Knowing that bersalaman, berkejaran, berdatangan, and berjatuhan belong to one derivational pattern does not make their syntax identical. Reciprocal members gather two participants into one relation; distributed members spread an event across several entities or occasions. Each established word also develops its own complement, collocations, and register.
This page concentrates on valency, lexicalization, and actual use. The formation page explains the two-part template and spelling, while the meaning page maps reciprocal and distributed readings. Here the central principle is practical: learn ber-...-an as a productive schema plus lexical families, neither as a completely free rule nor as an unrelated list of words.
Reciprocal predicates organize a participant set
With bersalaman “shake hands” and berkejaran “chase one another/run about in pursuit,” the subject can contain all relevant participants. These predicates are normally intransitive: the second participant is not added as a bare direct object.
Kedua-dua menteri bersalaman sebelum sidang media bermula.
The two ministers shook hands before the press conference began.
Kanak-kanak itu berkejaran mengelilingi pokok mangga.
The children chased one another around the mango tree.
Para pemain berpelukan selepas wisel penamat dibunyikan.
The players embraced one another after the final whistle was blown.
The plural or coordinated subject supplies both sides of the relation. Malay therefore does not need an English-style object after bersalaman. Nor does it need satu sama lain “one another” merely to make an already clear reciprocal plural.
When one participant is the subject and the other is mentioned separately, established reciprocal predicates commonly introduce the partner with dengan.
Farah bersalaman dengan guru besarnya di pintu dewan.
Farah shook hands with her head teacher at the hall entrance.
Amir berpelukan dengan abangnya sebaik sahaja tiba.
Amir hugged his older brother as soon as he arrived.
The English verbs shake hands with and hug do not provide a reliable word-for-word template. English can make her brother a direct object of hug, whereas this Malay reciprocal construction presents the two people as partners in one relation.
The same valency survives inside noun phrases
A relative clause does not turn the partner into an object. The complement frame remains visible inside the larger noun phrase.
Pegawai yang bersalaman dengan menteri itu ialah pengarah baharu kami.
The officer who shook hands with the minister is our new director.
Budak yang berkejaran dengan adiknya tadi sudah pulang.
The child who was chasing their younger sibling around earlier has gone home.
In pegawai yang bersalaman dengan menteri itu, the head noun pegawai is understood as the subject of bersalaman, and menteri remains the reciprocal partner after dengan. This matters in formal writing, where long noun phrases can hide the underlying argument structure.
Distributed predicates select a pluralizable subject
Berdatangan and berjatuhan do not require a reciprocal partner. They distribute coming or falling across entities, sources, places, or moments. Their subjects need not carry overt plural marking, because the predicate itself invites a multiple-event interpretation.
Pelawat mula berdatangan sejak kaunter pendaftaran dibuka.
Visitors began arriving after the registration counter opened.
Ucapan tahniah berdatangan dari seluruh negara.
Messages of congratulations came in from across the country.
Daun kering berjatuhan sepanjang petang.
Dry leaves kept falling throughout the afternoon.
Buah yang terlalu masak berjatuhan selepas hujan lebat.
The overripe fruit fell one after another after the heavy rain.
A bare noun such as pelawat can be number-neutral in Malay; pelawat berdatangan is naturally understood as multiple visitors or arrivals. By contrast, seorang pelawat explicitly denotes one visitor and normally calls for simple datang when only one bounded arrival is meant.
Seorang pelawat datang tepat pada pukul sembilan.
One visitor arrived at exactly nine o’clock.
Para pelawat berdatangan antara pukul sembilan dengan sepuluh.
Visitors arrived over the period between nine and ten o’clock.
Aspect and negation do not change the frame
Malay aspect markers occur before the derived predicate. Sedang presents an event in progress, mula marks its beginning, and terus presents continuation. Negation likewise precedes the predicate. None of these markers creates an object or removes a required partner.
Kedua-dua ketua pasukan sedang bersalaman ketika jurugambar tiba.
The two team captains were shaking hands when the photographer arrived.
Tetamu mula berdatangan sebaik sahaja pintu dewan dibuka.
Guests began arriving as soon as the hall doors opened.
Pastikan kedua-dua wayar itu tidak bersentuhan.
Make sure the two wires do not touch one another.
English marks past time on shook and progressive aspect on were shaking. Malay leaves bersalaman unchanged and uses context or a separate marker. This makes valency easier to see: sedang bersalaman dengan pengarah retains the same dengan partner as bersalaman dengan pengarah.
Several markers can combine in a natural clause: tetamu masih terus berdatangan means that guests continue to arrive. Their order contributes aspectual nuance, but the distributed subject and the basic lexical frame remain unchanged.
Competing forms change the argument structure
The choice among related words is not merely stylistic. Bersalaman presents a mutual handshake, while menyalami selects the person greeted as its object. That transitive object can become the subject of a passive; the reciprocal participant set cannot.
Pengerusi bersalaman dengan setiap tetamu.
The chairperson shook hands with every guest.
Pengerusi menyalami setiap tetamu sebelum mereka masuk.
The chairperson greeted every guest with a handshake before they entered.
Setiap tetamu disalami oleh pengerusi.
