memper-: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register | Indonesian Grammar

Transparent memper- verbs turn a property into an active change-of-property event. Jalannya panjang has one participant, but pemerintah memperpanjang jalan adds a causer and makes jalan the affected object. That argument-structure change is the practical key to using these verbs in clauses.

This page covers valency, competition, lexical exceptions, noun phrases, and register. The formation page handles allomorphs, and the meaning page maps causative readings and polysemy. Forms with an additional -kan or -i have their own guides; they are not interchangeable extensions of the bare memper- pattern.

The basic valency frame

With a licensed property base, the usual active frame is:

causer + memper-verb + affected object + optional result/measure

Teknisi memperbesar lubang itu beberapa milimeter.

The technician enlarges the hole by a few millimeters.

Pengelola memperpanjang jam buka perpustakaan sampai pukul sembilan.

The management extends the library's opening hours until nine.

Sistem baru mempercepat proses pendaftaran.

The new system speeds up the registration process.

The subject need not be a deliberate human agent. An event, tool, condition, or policy can cause the change.

Hujan deras memperbesar risiko banjir di kawasan itu.

Heavy rain increases the flood risk in that area.

Kurangnya data memperpanjang proses penyelidikan.

The lack of data prolongs the investigation.

Jalur khusus mempercepat pergerakan bus pada jam sibuk.

A dedicated lane speeds up bus movement during rush hour.

English speakers sometimes look for a human “doer” because enlarge and extend evoke deliberate action. Indonesian memper- only requires a causal relation; it does not require intention.

💡

Track two semantic roles: what causes the change, and what changes. In an active memper- clause, the causer is the subject and the changing entity is normally the direct object.

Result and measure phrases

The endpoint can be expressed with menjadi, the amount of change with a measurement, and temporal extension with sampai or selama.

Aplikasi itu memperbesar teks menjadi dua puluh poin.

The application enlarges the text to twenty points.

Tukang memperpanjang meja itu tiga puluh sentimeter.

The craftsperson lengthens the table by thirty centimeters.

Panitia memperpanjang masa pendaftaran selama satu minggu.

The committee extends the registration period by one week.

Kami mempercepat jadwal keberangkatan menjadi pukul enam.

We are moving the departure time earlier to six o'clock.

The measure phrase does not become a second object. It specifies the distance moved along the scale. With dates and schedules, mempercepat often means “bring forward,” not “perform at a higher physical speed.”

From active clause to passive counterpart

Because these transparent verbs are transitive, their affected objects can become the topic of a diper- passive. The semantic participants remain the same; the viewpoint changes.

Tim desain memperbesar logo pada halaman depan.

The design team enlarges the logo on the front page.

Logo pada halaman depan diperbesar oleh tim desain.

The logo on the front page is enlarged by the design team.

Direktur memperpanjang kontrak kedua konsultan itu.

The director extends the two consultants' contracts.

Kontrak kedua konsultan itu diperpanjang sampai Desember.

The two consultants' contracts are extended until December.

Petugas bandara mempercepat pemeriksaan bagi keluarga yang membawa bayi.

Airport officers expedite checks for families traveling with babies.

For the patient-oriented construction, including agent placement and competing voices, see diper- usage.

Verbal material inside noun phrases

Indonesian often places the active verb directly after an event noun such as upaya, rencana, kebijakan, or cara. There is no English-style infinitive marker corresponding to to.

Upaya memperbesar kapasitas rumah sakit memerlukan dana tambahan.

The effort to increase hospital capacity requires additional funding. (formal)

Rencana memperpanjang jalur kereta sedang dibahas pemerintah daerah.

The plan to extend the rail line is being discussed by the local government. (formal)

Cara ini efektif untuk mempercepat pemulihan setelah operasi.

This method is effective for speeding up recovery after surgery.

The verb can also head a relative clause when its causer is the referent being identified:

Kami sedang menguji fitur yang mempercepat pencarian dokumen.

We are testing a feature that speeds up document searches.

Itulah perubahan yang memperbesar peluang tim kami untuk lolos.

That is the change that increases our team's chances of qualifying.

Do not nominalize every English increase or extension with the same Indonesian morphology. The choice between a verbal phrase and a derived noun depends on the syntax of the whole sentence.

Competing causatives are selected by collocation

Memperbesar and membesarkan

Both can involve an increase in size, but membesarkan has important conventional uses that memperbesar does not share. Most notably, membesarkan anak means “raise a child.”

Bibi saya membesarkan empat anak seorang diri.

My aunt raised four children by herself.

Bibi saya memperbesar foto keempat anaknya untuk dipajang di ruang tamu.

My aunt enlarged a photo of her four children to display in the living room.

Memperbesar anak would normally describe increasing a child's image or represented size, not bringing the child up. The argument frame is grammatical, but the collocation changes the meaning.

Memperpanjang and memanjangkan

Memanjangkan is especially natural for directly lengthening a physical item or body part; memperpanjang is strongly conventional for duration, validity, routes, subscriptions, and deadlines. Physical uses overlap.

Penjahit memanjangkan lengan kemeja itu dua sentimeter.

The tailor lengthens the shirt sleeves by two centimeters.

Saya memperpanjang langganan aplikasi itu untuk satu tahun lagi.

I renewed that app subscription for another year.

There is no absolute “physical versus abstract” rule. Learn frequent combinations such as memanjangkan lengan, memperpanjang kontrak, and memperpanjang masa berlaku.

