The suffix -i builds transitive verbs whose direct object is commonly a location, goal, recipient, or target. Its attachment is mostly transparent: preserve the base, add i, and write the actual word solid. Thus the analysis tanda + -i corresponds to tandai, not tanda-i and not tandi.
This page is about formation and spelling. The meaning page explains the semantic network, and the usage page handles argument choice and competition with -kan. The most important formal warning is that -i normally lives inside a larger verb form: menandai in an active declarative clause, ditandai in a third-person passive, and bare tandai in a command or certain first- and second-person passives.
The suffix attaches to the complete base
The required core formations show the same suffix after consonant-final and vowel-final bases:
| Base | Analytical segmentation | Bare written form | Common prefixed form |
|---|---|---|---|
| datang “come” | datang + -i | datangi | mendatangi |
| kirim “send” | kirim + -i | kirimi | mengirimi |
| tanda “mark; sign” | tanda + -i | tandai | menandai |
| hadiah “gift” | hadiah + -i | hadiahi | menghadiahi |
Datangi cawangan terdekat untuk mengemas kini maklumat anda.
Visit the nearest branch to update your details. (formal instruction)
Kirimi nenek sekeping poskad apabila kamu tiba di sana.
Send Grandmother a postcard when you arrive there.
Tandai semua petak yang berkenaan sebelum menghantar borang.
Mark all applicable boxes before submitting the form.
Hadiahi ibu sejambak bunga pada hari lahirnya.
Give Mother a bouquet of flowers on her birthday.
These four bare forms are appropriate in commands. A suffixal verb without meN- is not the default shape for an ordinary actor-first declarative sentence. In standard active prose, use the appropriate meN-...-i form: mendatangi, mengirimi, menandai, menghadiahi.
Pegawai itu mendatangi setiap premis yang dilaporkan melanggar syarat lesen.
The officer visited every establishment reported to have breached its licence conditions.
Saya mengirimi ayah salinan gambar lama itu.
I sent Father a copy of that old photograph.
Petugas menandai kerusi yang perlu dibaiki.
The staff member marked the chairs that needed repairing.
Syarikat menghadiahi setiap pekerja yang bersara sebuah cenderamata.
The company presented every retiring employee with a souvenir.
What happens after a consonant
After datang, kirim, and hadiah, the final consonant remains: datang-i, kirim-i, hadiah-i. There is no suffix-triggered deletion and no special variant of -i. The sequences ngi, mi, and hi are simply the end of the intact base followed by the suffix.
English-speaking learners sometimes perceive hadiahi as awkward and delete the root-final h, producing hadai or hadiai. That invents a sound change Malaysian orthography does not have. Hadiah remains visually recoverable inside hadiahi.
What happens after a vowel
After an a-final base, the suffix creates the sequence ai: tanda + -i → tandai, mula + -i → mulai, serta + -i → sertai. The final a has not become another vowel and has not disappeared; the i has simply been appended.
Mulai perbincangan dengan perkara yang paling mendesak.
Begin the discussion with the most urgent matter.
Sertai sesi taklimat dalam talian pada pukul tiga petang.
Join the online briefing at three in the afternoon.
The resulting ai may form a smooth sound sequence in speech, but the spelling is morphologically transparent. Do not insert a hyphen or a linking consonant.
The special surface ambiguity of isi
The base isi already ends in i. Standard spelling does not write an artificial double ii in the imperative isi “fill”: the surface string can represent the base in a bare command, while analyses of its transitive locative behavior associate it with the -i network. Compare the unchanged visible form isi with clearly segmented tanda + -i → tandai.
Isi borang ini dengan huruf besar.
Fill in this form using capital letters.
Borang ini perlu diisi sebelum temu duga.
This form must be filled in before the interview.
The form diisi is also visually compatible with di- + isi; spelling alone cannot tell a learner how much derivational structure a particular grammatical analysis assigns. This is a genuine surface ambiguity, not a reason to write isii or diisii. Context and the dictionary family identify the verb and its valency.
The suffix and the voice prefix are separate layers
In menandai, the active prefix has its own nasal behavior: meN- + tanda + -i → menandai. The loss of the root-initial t belongs to meN- allomorphy, not to -i. Compare the passive ditandai, where tanda remains fully visible. Likewise, meN- + datang + -i → mendatangi reflects the active-prefix pattern, while didatangi shows the same suffixed base under passive di-.
Pintu kecemasan ditandai dengan pelekat hijau.
The emergency door is marked with a green sticker.
Rumah kosong itu didatangi oleh pegawai kesihatan semalam.
