The canonical pattern is se- + base. With an ordinary lowercase base, the result is written solid: seorang, setinggi, seminggu, sepanjang. Unlike nasal meN-, se- does not productively delete or replace a base-initial consonant. Its most visible spelling alternation is graphic: a capitalized domain keeps its capital and takes a boundary hyphen, as in se-Indonesia.
This page covers form, attachment, root categories, and dictionary recovery. The neighboring meaning page explains how “one” extends to equality, whole-domain scope, and temporal boundary; the usage page develops syntax, productivity, and register.
The core segmentation table
| Base | Analysis | Surface form | Construction type |
|---|---|---|---|
| orang | se- + orang | seorang | one human classifier unit |
| tinggi | se- + tinggi | setinggi | equal degree or measured extent |
| Indonesia | se- + Indonesia | se-Indonesia | whole named domain |
| tiba | se- + tiba + -nya | setibanya | temporal boundary expression |
| minggu | se- + minggu | seminggu | one measure unit |
| panjang | se- + panjang | sepanjang | equal or coextensive length |
The last two are additional natural formations that illustrate the same stable prefix.
Seorang petugas membantu kami menemukan ruang rapat.
An officer helped us find the meeting room.
Pohon mangga itu hampir setinggi atap rumah.
That mango tree is almost as tall as the roof of the house.
Lomba itu diikuti pelajar se-Indonesia.
That competition was entered by students from throughout Indonesia.
Setibanya di rumah, saya langsung mengganti pakaian.
Upon arriving home, I immediately changed clothes.
Kami tinggal di Yogyakarta selama seminggu.
We stayed in Yogyakarta for a week.
Lampu jalan menyala sepanjang malam.
The streetlights stayed on throughout the night.
The spelling varies only where the type of base or the wider construction requires it. The prefix itself remains recognizably se-.
Ordinary lowercase bases: solid and unchanged
Before ordinary noun, classifier, measure, adjective, and verbal bases, se- attaches directly without a space or teaching hyphen.
Seekor kucing tidur di bawah mobil.
A cat is sleeping under the car.
Tolong ambilkan selembar kertas dari meja saya.
Please get me a sheet of paper from my desk.
Harga makan siang di sini semahal harga makan malam.
Lunch here is as expensive as dinner.
Bicaralah sesingkat mungkin agar semua peserta mendapat giliran.
Speak as briefly as possible so every participant gets a turn.
The base-initial consonants remain: se- + lembar → selembar, se- + mahal → semahal, se- + singkat → sesingkat. There is no productive rule deleting l, m, or s.
This point matters because learners familiar with meN- may expect a nasal-style alternation. That expectation is misplaced. Se- + tinggi is setinggi, not seinggi; se- + sopan is sesopan, not seopan.
Petugas itu berbicara sesopan mungkin kepada setiap pengunjung.
The officer spoke as politely as possible to every visitor.
Vowel-initial bases remain visible
Attachment before a vowel does not insert a space. The written sequence can contain adjacent vowels, and the base must still be recoverable.
| Analysis | Surface form | What remains visible |
|---|---|---|
| se- + orang | seorang | initial o of orang |
| se- + ekor | seekor | prefix e plus root-initial e |
| se- + isi | seisi | initial i of isi |
| se- + umur | seumur | initial u of umur |
Seisi rumah terbangun ketika alarm berbunyi.
Everyone in the house woke up when the alarm sounded.
Mereka sudah bersahabat seumur hidup.
They have been friends their whole lives.
Seekor genuinely contains two adjacent e letters. Simplifying it to sekor destroys the standard classifier form.
Capitalized domains: use a boundary hyphen
When the base remains a proper name or all-capital abbreviation, the lowercase affix and capitalized base are linked by a hyphen: se-Indonesia, se-Asia Tenggara, se-ASEAN. The hyphen protects the internal capitalization.
Kampanye itu berlangsung serentak se-Indonesia.
The campaign took place simultaneously throughout Indonesia.
Perusahaan tersebut memiliki jaringan distribusi se-Asia Tenggara.
The company has a distribution network across Southeast Asia.
Pertemuan itu dihadiri perwakilan pemuda se-ASEAN.
The meeting was attended by youth representatives from across ASEAN.
This is an orthographic boundary rule, not a phonological allomorph. Do not generalize the hyphen to lowercase bases: setinggi, not se-tinggi. The official EYD V pattern contrasts lowercase solid attachment with capital-boundary hyphenation.
Temporal forms: se- and outer -nya
Expressions such as setibanya, sesampainya, and sepulangnya contain more than a bare prefix. Their useful synchronic bracketing is se- + base + -nya:
| Base | Analysis | Surface form |
|---|---|---|
| tiba | se- + tiba + -nya | setibanya |
| sampai | se- + sampai + -nya | sesampainya |
| pulang | se- + pulang + -nya | sepulangnya |
Sesampainya di stasiun, kami segera membeli tiket pulang.
Once we reached the station, we immediately bought return tickets.