Derived and analytic causatives

An analytic phrase with membuat or bikin plus lebih + adjective is often clearer when no established compact verb exists. Bikin is (informal); membuat is neutral.

Sedikit gula membuat saus ini lebih kental.

A little sugar makes this sauce thicker.

Geser mejanya sedikit supaya jalannya lebih lebar.

Move the table a little so the passage is wider. (informal)

Do not treat this as mere stylistic padding. Analytic causatives remain available where a hypothetical memper- formation is absent, rare, or carries an unwanted lexical meaning.

💡

Learn causatives as collocations, not isolated equations: membesarkan anak, memperbesar gambar, memanjangkan lengan, memperpanjang izin, and membuat saus lebih kental.

Productive schema, restricted lexicon

Property-based memper- is productive within a conventional set, but logically possible does not mean idiomatic. The established repair verb is memperbaiki, with -i; memperbaik is not its shorter synonym. An adjective such as ramah normally uses an analytic expression in the intended sense “make friendlier.”

Pengembang memperbaiki kesalahan itu sebelum aplikasi dirilis.

The developer fixes that error before the application is released.

Pelatihan itu membuat petugas lebih ramah kepada pengunjung.

The training makes the staff friendlier toward visitors.

Dictionary-listed forms may also be lexicalized. Memperoleh takes the thing obtained as its object; memperalat takes the person or organization exploited; memperistri takes the woman taken as a wife.

Para peneliti memperoleh akses ke arsip yang sebelumnya tertutup.

The researchers obtained access to an archive that was previously closed. (formal)

Ia menolak memperalat hubungan keluarganya untuk mendapat jabatan.

He refuses to exploit his family connections to obtain a position.

Tokoh utama dalam novel itu memperistri sahabat masa kecilnya.

The protagonist in the novel takes his childhood friend as his wife. (literary)

These verbs have established meanings and complement patterns. A dictionary entry confirms existence, not complete compositionality or unrestricted use.

Do not segment from letters alone

Do not infer morphology from a partial visual resemblance. Memerlukan “require” begins memer-, not memper-, and is best related to perlu with meN-...-kan: meN- + perlu + -kan → memerlukan. It is not a bare memper- derivative from an imaginary base lu.

Perbaikan jembatan itu memerlukan waktu sekitar tiga bulan.

Repairing that bridge will require about three months.

Likewise, memperbaiki contains additional -i, and mempersatukan contains -kan. Surface letters must be checked against a real base and the whole word family.

Formal and conversational distribution

Transparent memper- verbs are standard and can occur in speech, but clusters of them are especially characteristic of administrative, academic, and technical prose.

Program tersebut bertujuan memperbesar kapasitas layanan, memperpanjang jam operasional, dan mempercepat proses verifikasi.

The program aims to increase service capacity, extend operating hours, and accelerate the verification process. (formal)

Everyday conversation often expands the same ideas analytically:

Program barunya bikin tempatnya lebih besar, waktu bukanya lebih panjang, dan proses ceknya lebih cepat.

The new program makes the place bigger, keeps it open longer, and makes the checking process faster. (informal)

The compact verbs are not forbidden in conversation:

Bisa perbesar fotonya sedikit? Tulisannya susah dibaca.

Can you enlarge the photo a little? The writing is hard to read.

Mereka akhirnya memperpanjang jam buka sampai jam sepuluh.

They finally extended opening hours until ten.

Here bare perbesar is a direct imperative, where omission of active meN- is normal. In a neutral declarative active clause, use memperbesar.

Common Mistakes

1. Leaving the affected object out of a neutral active clause

❌ Sistem baru mempercepat sejak bulan lalu.

Incomplete for the intended causative reading—what the system speeds up is missing.

✅ Sistem baru mempercepat proses pembayaran sejak bulan lalu.

The new system has sped up the payment process since last month.

2. Using a bare directive form as an ordinary active predicate

❌ Perusahaan perbesar gudangnya tahun lalu.

Nonstandard in careful declarative Indonesian—the actor-oriented verb needs memper-.

✅ Perusahaan memperbesar gudangnya tahun lalu.

The company enlarged its warehouse last year.

3. Coining a derivative just because the meaning seems logical

❌ Kursus itu memperramah semua pegawai.

Not an established choice for ‘make all employees friendlier.’

✅ Kursus itu membuat semua pegawai lebih ramah.

The course makes all the employees friendlier.

4. Dropping a suffix from a lexical family

❌ Teknisi akan memperbaik kabel yang rusak.

Incorrect—the established verb is memperbaiki, with -i.

✅ Teknisi akan memperbaiki kabel yang rusak.

The technician will repair the damaged cable.

5. Assuming a dictionary form is semantically transparent

❌ Memperoleh selalu berarti membuat sesuatu menjadi lebih oleh.

Incorrect analysis—modern memperoleh is the lexical verb ‘obtain.’

✅ Kami memperoleh informasi itu dari arsip daerah.

We obtained that information from the regional archive.

Key Takeaways

The central frame is causer + memper- verb + affected object; a result or measure phrase may follow.
Passive diper- changes viewpoint but preserves the causative participants.
Competing causatives divide labor by collocation, not one perfect rule.
Memper- combines a productive property-change schema with restricted families such as memperoleh and memperalat.
Formal prose favors compact derivation, while conversation often uses bikin/membuat + lebih + adjective; both strategies are part of Indonesian.

Now practice Indonesian

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Indonesian →