The lihat family organizes visual experience around either the perceiver or what is visible. Bare lihat appears in commands and conversation, active melihat selects the person seeing as subject, and passive dilihat centers the viewed object or analytical viewpoint. Terlihat can mark accidental sight or visibility, while Malaysian kelihatan commonly means look, seem, or be visible. Penglihatan names the faculty or field of sight.
English see, look, watch, appear, and vision overlap with this network but do not map form for form. General derivation belongs to the voice system; this page focuses on established valency and Malaysian usage.
Family map
| Form | Usual frame | Core use |
|---|---|---|
| lihat | lihat + stimulus | look/see; command or informal predicate |
| melihat | perceiver + melihat + stimulus/content | see, look at, examine |
| dilihat | stimulus/issue + dilihat (+ oleh perceiver/dari viewpoint) | be seen; be viewed from a perspective |
| terlihat | stimulus/experiencer + terlihat | become visible; happen to see; appear in some styles |
| kelihatan | entity + kelihatan (+ property) | look/seem, be visible |
| penglihatan | noun | sight, vision, field/faculty of vision |
| pemandangan | lexically related noun | view, scenery |
Pemandangan belongs to pandang, not lihat, but English view makes learners confuse it with penglihatan. One is scenery or a visible scene; the other is the capacity or act of sight.
No person or tense conjugation
| Context | Malay pattern | Meaning source |
|---|---|---|
| habit | Saya melihat burung itu setiap hari. | setiap hari |
| past | Dia melihat kereta itu semalam. | semalam |
| plural progressive | Mereka sedang melihat pelan bangunan. | sedang |
| future | Kami akan melihat rumah itu esok. | akan + esok |
Saya melihat burung-burung itu dari tingkap dapur setiap pagi.
I see those birds from the kitchen window every morning.
Mereka sedang melihat pelan bangunan sebelum memasuki tapak projek.
They are looking at the building plans before entering the project site.
Melihat does not gain endings equivalent to sees or saw. Aspect and time remain separate: sudah melihat, sedang melihat, akan melihat.
Bare lihat in commands and informal speech
The root is natural when directing someone's visual attention.
Lihat ini; nombor pada resit tidak sama dengan nombor pesanan.
Look at this; the number on the receipt is not the same as the order number.
Cuba lihat sama ada pintu belakang sudah dikunci.
Check whether the back door has been locked.
Subject-first Saya dah lihat is ordinary (informal) Malaysian speech. Neutral edited prose normally uses Saya sudah melihatnya. The attached -nya in melihatnya refers to the thing seen; it does not mark tense or agreement.
Saya sudah melihatnya, tetapi saya masih memerlukan salinan asal.
I have seen it, but I still need the original copy.
Bare lihat is not an infinitive selected because English says to see. It is licensed by commands, certain markers, and conversational register.
melihat: perception, inspection, and witnessing
Melihat can report simple visual perception, deliberate inspection, or witnessing an event.
Saya melihat asap keluar dari tingkat atas bangunan itu.
I saw smoke coming from the upper floor of that building.
Doktor melihat keputusan ujian itu sebelum mencadangkan rawatan lanjut.
The doctor looked at the test results before suggesting further treatment.
Beberapa orang saksi melihat kereta itu meninggalkan tempat kejadian.
Several witnesses saw the car leave the scene.
The following participant can be understood as actor of a perceived event: melihat kereta itu meninggalkan.... Malay does not require an infinitive form corresponding to English leave.
Melihat bahawa + clause occurs in formal reasoning with the meaning recognize/observe that.
Daripada data ini, kita dapat melihat bahawa kadar penggunaan meningkat selepas bulan Jun.
From these data, we can see that usage rates increased after June. (academic)
dilihat: passive seeing and analytical viewpoint
Passive dilihat makes the viewed entity or issue the subject. The perceiver can follow oleh, while dari sudut/perspektif introduces a viewpoint.
Kejadian itu dilihat oleh beberapa orang pekerja dari bangunan sebelah.
The incident was seen by several workers from the neighboring building.
Masalah ini perlu dilihat dari sudut keselamatan, bukan kos semata-mata.
