kirim, mengirimkan, and mengirimi: Verb Family and Usage in Malaysian Malay | Malay Grammar

The kirim family describes sending by organizing two participants: the item sent, called the theme, and the person or destination receiving it. Mengirim/mengirimkan normally make the theme the direct object and introduce the recipient with kepada, while mengirimi makes the recipient the direct object. The passive dikirimi therefore foregrounds a recipient, not the parcel or message. The wider alignment pattern is compared under -kan versus -i valency.

In contemporary Malaysian conversation, hantar/menghantar is often the everyday default for physically sending or delivering people, parcels, and messages. The kirim family remains standard and is particularly established in kirim salam, kiriman wang, correspondence, and more formal or literary styles. Register preference does not erase the useful -kan/-i contrast.

Forms and participant alignment

Form	Typical frame	Primary object	Register
kirim	kirim + theme / kirim salam kepada X	item/message	neutral in requests and fixed phrases; less formal as a bare verb
mengirim	mengirim + theme kepada recipient	item/message	neutral/formal
mengirimkan	mengirimkan + theme kepada recipient	item/message	neutral/formal
mengirimi	mengirimi + recipient + theme	recipient	standard, less frequent in everyday Malaysian speech
dikirimi	recipient + dikirimi + theme	recipient in passive voice	standard, relatively formal
kiriman	kiriman + type/source	consignment, remittance, something sent	neutral
pengiriman	pengiriman + theme	process of dispatch/sending	formal/technical

There is no agreement or tense inflection:

Subject/time	Malay	Time marker
I, past	semalam saya mengirimkan borang itu	semalam
she, completed	dia sudah mengirimkan mesej	sudah
they, future	mereka akan mengirimkan dokumen	akan

The form mengirimkan remains the same. Its suffix concerns valency, not completion or future time.

Kirim and mengirim

Root kirim is natural in a concise request or established expression. Kirim salam means to send greetings through an intermediary.

Tolong kirim salam kepada Mak Cik Salmah apabila awak menemuinya.

Please send my regards to Auntie Salmah when you see her.

Boleh kirim gambar resit itu kepada saya petang ini?

Could you send me a picture of that receipt this afternoon? (informal request)

Active mengirim takes the item or message sent as a direct object. A recipient or destination follows kepada or another appropriate directional phrase.

Pihak sekolah mengirim surat kepada ibu bapa setiap murid.

The school sent a letter to every pupil's parents.

Nenek mengirim salam dari Kota Bharu kepada kami semua.

Grandmother sent greetings from Kota Bharu to all of us.

With an ordinary parcel or instant message, many Malaysian speakers would choose menghantar. Use mengirim naturally where its conventional style or collocation fits rather than treating it as the only dictionary equivalent of send.

Mengirimkan: the sent theme is central

Mengirimkan also makes the item sent its direct object. It is common when the successful transfer or dispatch of a document, message, file, or remittance is foregrounded.

Amir mengirimkan surat kepada Rina melalui pos berdaftar.

Amir sent a letter to Rina by registered post.

Sila kirimkan dokumen sokongan kepada urus setia sebelum hari Jumaat.

Please send the supporting documents to the secretariat before Friday. (formal)

Kami telah mengirimkan pautan mesyuarat kepada semua peserta.

We have sent the meeting link to all participants.

Mengirim and mengirimkan overlap. The suffixed form more explicitly packages the caused transfer toward its endpoint, but actual choice is also lexical and stylistic. There is no honest rule that predicts every occurrence from English alone.

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In the dependable -kan frame, put the item after the verb and mark the recipient with kepada: mengirimkan surat kepada Rina.

Mengirimi and dikirimi: the recipient is central

With mengirimi, the recipient is the direct object; the theme follows it without kepada. This frame is standard but less common than equivalent menghantar or mengirimkan ... kepada ... constructions in everyday Malaysian conversation.

Amir mengirimi Rina surat setiap bulan ketika belajar di luar negara.

Amir sent Rina a letter every month while studying abroad.

Syarikat itu mengirimi semua pelanggan notis pembaharuan.

The company sent all customers a renewal notice. (formal)

Recipient-passive dikirimi keeps that alignment: the person receiving something becomes the subject.

Rina dikirimi surat oleh Amir pada awal setiap bulan.

Rina was sent a letter by Amir at the beginning of every month.

Kami dikirimi beberapa sampel percuma untuk diuji.

We were sent several free samples to test.

By contrast, a theme-centered passive is Surat itu dikirimkan kepada Rina. This is why suffix choice matters: it determines which transfer participant can most directly become the passive subject.

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Use a two-question test: “What was sent?” favors mengirimkan theme kepada recipient; “Who was sent something?” favors mengirimi recipient theme or passive recipient dikirimi theme.

Kiriman and pengiriman

Kiriman commonly denotes what has been sent: a consignment, parcel, remittance, contribution, or message. Its exact sense comes from the compound.

Kiriman wang daripada anaknya tiba sebelum sambutan Hari Raya.

The remittance from her child arrived before the Hari Raya celebration.

Ruangan itu menyiarkan kiriman pembaca tentang sejarah kampung mereka.

The column published readers' submissions about their village history.

Pengiriman nominalizes the process of dispatch or sending. It is formal or technical, and Malaysian logistics language often uses penghantaran instead. Choose according to established organizational terminology.

Pengiriman dokumen sulit mesti direkodkan oleh pegawai bertugas.

The dispatch of confidential documents must be recorded by the duty officer. (formal)

The nouns are not interchangeable: kiriman is usually the sent item or contribution, whereas pengiriman is the process.

Common Mistakes

1. Putting kepada before the direct recipient of mengirimi

❌ Amir mengirimi kepada Rina sepucuk surat.

Incorrect frame—mengirimi takes the recipient directly.

✅ Amir mengirimi Rina sepucuk surat.

Amir sent Rina a letter.

2. Omitting kepada in the dependable mengirimkan frame

❌ Amir mengirimkan Rina surat itu.

Nonstandard for the theme-centered frame taught here.

✅ Amir mengirimkan surat itu kepada Rina.

Amir sent the letter to Rina.

3. Making the theme the subject of dikirimi

❌ Surat itu dikirimi kepada Rina.

Incorrect alignment—dikirimi foregrounds the recipient, not the letter.

✅ Rina dikirimi surat itu oleh Amir.

Rina was sent that letter by Amir.

4. Splitting passive di-

❌ Kami di kirimi notis pembaharuan semalam.

Incorrect—the passive prefix di- is attached.

✅ Kami dikirimi notis pembaharuan semalam.

We were sent a renewal notice yesterday.

5. Confusing sent item with sending process

❌ Pengiriman ibu saya sudah tiba di pejabat pos.

Wrong noun for the intended physical consignment.

✅ Kiriman ibu saya sudah tiba di pejabat pos.

My mother's consignment has arrived at the post office.

Key Takeaways

Use kirim naturally in requests and fixed phrases, and remember that mengirim/mengirimkan normally select the sent theme. In the clear -kan frame, say mengirimkan surat kepada Rina; recipient-centered -i gives mengirimi Rina surat, whose passive is Rina dikirimi surat. Kiriman usually names what was sent, while formal pengiriman names the process. Everyday Malaysian speech often prefers the neighboring hantar family for physical delivery.

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