The best generalization about -i is not an English translation but an object-mapping tendency: the suffix commonly makes a location, goal, recipient, or affected target the direct object. What moves, is sent, or is applied may appear as another noun phrase or in a dengan phrase. This explains why related -i and -kan verbs can describe the same real-world event while placing different participants immediately after the verb.
This page develops that semantic network. The formation page handles spelling and prefix layers; the usage page handles full syntactic choices and register. Here, abstract -i has a hyphen, while actual Malaysian words—datangi, kirimi, tandai, hadiahi, and their prefixed forms—are written solid.
A root-family map: the target becomes the object
Four core families show how the base contributes the event and -i selects its target:
| Root family | Target promoted to object | Material or event associated with it |
|---|---|---|
| isi → isi / mengisi | a container, space, or form | contents placed in or information entered |
| datang → datangi / mendatangi | a destination, place, or affected experiencer | arrival or visitation reaches that target |
| kirim → kirimi / mengirimi | a recipient | an item or message is sent to that recipient |
| tanda → tandai / menandai | a surface, item, or event interpreted as a target | a physical mark, record, or symbolic significance is attached |
The semantic diagram is therefore:
ISI “contents” → ISI ruang itu “fill that space” → the container is the object
DATANG “come” → DATANGI tempat itu “come to/visit that place” → the goal is the object
KIRIM “send” → KIRIMI orang itu sesuatu “send that person something” → the recipient is the first object
TANDA “mark” → TANDAI benda itu “mark that thing” → the marked target is the object
Isi tangki itu dengan air bersih sebelum pam dihidupkan.
Fill that tank with clean water before the pump is switched on.
Pegawai kebajikan mendatangi rumah keluarga itu selepas menerima laporan.
A welfare officer visited the family's home after receiving a report.
Saya mengirimi ibu beberapa keping gambar daripada majlis itu.
I sent Mother several photographs from the event.
Petugas menandai setiap kotak dengan kod warna yang berbeza.
The staff member marked each box with a different colour code.
Each full sentence identifies both the event and the selected target. No single English suffix links fill, visit, send, and mark; the shared Malay structure lies in how the target is packaged as the object.
Locative and goal readings
With motion or approach bases, -i can turn a goal that would otherwise appear in a prepositional phrase into the direct object. Compare simple datang ke pejabat “come to the office” with transitive mendatangi pejabat “visit/come to the office.” The longer verb often suggests a deliberate visit, official approach, inspection, or an event reaching someone.
Polis mendatangi premis itu pada lewat malam untuk menjalankan pemeriksaan.
The police went to the premises late at night to carry out an inspection.
Sejak pagi, rumahnya didatangi saudara-mara dan jiran tetangga.
Since morning, his house has been visited by relatives and neighbours.
The goal premis itu or rumahnya is not introduced by ke because the -i verb already selects it as its object. This is a structural difference, not simply a more formal way to spell datang ke.
A related lexical extension treats a person as the locus reached by an experience or affliction:
Dia didatangi perasaan ragu-ragu sebaik sahaja membaca syarat kontrak itu.
Doubt came over him as soon as he read the contract terms.
Here dia is the experiencer affected by the arrival of rasa ragu-ragu. The location-like logic survives metaphorically: the feeling reaches the person.
Recipients as direct objects
With transfer bases, -i commonly promotes the recipient. Mengirimi ayah sepucuk surat places ayah directly after the verb, while the sent theme sepucuk surat follows. A corresponding -kan construction commonly promotes the thing sent and introduces the recipient with kepada: mengirimkan sepucuk surat kepada ayah.
Nadia mengirimi setiap peserta pautan mesyuarat melalui e-mel.
Nadia sent every participant the meeting link by email.
Nadia mengirimkan pautan mesyuarat kepada setiap peserta melalui e-mel.
Nadia sent the meeting link to every participant by email.
The two clauses describe essentially the same transfer. Their immediate objects differ:
- mengirimi [setiap peserta] [pautan mesyuarat]: recipient first;
- mengirimkan [pautan mesyuarat] [kepada setiap peserta]: theme first.
Menghadiahi shows the same recipient-oriented pattern.
Kelab itu menghadiahi pemenang sebuah komputer riba.
The club presented the winner with a laptop.
Kelab itu menghadiahkan sebuah komputer riba kepada pemenang.
The club gave a laptop to the winner as a prize.
English has both a double-object construction (gave the winner a laptop) and a to-phrase (gave a laptop to the winner), which makes this contrast somewhat familiar. The crucial difference is that Malay marks the mapping on the verb as well as in the noun-phrase order.
Affected targets and surfaces
With tanda, the direct object is what receives or bears the mark. The mark itself can appear in a dengan phrase.
Tandai pintu itu dengan tanda pangkah merah.
Mark that door with a red cross.
