Using -i well is mainly a matter of knowing each verb's argument frame: which participant becomes the direct object, which additional participant follows it, and whether a preposition remains. The suffix offers productive target-oriented patterns, but individual words can narrow, extend, or lexicalize those patterns. This page concentrates on valency, lexical choice, voice, and register; formation and spelling and the meaning network are treated separately.
Learn a frame, not an English translation
Four central families illustrate four different frames. In ordinary actor-oriented clauses, meN- appears outside the -i stem. The noun immediately after the verb is the direct object selected by that stem.
| Family | Useful frame | Role of the object |
|---|---|---|
| isi → mengisi | mengisi wadah dengan isi | container or field filled |
| datang → mendatangi | mendatangi tempat/orang | goal approached or visited |
| kirim → mengirimi | mengirimi penerima barang | recipient supplied |
| tanda → menandai | menandai benda | item receiving a mark |
Saya mengisi botol itu dengan air matang.
I fill that bottle with boiled water.
Relawan mendatangi warga yang belum menerima bantuan.
The volunteers visit residents who have not received aid.
Toko itu mengirimi pelanggan kode pelacakan melalui surel.
The shop sends customers tracking codes by email.
Editor menandai paragraf yang masih perlu diperiksa.
The editor marks the paragraphs that still need checking.
English can translate these verbs with fill, visit, send, and mark, but those glosses hide the shared Indonesian pattern: a container, goal, recipient, or marked entity has become the direct object. Store mengirimi seseorang sesuatu, not merely “mengirimi means send.”
When -i absorbs a preposition
A base construction may express a goal or target in a prepositional phrase. An established -i derivative can promote that participant to direct-object position, so the old preposition disappears.
Dokter datang ke rumah pasien setelah magrib.
The doctor came to the patient's house after sunset.
Dokter mendatangi rumah pasien setelah magrib.
The doctor visited the patient's house after sunset.
Kami memberi tanda pada semua kotak yang rusak.
We put a mark on all the damaged boxes.
Kami menandai semua kotak yang rusak.
We marked all the damaged boxes.
The promoted object must not retain ke or pada: mendatangi rumah, not mendatangi ke rumah. Other material can still appear in a prepositional phrase. In mengisi botol dengan air, botol is the filled container and dengan air names the content.
Petugas mengisi formulir dengan data dari paspor saya.
The officer fills the form with data from my passport.
Anak-anak menandai jalan pulang dengan pita merah.
The children mark the way home with red ribbons.
This alternation is productive only where Indonesian has licensed the derivative. The English pattern “verb + to/on/at” does not create an Indonesian -i verb automatically.
Recipient objects and the remaining theme
Transfer verbs make the argument consequences especially visible. Mengirimi Rina paket places the recipient first and leaves the transferred item after it. Standard descriptions differ on the fine syntactic status of this second noun, but the practical frame is stable: recipient first, theme second.
Perusahaan mengirimi semua karyawan kartu akses baru.
The company sends all employees new access cards.
Paman meminjami saya mobilnya selama akhir pekan.
My uncle lends me his car for the weekend.
Pelayan menawari kami meja di dekat jendela.
The server offers us a table near the window.
Do not add kepada before a recipient that already occupies the direct-object slot. If you want the transferred item as the object, use an unsuffixed or -kan frame where the lexical family permits it.
Saya mengirim paket itu kepada Rina tadi pagi.
I sent that package to Rina this morning.
Saya mengirimkan paket itu kepada Rina tadi pagi.
I sent that package to Rina this morning.
Saya mengirimi Rina paket itu tadi pagi.
I sent Rina that package this morning.
Voice and noun phrases preserve the lexical frame
Once a frame is licensed, voice does not erase it. Actor-oriented mengirimi, passive dikirimi, an imperative kirimi, and pronoun-agent object voice saya kirimi all keep the recipient-oriented stem.
Rina dikirimi salinan kontrak kemarin.
Rina was sent a copy of the contract yesterday.
Rina akan saya kirimi salinan kontrak sore ini.
I will send Rina a copy of the contract this afternoon.
Kirimi Rina foto kuitansinya juga.
Send Rina a photo of the receipt too.
The same mapping survives inside noun phrases. The head noun can be the target understood as the missing object of a relative clause.
Formulir yang sudah diisi harus diserahkan sebelum Jumat.
The form that has been filled out must be submitted before Friday.
Alamat yang kami datangi ternyata sudah kosong.
The address we visited turned out to be vacant.
Pelanggan yang dikirimi tagihan ganda diminta menghubungi layanan bantuan.
Customers who were sent duplicate bills are asked to contact support. (formal)
Berkas yang ditandai petugas jangan dipindahkan.
Do not move the files marked by the officer.
Notice the actor-voice spelling menandai and mengirimi. In analysis, these contain meN- + tanda + -i and meN- + kirim + -i; productive nasal substitution removes the initial t and k. Never restore them in the surface words as mentandai or mengkirimi.
Competition with bare verbs and -kan
The three choices often describe related but nonidentical events. A bare verb may leave a goal in a prepositional phrase; -i profiles a target; -kan often profiles a caused or transferred theme.
| Contrast | Object immediately after the verb |
|---|---|
| datang ke kantor / mendatangi kantor | no object / goal object |
| mengisi gelas dengan air / mengisikan air ke gelas | container / content |
| mengirimi pelanggan surat / mengirimkan surat kepada pelanggan | recipient / transferred theme |
| menulisi dinding dengan slogan / menuliskan slogan pada dinding | written-on surface / written content |
Nina mengisi gelas dengan jus jeruk.
