The construction ber-...-an views an event as internally plural. Depending on the lexical base and context, several participants act on one another, several participants undergo parallel events, or one event type recurs across time or space. This is why bersalaman, berdatangan, and berjatuhan share a derivational pattern without sharing one English translation.
The deepest generalization is not simply “reciprocal.” The construction distributes a relation or event over more than one participant, occurrence, direction, or location. It can therefore supply a kind of semantic plurality even when no numeral or reduplicated noun appears.
This page maps those meanings. See formation and allomorphy for the two-part template and solid Rumi spelling; the companion usage page develops the construction’s valency and register constraints.
The four core families
The arrows below show derivational relationships, not spelling changes. Actual words are solid, while the analysis preserves both affix parts and the complete base.
| Root family | Participants or occurrences | Most natural reading |
|---|---|---|
| salam → bersalaman | each participant greets the other through hand contact | reciprocal: shake hands |
| kejar → berkejaran | several moving participants participate in a chase | reciprocal/distributed: chase one another or run about in pursuit |
| datang → berdatangan | arrivals are distributed across people, origins, or times | distributed/repeated: arrive in numbers or successively |
| jatuh → berjatuhan | falls are distributed across entities or moments | distributed/repeated: fall one after another or in numbers |
Selepas menandatangani perjanjian, kedua-dua wakil itu bersalaman.
After signing the agreement, the two representatives shook hands.
Budak-budak berkejaran di padang sementara ibu bapa mereka berbual.
The children chased one another around the field while their parents chatted.
Orang ramai mula berdatangan dari kampung berhampiran.
People began arriving from nearby villages.
Buah mangga yang masak berjatuhan selepas ribut malam tadi.
The ripe mangoes fell in numbers after last night's storm.
No one English expression covers all four. Each other fits bersalaman, plural arrive fits berdatangan, and one after another may fit berjatuhan. The Malay construction leaves context to determine exactly where the plurality lies.
Reciprocal events
With roots that describe contact or directed interaction, the construction often gives a reciprocal reading. Bersalaman presents handshaking as mutual; berpelukan presents participants embracing one another; bersentuhan says that entities touch or are in contact.
Ahli keluarga itu berpelukan di balai ketibaan.
The family members embraced one another in the arrivals hall.
Kedua-dua kepingan logam itu tidak boleh bersentuhan.
The two pieces of metal must not touch one another.
Reciprocity entails at least two relevant participants, but Malay need not state dua “two” or antara satu sama lain “with one another.” A plural noun phrase or the surrounding situation can supply the participants. The construction itself presents the relation as shared across them.
The reciprocal reading is not equally available with every transitive root. Malay commonly uses saling membantu for “help one another” and saling menghormati for “respect one another.” Productivity is lexical: a semantic pattern is present, but individual verbs still have to be established.
Kedua-dua pasukan saling menghormati walaupun persaingan mereka sengit.
The two teams respect one another even though their rivalry is intense.
This sentence demonstrates an alternative reciprocal strategy, not an omitted ber-...-an form.
Distributed participants and directions
Berkejaran straddles reciprocity and distribution. In a scene where children chase one another, the relation can be reciprocal. In a bustling scene, it can describe several participants running around in pursuit without asserting that every child chases every other child. Berlarian similarly distributes running over several participants or directions.
Apabila hujan turun, para penonton berlarian mencari tempat berteduh.
When the rain started, the spectators ran in different directions looking for shelter.
Dua ekor tupai berkejaran dari satu dahan ke dahan yang lain.
Two squirrels chased each other from one branch to another.
This is not grammatical subject agreement. A plural subject can occur with a simple verb: Para penonton lari “The spectators ran” (informal). Berlarian adds a distributed scene—many running events, often in multiple directions.
Repeated or successive occurrences
With a base such as datang or jatuh, mutual action makes little sense. The plurality therefore falls on event occurrences. Berdatangan depicts arrivals spread over participants, time, or sources. Berjatuhan depicts multiple falls, commonly one after another or across several entities.
Ucapan tahniah berdatangan sebaik sahaja keputusan diumumkan.
Messages of congratulations came pouring in as soon as the result was announced.
Seorang demi seorang pelari berjatuhan akibat cuaca yang terlalu panas.
Runner after runner collapsed because of the excessively hot weather.
The second sentence explicitly reinforces succession with seorang demi seorang. The construction itself already makes the event internally plural; the added phrase specifies how that plurality unfolds.
Another established member is bersahutan, from sahut “answer; respond.” Calls, voices, or sounds answer one another or recur from different sources. It combines reciprocity with succession.
