di meja. In ditulis di kantor, the first di is a prefix and the second is a preposition.

Formulir ini diisi di meja depan.

This form is filled out at the front desk.

Sepedanya disimpan di dalam rumah.

The bicycle is kept inside the house.

Nama pemenang diumumkan di aula.

The winner's name is announced in the hall.

English does not mark this distinction with spacing: “is written” uses a separate auxiliary, while “at home” uses a preposition. Indonesian instead places its passive marker inside the verb and its locative marker outside the following noun phrase. For the complete spacing contrast, see di and ke spacing.

💡

Ask what follows di. If it is a verb base naming an action, attach di-: dibuka. If it is a place expression, write the preposition separately: di luar.

Common Mistakes

Separating the passive prefix

❌ Surat itu di tulis kemarin.

Incorrect — passive di- cannot be separated from its verb base.

✅ Surat itu ditulis kemarin.

The letter was written yesterday.

Joining the locative preposition

❌ Mereka masih menunggu diruang rapat.

Incorrect — locative di is a separate preposition, not the passive prefix.

✅ Mereka masih menunggu di ruang rapat.

They are still waiting in the meeting room.

Importing meN- deletion into di-

❌ Catatan itu diulis dengan pensil.

Incorrect — di- preserves the initial t of the base tulis.

✅ Catatan itu ditulis dengan pensil.

The note was written in pencil.

❌ Undangannya diirim tadi pagi.

Incorrect — di- preserves the initial k of the base kirim.

✅ Undangannya dikirim tadi pagi.

The invitation was sent this morning.

Leaving the analytical hyphen in a real word

❌ Toko itu di-tutup sementara.

Incorrect — the hyphen belongs in morphological notation, not in the finished word.

✅ Toko itu ditutup sementara.

The shop is temporarily closed.

Attaching di- directly to an intransitive base

❌ Bayinya ditidur pukul delapan.

Incorrect — tidur is intransitive; the causative passive requires -kan.

✅ Bayinya ditidurkan pukul delapan.

The baby is put to bed at eight.

Key Takeaways

Build the passive as di- + transitive base, with a solid spelling: di- + tulis → ditulis.
Di- is invariant. It never triggers the nasal substitution or initial-consonant deletion found with meN- and peN-.
Use the base to consult a dictionary, and do not assume that an intransitive root can take di- without a valency-changing suffix.
Prefix di- is attached to a verb; locative preposition di is written separately before a place expression.

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