Every guest was greeted with a handshake by the chairperson.
Likewise, berkejaran presents a reciprocal or criss-crossing chase scene, whereas mengejar introduces a pursued object. Berjatuhan distributes spontaneous falling; menjatuhkan adds a causer who makes an object fall.
Beberapa orang murid berkejaran di padang selepas kelas tamat.
Several pupils chased one another around the field after class ended.
Anjing itu mengejar motosikal hingga ke hujung jalan.
The dog chased the motorcycle to the end of the road.
Angin kencang menjatuhkan beberapa pasu dari rak.
The strong wind knocked several pots off the shelf.
The contrast is structural: mengejar motosikal contains a direct object, but berkejaran does not license motosikal in that slot. English translation alone can conceal this difference.
Lexical families set the real limits
The schema is productive enough to help learners interpret an unfamiliar established member, but not productive enough to surround any verb with ber-...-an. Standard Malaysian Malay normally uses bertemu “meet,” not a mechanically invented bertemuan. For mutual help, saling membantu is natural; a learner should not coin an unattested derivative from bantu.
Kami bertemu di hadapan perpustakaan selepas kelas.
We met in front of the library after class.
Penduduk kampung saling membantu ketika banjir.
The villagers helped one another during the flood.
Dictionary listing does not make a form fully compositional either. Berjauhan conventionally means “be far apart” and can describe a stable relation, not a repeated act of becoming far. Berselerakan describes things strewn about or untidily scattered; its normal subject and spatial interpretation must be learned with the word.
Walaupun pejabat mereka berjauhan, kedua-dua pasukan tetap bekerjasama rapat.
Although their offices are far apart, the two teams still work closely together.
Fail dan resit masih berselerakan di atas meja.
Files and receipts are still scattered untidily across the desk.
There is no completely logical shortcut here. A dictionary can confirm the word, but only examples and collocations reveal whether it wants a dengan partner, a pluralizable subject, a location phrase, or a figurative interpretation.
Formal density and conversational unpacking
Full ber-...-an forms are normal in careful speech and writing. A formal sentence can compress several reciprocal and distributed scenes into derived predicates.
Selepas wakil kedua-dua pihak bersalaman, tetamu mula berdatangan; kanak-kanak berkejaran di halaman sementara daun berjatuhan akibat angin kencang.
After the representatives of both sides shook hands, guests began arriving; children chased one another in the yard while leaves fell in numbers because of the strong wind. (formal)
Conversation often unpacks the same ideas with a lexical verb, an adverbial phrase, or colloquial repetition (informal).
Lepas mereka berjabat tangan, tetamu datang seorang demi seorang; budak-budak kejar-kejar di luar, daun pula gugur satu-satu sebab angin kuat.
After they shook hands, the guests came one by one; the kids chased each other outside, and the leaves fell one by one because of the strong wind. (informal)
This is not a command to delete affixes in conversation. Bersalaman, berdatangan, berkejaran, and berjatuhan all occur in ordinary Malaysian usage. The analytic paraphrases simply become attractive when a speaker wants a more concrete, less densely packaged scene.
Common Mistakes
1. Adding a bare direct object to a reciprocal predicate.
❌ Farah bersalaman guru besarnya.
Incorrect — the separately expressed partner requires dengan.
✅ Farah bersalaman dengan guru besarnya.
Farah shook hands with her head teacher.
2. Using a distributed predicate for one bounded arrival.
❌ Seorang kurier berdatangan pada pukul dua.
Incorrect for one arrival — berdatangan distributes multiple arrivals or occurrences.
✅ Seorang kurier datang pada pukul dua.
A courier arrived at two o’clock.
3. Giving berkejaran a pursued direct object.
❌ Kanak-kanak itu berkejaran layang-layang yang putus.
Incorrect — use mengejar when a pursued object follows.
✅ Kanak-kanak itu mengejar layang-layang yang putus.
The children chased the runaway kite.
4. Coining every reciprocal meaning mechanically.
❌ Kami bertemuan di kedai kopi selepas bekerja.
Nonstandard coinage for ordinary ‘meet’ — Malaysian Malay uses bertemu.
✅ Kami bertemu di kedai kopi selepas bekerja.
We met at the coffee shop after work.
Key Takeaways
- Reciprocal members use a plural participant set or a separately expressed dengan partner, not a bare object.
- Distributed berdatangan and berjatuhan favor a pluralizable subject and multiply events rather than marking agreement.
- Competing forms alter valency: bersalaman/menyalami, berkejaran/mengejar, and berjatuhan/menjatuhkan.
- Formal prose can exploit compact derivatives; conversation may unpack them with lexical verbs and adverbials.
- Treat the construction as a productive schema constrained by established lexical families and their normal frames.
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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: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayC1 — Understand how ber-...-an presents reciprocal, distributed, repeated, and spatially scattered events without an overt numeral.
- ber-: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register in Malaysian MalayA2 — Use ber- predicates with the right complements and distinguish standard prefixed forms from colloquial bare roots and transitive meN- relatives.
- 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.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA2 — Form Malaysian Malay -kan verbs and recognize how they add a causer, beneficiary, moved theme, or result-bearing participant.