This problem needs to be viewed from a safety perspective, not solely in terms of cost. (formal)
The second is metaphorical analytical viewing. Write passive dilihat solid; locative di luar or di pejabat keeps di separate.
With first- or second-person actors, object voice can place the viewed item first: Gambar itu saya lihat semalam. The object-voice page covers the wider pattern.
terlihat: caught sight of or visible
Terlihat can present an unplanned visual encounter or something becoming visible.
Saya terlihat seekor rusa ketika melalui jalan hutan itu.
I happened to see a deer while traveling along that forest road.
Dari atas bukit, beberapa buah pulau kecil terlihat di kaki langit.
From the hilltop, several small islands were visible on the horizon. (careful/literary)
The form is standard and encountered in formal or literary writing, but contemporary Malaysian speech often prefers ternampak for “happened to see” and kelihatan for “was visible/appeared.” Register and collocation matter.
The phrase terlihat mudah occurs in wider Malay writing for “looks easy,” but Malaysian prose more naturally uses kelihatan mudah in many contexts.
Tugas itu terlihat mudah pada mulanya, tetapi memerlukan banyak ketelitian.
The task looked easy at first but required great care. (formal/cross-regional)
Tugas itu kelihatan mudah, tetapi arahan sebenarnya agak rumit.
The task looks easy, but the instructions are actually rather complicated. (neutral Malaysian)
kelihatan: appearance and visibility
Kelihatan can take an adjective or state that something is visible.
Dia kelihatan letih selepas memandu sepanjang malam.
She looks tired after driving all night.
Tulisan pada papan tanda itu tidak kelihatan dari jalan utama.
The writing on the sign is not visible from the main road.
Appearance is not proof. Dia kelihatan marah reports how she appears, not certain knowledge of her emotion. This inferential restraint is part of the lexical meaning.
penglihatan and nearby nouns
Penglihatan names eyesight, visual capacity, field of vision, or the act of seeing in formal contexts.
Penglihatannya semakin kabur dan dia perlu menjalani pemeriksaan mata.
His vision is becoming increasingly blurred, and he needs an eye examination.
Pokok besar itu menghalang penglihatan pemandu di simpang tersebut.
That large tree obstructs drivers' view at the junction.
Use pemandangan for scenery: pemandangan laut yang indah. Use pandangan for a view/opinion or line of sight in selected collocations. These lexical nouns are not freely generated synonyms.
Common Mistakes
1. Using melihat for the stimulus as subject
❌ Pulau kecil itu melihat dari atas bukit.
Incorrect roles—the island is visible; it is not the perceiver.
✅ Pulau kecil itu kelihatan dari atas bukit pada waktu pagi.
The small island is visible from the hilltop in the morning.
2. Using the active perceiver form for appearance
❌ Dia melihat letih selepas syif malam.
Incorrect roles—melihat makes the subject a perceiver, not someone who appears tired.
✅ Dia kelihatan letih selepas syif malam yang panjang.
She looks tired after the long night shift.
3. Separating passive di-
❌ Kejadian itu di lihat oleh beberapa orang saksi.
Incorrect spelling—the passive prefix is attached.
✅ Kejadian itu dilihat oleh beberapa orang saksi di luar kedai.
The incident was seen by several witnesses outside the shop.
4. Confusing vision with scenery
❌ Penglihatan dari bilik hotel itu sangat indah.
Wrong noun for scenery or outlook—penglihatan is the faculty/field of sight.
✅ Pemandangan dari bilik hotel itu sangat indah pada waktu senja.
The view from the hotel room is very beautiful at dusk.
5. Adding kepada after melihat
❌ Kami melihat kepada keputusan ujian itu.
Incorrect ordinary valency—melihat takes the viewed object directly.
✅ Kami melihat keputusan ujian itu sebelum membuat keputusan.
We looked at the test results before making a decision.
Key Takeaways
Use bare lihat in commands and informal patterns, active melihat when the perceiver is subject, and passive dilihat when the viewed item or analytical perspective is central. Terlihat can mark accidental sight or visibility, but ternampak and kelihatan are often more idiomatic Malaysian defaults. Penglihatan means vision, not scenery. None of these forms conjugates for person or tense.
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