The same verb has dictionary-established extensions such as “record” and “recognize from signs.” A physical surface is no longer necessary, but the object remains the item being recorded or identified.
Pukul lapan tepat, guru kelas mula menandai kedatangan murid dalam buku daftar.
At exactly eight o'clock, the class teacher began recording the pupils' attendance in the register.
Malaysian usage also requires care at the boundary with menandakan. For the broad sense “indicate; signify,” menandakan is normally the safer standard choice: Peningkatan suhu badan boleh menandakan jangkitan “A rise in body temperature can indicate an infection.” The existence of menandai does not make the two derivatives interchangeable in every context.
This polysemy comes from the root tanda, not from separate meanings “hidden” inside the suffix. -i supplies a target-oriented transitive frame; the lexical family supplies the notions of applying a mark, recording, and recognizing.
Repeated or distributed application
Some -i verbs can portray an action as repeatedly or distributively affecting a target. Memukuli conventionally means striking someone or something repeatedly, in contrast with a single neutral memukul event. In menanami kebun dengan pokok durian, plants are distributed over the garden as the affected location.
Mereka menanami kawasan lapang itu dengan pokok teduhan.
They planted shade trees throughout the open area.
Suspek didakwa memukuli mangsa berulang kali.
The suspect was charged with repeatedly hitting the victim.
Repetition is not the meaning of -i in every word. Mengirimi can refer to one letter, and mendatangi can refer to one visit. The repeated reading emerges with particular lexical bases and contexts where an action can be applied multiple times or across a surface.
Polysemy and lexical conditioning
The same object-mapping schema supports multiple conventional readings, but dictionaries still matter. Mendatangi can mean visit, approach for an official act, befall, or afflict. Menandai can mean put a mark on, record, or recognize from signs, while the related menandakan commonly carries “indicate; signify.” These readings cannot all be generated merely by replacing an English preposition with -i.
This is why a learner cannot take an arbitrary English verb followed by to and manufacture a Malay -i verb. English prepositions reflect English lexical choices; Malay valency follows Malay event structure. The nearest English word may obscure which Malay participant is treated as the target.
Register varies by family. Mendatangi premis is common in reports and official narration (formal), while everyday conversation (informal) often prefers datang ke kedai or pergi ke rumahnya. Menandai is neutral in instructions and formal description. Mengirimi is grammatical and dictionary-established, though many speakers also choose menghantar ... kepada ... in ordinary conversation.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping a goal preposition before the direct object of mendatangi.
❌ Pegawai itu mendatangi ke premis tersebut.
Incorrect — mendatangi already makes the goal its direct object.
✅ Pegawai itu mendatangi premis tersebut.
The officer visited the premises.
2. Treating the sent item as the first object of mengirimi.
❌ Saya mengirimi sepucuk surat kepada ayah.
Mismatched mapping — use mengirimkan for a theme-first kepada construction.
✅ Saya mengirimi ayah sepucuk surat.
I sent Father a letter.
3. Treating -i as a fixed marker of repetition.
❌ Mengirimi mesti bermaksud mengirim berkali-kali.
Incorrect claim — mengirimi can describe a single transfer to a recipient.
✅ Saya mengirimi ibu sekeping gambar semalam.
I sent Mother one photograph yesterday.
4. Assigning one English translation to every -i derivative.
❌ Semua kata kerja berakhiran -i boleh diterjemahkan dengan kata kerja bahasa Inggeris yang diikuti 'to'.
Incorrect claim — English lexicalization does not determine Malay object structure.
✅ Makna kata dasar dan sasaran perbuatan menentukan tafsiran kata kerja berakhiran -i.
The base meaning and the target of the action determine the interpretation of an -i verb.
Key Takeaways
- -i commonly makes a location, goal, recipient, or affected target the direct object.
- Mendatangi selects the destination directly; mengirimi and menghadiahi place the recipient before the transferred item.
- Menandai extends from physical marking to recording and signaling because the root family is polysemous.
- Repeated or distributed application is real with selected verbs such as memukuli and menanami, but it is not universal.
- Predict object mapping from Malay event structure, then verify the whole lexical family; do not assign one English translation to every -i word.
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Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- -i: Formation and Allomorphy in Malaysian MalayB2 — Form Malaysian Malay -i verbs with an unchanged base, solid spelling, and the prefix patterns required by clause type.
- -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: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayC1 — Understand how Malaysian Malay -kan adds or promotes a causer, beneficiary, moved theme, or caused result.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Subjects, Objects, and Argument Order in Malaysian MalayB2 — Identify actors, target objects, secondary participants, passive subjects, and pronoun order in Malaysian Malay -i applicative clauses.
- Verb Reduplication for Repeated Action in Malaysian MalayA2 — Use verb reduplication to present an action as iterative, extended, casual, or attenuated rather than merely count completed events.