The root kata ranges from the noun “word” to an entire network for reporting speech. Berkata presents someone performing a speech act, often followed by a quotation or an addressee; mengatakan presents the message as its object, commonly through a clause with bahawa; and dikatakan lets the report circulate without naming its source. The family therefore connects lexical words, spoken remarks, propositions, and evidential distance.
Malay does not simply choose one translation for every English use of say, tell, and word. The complement after the form—an addressee, a quotation, or reported content—helps determine the natural member of the family.
Family and complement patterns
| Form | Typical frame | Core use | Register |
|---|---|---|---|
| kata | kata + modifier / compound | word, expression | neutral; technical in grammatical compounds |
| berkata | berkata kepada X / “quotation” | perform a speech act | neutral, common in narrative and news |
| mengatakan | mengatakan bahawa + clause | state or say content | neutral/formal |
| dikatakan | dikatakan bahawa + clause | it is said; be described as | formal, reportive |
| perkataan | perkataan + modifier | a word, wording, utterance | neutral |
| kata-kata | kata-kata + modifier | words, remarks, saying | neutral/literary |
| katanya | quotation, katanya / katanya + clause | he/she said; according to him/her | neutral reportive |
None of these verbs changes with person or tense:
| Time | Malay | Time marker |
|---|---|---|
| past | semalam beliau mengatakan perkara yang sama | semalam |
| ongoing | beliau sedang mengatakan sesuatu | sedang |
| future | beliau akan mengatakan perkara yang sama | akan |
Mengatakan is an active transitive form, not an infinitive or a past-tense form. Aspect and time remain in separate words.
Kata, perkataan, and kata-kata
As a noun, kata means “word” and forms grammatical terms such as kata nama “noun,” kata kerja “verb,” and kata adjektif “adjective.” It also occurs in established combinations such as kata kunci “keyword” and kata putus “final decision.”
Pensyarah itu meminta kami mengenal pasti kata kunci dalam setiap perenggan.
The lecturer asked us to identify the keywords in each paragraph.
Perkataan commonly refers to an individual word, its form, or wording in actual use. The boundary between kata and perkataan is not perfectly mechanical; both can translate English word, and conventional combinations must be learned.
Saya tidak faham perkataan terakhir dalam mesej itu.
I don't understand the last word in that message.
Reduplicated kata-kata means words or remarks viewed collectively and can carry emotional or literary weight. It is written with a hyphen.
Kata-kata nenek masih terngiang-ngiang di telinga saya.
Grandmother's words still echo in my ears. (literary)
Dia meminta maaf atas kata-katanya yang menyinggung perasaan orang lain.
He apologized for his words that hurt other people's feelings.
The attached -nya in kata-katanya marks a third-person possessor. This nominal use differs from the reportive katanya discussed below, although both historically contain kata + -nya.
Berkata: foregrounding the act of speaking
Berkata is generally intransitive. It presents someone speaking and introduces an addressee with kepada. A direct quotation can follow without a conjunction.
Sebelum pulang, Amir berkata kepada saya bahawa dia akan menelefon esok.
Before leaving, Amir told me that he would call tomorrow.
Ibu berkata, “Jangan tunggu kami untuk makan malam.”
Mother said, ‘Don't wait for us for dinner.’
Ketua kampung berkata dengan tenang walaupun orang ramai mula gelisah.
The village head spoke calmly even though the crowd was becoming anxious.
The addressee is not normally a bare direct object: berkata kepada saya, not berkata saya for “said to me.” See direct quotation for punctuation and the placement of reporting clauses.
In everyday conversation, bare cakap is often more spontaneous than berkata. Berkata is especially common in narrative, journalism, and deliberate recounting; this is a register preference rather than an absolute ban on conversation.
Mengatakan: foregrounding the message
Transitive mengatakan selects the stated content. A noun phrase may serve as its object, but a proposition is very often introduced with bahawa in careful prose.
Doktor mengatakan bahawa keputusan ujian itu tidak membimbangkan.
The doctor said that the test result was not worrying.
Saksi itu mengatakan perkara yang sama kepada pihak polis.
The witness said the same thing to the police.
Pengurus mengatakan mesyuarat petang ini terpaksa ditangguhkan.
The manager said that this afternoon's meeting had to be postponed. (neutral speech)
Omitting bahawa is common when the boundary is clear, especially in speech and less formal writing. In a dense official or academic sentence, bahawa makes the reported proposition explicit. The choice is not tense agreement: Malay does not backshift the verb mechanically as English often does.
Dikatakan: passive report and distance from the source
Dikatakan is written solid because di- is a verbal passive prefix. It can mean that something is described in a particular way or that an unspecified source makes a claim.
Bangunan itu dikatakan sebagai salah sebuah rumah kedai tertua di bandar ini.
The building is described as one of the oldest shophouses in this town. (formal)
Dikatakan bahawa terowong tersebut pernah digunakan semasa perang.
It is said that the tunnel was once used during the war. (reportive)
The second construction creates evidential distance: the writer reports circulation of the claim without endorsing it or identifying a speaker. It should not be used to disguise a source when responsible academic or journalistic writing requires attribution.
Katanya: compact attribution
Reportive katanya commonly follows a quotation or introduces a summarized claim. It means “he/she said” or “according to him/her”; gender and identity come from context.
“Kami sudah bersedia untuk berpindah,” katanya sambil menutup fail.
‘We're ready to move,’ she said as she closed the file.
Katanya, bekalan air akan pulih sebelum tengah malam.
According to him, the water supply will be restored before midnight.
Because Malay -nya does not mark gender, English translation must infer he or she from context. Katanya can also distance the current narrator from the reported information, but it still points to a contextually recoverable source more readily than impersonal dikatakan.
Common Mistakes
1. Giving berkata a bare addressee
❌ Dia berkata saya supaya menunggu di luar.
Incorrect for ‘said to me’—berkata introduces its addressee with kepada.
✅ Dia berkata kepada saya supaya menunggu di luar.
She told me to wait outside.
2. Treating mengatakan as an infinitive
❌ Mereka mahu mengatakaned perkara sebenar semalam.
Incorrect—Malay does not add an English past-tense ending.
✅ Mereka mahu mengatakan perkara sebenar semalam.
They wanted to state the truth yesterday.
3. Splitting passive di-
❌ Pulau itu di katakan tidak berpenghuni.
Incorrect—the verbal passive prefix di- is attached.
✅ Pulau itu dikatakan tidak berpenghuni.
The island is said to be uninhabited.
4. Writing reduplication without a hyphen
❌ Kata kata itu membuatnya tersenyum semula.
Incorrect spelling—full-word reduplication takes a hyphen.
✅ Kata-kata itu membuatnya tersenyum semula.
Those words made her smile again.
5. Assuming katanya encodes a male speaker
❌ Katanya hanya boleh bermaksud ‘he said’.
Incorrect—Malay -nya does not distinguish masculine and feminine.
✅ “Saya akan datang awal,” katanya kepada kami.
‘I will come early,’ he or she said to us.
Key Takeaways
Use noun kata in lexical and technical combinations, perkataan for an individual word or wording, and kata-kata for collective remarks. Berkata foregrounds a speech act and adds an addressee with kepada; mengatakan foregrounds reported content; dikatakan creates a passive or impersonal report; and katanya compactly attributes information to a contextually known speaker.
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