The vacant house was visited by health officers yesterday.
A first- or second-person passive can expose the bare suffixed verb after the pronoun:
Pejabat itu kami datangi semula pada keesokan harinya.
We went back to that office the following day.
Here kami datangi, not kami mendatangi, is the standard passive arrangement. The page on voice supplies the full syntax; for formation, notice that datangi remains one word.
Root categories and lexical restrictions
The suffix occurs with several base categories. The core table includes verbs (datang, kirim) and nouns (tanda, hadiah). Established forms also arise from adjectives, as in baik → baiki “repair; improve,” and from other bases such as sudah → sudahi “bring to an end.” This range does not make -i freely attachable to every noun, verb, adjective, or function word.
Each derivative packages a conventional event. Menghadiahi seseorang sesuatu is established; a learner cannot replace hadiah with any noun naming an object and expect a new verb to sound normal. Mendatangi has conventional senses including visiting, approaching in an official capacity, and, with certain nonhuman subjects, befalling. The lexicon filters the possible combinations.
Malaysian and Indonesian dictionaries may also differ in which derivatives they foreground and how examples are labeled. For a Malaysian guide, verify the whole derivative in a Malaysian source rather than treating regional comprehensibility as evidence of neutral Malaysian usage.
How a dictionary exposes the base
A Malaysian dictionary commonly nests mendatangi under datang, mengirimi under kirim, menandai under tanda, and menghadiahi under hadiah. Search by both the surface word and the likely base when necessary. This reveals two useful facts: the citation-form spelling of the base and whether the whole derivative is established.
Do not remove the final letter i blindly from every word. Beri “give” ends in i as part of its base; it is not necessarily ber + -i. Reverse segmentation is valid only when an independently attested base and a related derivative support it.
Aspect and modal markers do not break up the derived word. Write sudah ditandai, akan didatangi, perlu diisi, and mesti dihadiahi, with a space before the complete passive verb but none inside it. Likewise, object clitics attach only where the grammar independently licenses them; they do not replace the suffix. This distinction between a multiword predicate and a single derived verb is especially important for English speakers, because an English translation such as “must be marked” necessarily uses separate words.
Common Mistakes
1. Writing the analytical suffix separately.
❌ Sila tanda i ruangan yang berkenaan.
Incorrect — the suffix is bound and the real word is written solid.
✅ Sila tandai ruangan yang berkenaan.
Please mark the applicable space.
2. Deleting a root consonant before -i.
❌ Dia menghadiai isterinya sejambak bunga.
Incorrect — hadiah keeps its final h in menghadiahi.
✅ Dia menghadiahi isterinya sejambak bunga.
He gave his wife a bouquet of flowers.
3. Writing double i after isi.
❌ Sila isii borang ini hari ini.
Incorrect — the established written form is isi, not isii.
✅ Sila isi borang ini hari ini.
Please fill in this form today.
4. Assuming every base licenses -i.
❌ Saya boleh mencipta kata kerja baharu dengan menambah -i pada sebarang kata nama.
Incorrect claim — the pattern is lexically restricted.
✅ Saya menyemak kata terbitan itu dalam kamus bahasa Melayu Malaysia.
I check that derivative in a Malaysian Malay dictionary.
Key Takeaways
- Write the abstract suffix as -i, but write datangi, kirimi, tandai, and hadiahi solid.
- Preserve the full base; any nasal alternation in mendatangi or menandai belongs to meN-, not -i.
- After a, append i directly: tanda → tandai. With isi, standard spelling avoids artificial ii, creating surface ambiguity.
- Ordinary active and third-person passive clauses generally use meN-...-i and di-...-i; commands and certain pronoun passives expose the bare suffixed form.
- Verify each derivative as a whole Malaysian word because formal transparency does not guarantee lexical currency.
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
- -i: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how Malaysian Malay -i verbs promote a location, goal, recipient, or other target to direct-object status.
- -i: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register in Malaysian MalayB2 — Use Malaysian Malay -i verbs with the right object pattern, lexical family, and level of formality.
- -kan: Formation and Allomorphy in Malaysian MalayA2 — Form Malaysian Malay -kan verbs with solid spelling, an intact base, and the correct double k at a root boundary.
- meN- Actor Voice: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA1 — Form Malaysian Malay meN- actor-voice verbs, recognize their nasal shapes, and use them to organize a clause around its actor rather than its time.
- di- Passive: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA1 — Form the Malaysian Malay di- passive by placing the affected subject first, attaching di- to the verb, and optionally adding a third-person agent.