Sepulangnya dari kantor, Dimas biasanya berolahraga.
Upon returning from the office, Dimas usually exercises.
The finished -nya form is one word. Bare setiba di rumah also occurs as a standard temporal linker, so -nya is not categorically obligatory; when the -nya variant is chosen, all three parts are written solid. Formation alone does not guarantee that any verb can enter this pattern. Conventional motion and transition bases are its clearest center.
Root-category restrictions
The prefix combines productively with several, but not unlimited, base types:
- classifiers and measures: seorang, seekor, seminggu;
- scalar adjectives: setinggi, semahal, sesingkat;
- nouns expressing a domain or extent: seisi, seumur, sepanjang;
- selected motion or transition bases with -nya: setibanya, sesampainya, sepulangnya.
A possible-looking string is not automatically established. Multiword adjective phrases usually prefer an analytic equality construction, and arbitrary verbs do not freely produce temporal se-...-nya forms.
Penjelasan kedua juga mudah dipahami, seperti penjelasan pertama.
The second explanation is also easy to understand, just like the first.
This analytic paraphrase keeps the multiword adjective phrase mudah dipahami intact rather than forcing an opaque semudah dipahami comparison. With a simple adjective, sama jelasnya dengan “just as clear as” is another natural analytic option.
Recovering the dictionary base
For transparent formations, remove the prefix while respecting capitalization and any outer -nya:
| Surface form | Recover | Do not infer |
|---|---|---|
| seorang | orang | rang |
| seekor | ekor | kor |
| setinggi | tinggi | inggi |
| se-Indonesia | Indonesia | -Indonesia |
| setibanya | tiba | tibanya as the lexical base |
Not every word beginning in se contains this prefix. Selesai, sejarah, and semoga are whole lexical bases in modern Indonesian; analyses such as se- + lesai invent nonexistent dictionary roots.
Semoga rapatnya selesai sebelum makan siang.
I hope the meeting finishes before lunch.
Orthography
Write the abstract prefix as se- in analysis. Write ordinary forms solid: seorang, seekor, setinggi, setibanya. Use a hyphen before a base that retains capitalization: se-Indonesia, se-ASEAN. There is no general consonant deletion to “restore” in these forms; preserve the full dictionary base in the surface word. The affix attachment guide covers the same capital-boundary principle across other prefixes.
Common Mistakes
1. Writing the abstract label literally before a lowercase base
❌ Adik saya hampir se-tinggi saya.
Incorrect ordinary spelling — se- attaches solidly to a lowercase adjective.
✅ Adik saya hampir setinggi saya.
My younger sibling is almost as tall as I am.
2. Separating the classifier form
❌ Se orang pelanggan menunggu di depan kasir.
Incorrect — seorang is one solid word.
✅ Seorang pelanggan menunggu di depan kasir.
A customer is waiting in front of the checkout.
3. Dropping one e from seekor
❌ Sekor burung masuk melalui jendela.
Incorrect standard spelling — se- plus ekor retains both e letters.
✅ Seekor burung masuk melalui jendela.
A bird came in through the window.
4. Removing the capital-boundary hyphen
❌ Acara itu disiarkan langsung seIndonesia.
Incorrect — the capitalized proper-name base requires a boundary hyphen.
✅ Acara itu disiarkan langsung se-Indonesia.
The event was broadcast live throughout Indonesia.
5. Separating a temporal form into three words
❌ Se tiba nya di hotel, kami langsung beristirahat.
Incorrect — the prefix and -nya are attached in this temporal form.
✅ Setibanya di hotel, kami langsung beristirahat.
Upon arriving at the hotel, we immediately rested.
Key Takeaways
- Ordinary se- attachment is solid and preserves the base: seorang, setinggi, sesingkat.
- Vowel-initial bases remain visible, including both letters in seekor.
- Capitalized domains require a hyphen: se-Indonesia.
- Temporal forms contain outer -nya: se- + tiba + -nya → setibanya.
- Verify productive membership before stripping initial se from a dictionary word.
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Start learning Indonesian →Related Topics
- se-: Meanings and Derivational NetworkC1 — Connect one-unit, equal-degree, whole-domain, and temporal se- readings through a shared idea of one bounded extent.
- se-: Valency, Lexicalization, and RegisterC1 — Use se- classifier, equative, domain, and temporal constructions with their distinct syntax, established competitors, and register-sensitive paraphrases.
- Attaching Prefixes and SuffixesA2 — Write ordinary Indonesian affixes solid with lowercase bases and use boundary hyphens around capitalized or acronym bases.
- Hyphens in ReduplicationA1 — Use a hyphen inside Indonesian full, affixed, and changing-sound reduplication while avoiding informal digit shortcuts.
- seorang for One PersonA2 — Introduce one indefinite human referent with fused seorang while distinguishing it from emphatic satu orang and bare names.
- Equatives with se- and sama...denganB1 — Compare equal degrees with compact se- adjectives and analytic sama...dengan, and distinguish equality from resemblance with seperti.