Bunyi hon bersahutan di luar stadium selepas perlawanan tamat.
Car horns answered one another outside the stadium after the match ended.
English may choose “one after another,” “from all sides,” “kept coming,” or a plural subject. These are contextual translations, not separate Malay suffix meanings.
Spatially scattered states and events
The same pluralizing perspective can distribute entities over space. Bertaburan, related to tabur “scatter,” presents items as scattered over an area. Berselerakan describes things lying untidily in various places. The result can be state-like even though the family is historically and structurally connected with distributed events.
Buku dan kertas bertaburan di lantai selepas rak itu tumbang.
Books and papers were scattered across the floor after the shelf fell over.
Mainan masih berselerakan di ruang tamu.
Toys are still strewn about the living room.
These forms do more than pluralize a noun. Mainan berselerakan says that the toys occupy multiple unorganized locations; the construction contributes a spatial distribution to the predicate.
Relational berjauhan extends the pattern further. It presents two or more entities as far apart, either physically or socially. There may be no dynamic action at all.
Pejabat kami berjauhan, jadi kami biasanya bermesyuarat dalam talian.
Our offices are far apart, so we usually meet online.
This lexicalized state confirms that the network has a common logic, not a single compositional formula. Distributed relations unite the readings, but each word conventionalizes a particular one.
Ambiguity and contextual resolution
A sentence with berkejaran need not specify whether every participant chases every other participant. Berdatangan can emphasize number, succession, or diverse origins. Berjatuhan can describe separate entities falling once or similar fall events recurring. Adverbials, subject type, and real-world knowledge resolve the interpretation.
Compare the following:
Tetamu berdatangan sepanjang petang.
Guests arrived throughout the afternoon. (successive times)
Bantuan berdatangan dari pelbagai negeri.
Aid came in from various states. (distributed origins)
Daun berjatuhan di sepanjang jalan.
Leaves were falling all along the road. (entities and space)
The construction itself does not encode a precise numeral. Tetamu berdatangan suggests multiple guests or arrivals, but it does not tell us whether there were five or five hundred. That is why its plurality is semantic rather than ordinary number marking.
Common Mistakes
1. Assigning “each other” to every form.
❌ Tetamu berdatangan antara satu sama lain.
Incorrect interpretation — guests do not ‘arrive each other’; the arrivals are distributed.
✅ Tetamu berdatangan dari seluruh negara.
Guests arrived from all over the country.
2. Treating the construction as obligatory plural agreement.
❌ Dua orang tetamu wajib berdatangan serentak.
Incorrect rule — a plural subject does not force ber-...-an, and serentak conflicts with the usual successive construal here.
✅ Dua orang tetamu datang serentak.
Two guests arrived at the same time.
3. Using a reciprocal form with only one participant and no distributed reading.
❌ Ali bersalaman seorang diri.
Semantically contradictory — bersalaman requires another participant in the handshaking relation.
✅ Ali bersalaman dengan ketua kampung.
Ali shook hands with the village head.
4. Giving berkejaran only a strict pairwise reading.
❌ Semua kanak-kanak mesti mengejar setiap kanak-kanak lain apabila mereka berkejaran.
Incorrect inference — berkejaran can describe a distributed chase scene without every participant chasing every other one.
✅ Kanak-kanak itu berkejaran di sekitar pokok.
The children ran around the tree chasing one another.
Key Takeaways
- ber-...-an makes an event or relation internally plural without specifying a numeral.
- The plurality may involve reciprocal participants, distributed actors, repeated occurrences, directions, or locations.
- Bersalaman is strongly reciprocal; berdatangan and berjatuhan are distributed or successive; berkejaran allows both reciprocal and distributed construals.
- Context determines the best English rendering, so “each other” is never a universal translation.
- Lexicalized forms such as berjauhan, bertaburan, and berselerakan belong to the same network but must be learned with their conventional meanings.
Now practice Malay
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- ber-...-an: Formation and Allomorphy in Malaysian MalayB2 — Form Malaysian Malay ber-...-an verbs with a two-part template while preserving the root and writing conventional words solid.
- ber-...-an: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register in Malaysian MalayC1 — Use Malaysian Malay ber-...-an predicates with the right participant frame, lexical meaning, competing construction, and register.
- ber-: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayA2 — Understand how ber- presents an activity, possession, state, reciprocal event, or numbered participant group from the subject's perspective.
- -an: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how -an packages conventional results of a base as products, things, instruments, places, collectives, and action-related nouns.
- Reduplication: A Malay Grammar MapA2 — Map the major forms and meanings of reduplication in contemporary Standard Malaysian Malay without treating every copied form as a plural.