Nina fills the glass with orange juice.
Nina mengisikan jus jeruk ke gelas kecil.
Nina pours orange juice into the small glass.
Seseorang menulisi tembok belakang dengan nomor telepon.
Someone covered the back wall with written phone numbers.
Petugas menuliskan nomor antrean pada kartu saya.
The clerk writes the queue number on my card.
These are strong tendencies, not a universal algorithm. Some roots allow only one member; others allow both but have conventional collocations. See the dedicated -kan versus -i choice guide for a fuller decision process.
Productive schema plus lexical families
The schema explains why new contexts can be understood, but the lexicon decides which words exist and what they conventionally mean. Mengetahui “know/find out,” memiliki “own/have,” menyukai “like,” and menguasai “master/control” are established -i families whose modern meanings are not obtained by mechanically supplying a physical target.
Kami belum mengetahui penyebab gangguan itu.
We do not yet know the cause of the disruption. (formal)
Perusahaan itu memiliki tiga gudang di Jawa Barat.
That company owns three warehouses in West Java.
Anak saya sangat menyukai buku tentang dinosaurus.
My child really likes books about dinosaurs.
Ia sudah menguasai dasar-dasar bahasa isyarat.
She has mastered the basics of sign language.
A dictionary entry confirms that a word and at least one sense are established. It does not prove that every part of the meaning is compositional, that all conceivable objects are acceptable, or that a parallel derivative may be coined from a similar English verb. Learn frequent collocations: mengetahui penyebab, memiliki rumah, menyukai musik, menguasai teknik.
Formal and conversational distribution
Full actor-oriented forms are normal in writing and careful speech (formal). Relaxed conversation may omit meN- where context is clear, or replace the derived verb with a base-plus-preposition or kasih tanda paraphrase (informal). Jakarta-influenced speech may also use -in, but that is a regional conversational pattern, not standard -i spelling.
Petugas mengisi formulir, mendatangi alamat pemohon, mengirimi pemohon surat, dan menandai berkas yang belum lengkap.
The officer fills out the form, visits the applicant's address, sends the applicant a letter, and marks the incomplete files. (formal)
Petugasnya isi formulir, datang ke alamat pemohonnya, kirim surat ke dia, terus kasih tanda di berkas yang belum lengkap.
The officer fills out the form, goes to the applicant's address, sends them a letter, then marks the incomplete files. (informal)
The conversational version is natural speech, not a spelling model for formal prose. Standard writing retains mengisi, mendatangi, mengirimi, and menandai.
Common Mistakes
Keeping the old goal preposition
❌ Tim medis mendatangi ke rumah pasien.
Incorrect — rumah pasien is already the direct object of mendatangi.
✅ Tim medis mendatangi rumah pasien.
The medical team visits the patient's house.
Giving mengirimi the theme-first frame
❌ Saya mengirimi paket kepada Dodi.
Incorrect for the intended recipient-oriented frame — the recipient must follow mengirimi directly.
✅ Saya mengirimi Dodi paket.
I send Dodi a package.
Treating -i and -kan as interchangeable
❌ Para tamu memasukkan gedung melalui pintu samping.
Incorrect for ‘enter the building’ — memasukkan needs a separate entity caused to enter.
✅ Para tamu memasuki gedung melalui pintu samping.
The guests enter the building through the side door.
Restoring a deleted root consonant
❌ Editor mentandai kalimat yang terlalu panjang.
Incorrect — meN- + tanda + -i surfaces as menandai.
✅ Editor menandai kalimat yang terlalu panjang.
The editor marks sentences that are too long.
Coining -i whenever English has a target
❌ Saya membacai novel itu di kereta.
Nonstandard for ordinary ‘read’ — the established verb here is membaca.
✅ Saya membaca novel itu di kereta.
I read that novel on the train.
Key Takeaways
- Learn an -i derivative with its direct object and any remaining theme or material phrase.
- -i often promotes a goal, recipient, container, or surface, so an older preposition may disappear.
- Voice preserves the lexical frame: mengirimi, dikirimi, saya kirimi, and kirimi remain recipient-oriented.
- Bare, -i, and -kan relatives can select different objects rather than merely adding shades of the same English verb.
- Productive structure and lexical convention work together; dictionary-listed forms still require their senses and collocations to be learned.
Now practice Indonesian
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- -i: Formation and AllomorphyB2 — Learn how invariant -i forms target-oriented verb stems, how vowel-final bases are spelled, and how meN- and di- interact with the same derived stem.
- -i: Meanings and Derivational NetworkB2 — Understand how -i maps locations, goals, recipients, and repeatedly affected targets onto direct-object position across productive and lexicalized families.
- -kan: Valency, Lexicalization, and RegisterB2 — Use -kan stems with the right objects, voice patterns, competing suffixes, lexical conventions, and formal or conversational forms.
- -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.
- Valency-Changing MorphologyB2 — See how Indonesian derivation adds, removes, and promotes participants through causative, applicative, reciprocal, middle, and ter- constructions.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Subjects, Objects, and Argument OrderB2 — Track actor subjects, target objects, remaining themes, passive agents, pronouns, and omitted arguments in -i applicative clauses.