The tidur family distinguishes the state of sleeping from entering that state and causing somebody else to enter it. Bare tidur means “sleep” or “be asleep”; tertidur commonly marks falling asleep, often unintentionally; menidurkan means to put somebody to sleep; and ditidurkan is its passive. Ketiduran covers accidentally falling asleep or sleeping too long, while tempat tidur is a sleeping place or bed.
For the broader accidental and resultative system beyond this family, see the meanings of ter-.
This page concentrates on the meanings and argument patterns of the tidur family. The productive rules for ter-, -kan, and ke-...-an belong to Word Formation; see ter- formation, -kan meanings, and ke-...-an meanings.
No person or tense conjugation
| Frame | Present/general | Past context | Future context |
|---|---|---|---|
| sleeping state/activity | Saya tidur di sini. | Semalam saya tidur di sini. | Malam esok saya akan tidur di sini. |
| onset/unintentional sleep | Anak itu tertidur. | Anak itu sudah tertidur. | Anak itu mungkin akan tertidur. |
| cause to sleep | Ibu menidurkan bayi. | Ibu telah menidurkan bayi. | Ibu akan menidurkan bayi. |
| passive causation | Pesakit ditidurkan. | Pesakit sudah ditidurkan. | Pesakit akan ditidurkan. |
Malay does not change tidur for person or tense. Separate words and context do that work. Consequently, tidur is not an infinitive: it can be a complete predicate in Adik tidur.
Tidur: sleep or be asleep
Tidur is normally intransitive. Its subject is the sleeper; place, time, duration, and manner appear in separate phrases.
Saya tidur awal malam ini kerana perlu bertolak sebelum subuh.
I'm going to bed early tonight because I need to leave before dawn.
Adik masih tidur walaupun langsir sudah dibuka.
My younger sibling is still asleep even though the curtains have been opened.
Kami tidur di rumah saudara semasa menghadiri kenduri di Melaka.
We slept at a relative's house while attending a feast in Melaka.
Selepas syif malam, jururawat itu tidur selama enam jam tanpa terjaga.
After the night shift, the nurse slept for six hours without waking.
English distinguishes sleep, be asleep, and go to bed. Malay often uses tidur across those readings, with time words providing the intended phase. Pergi tidur explicitly means “go to bed,” while sudah tidur can mean “has gone to sleep” or “is already asleep.”
Tertidur: fall asleep, be asleep, or doze off
Tertidur commonly presents the onset or resulting state of sleep. The ter- form often carries an unplanned reading, but context can simply emphasize that someone has reached the sleeping state.
Anak itu tertidur di sofa sambil menunggu ayahnya pulang.
The child fell asleep on the sofa while waiting for his father to come home.
Saya tertidur sekejap dalam tren dan hampir terlepas stesen.
I dozed off on the train and nearly missed my station.
Apabila saya masuk ke bilik, semua orang sudah tertidur.
When I entered the room, everyone had already fallen asleep.
Do not treat ter- as a past-tense prefix. Esok dia mungkin tertidur dalam perjalanan is future-oriented, and Dia selalu tertidur ketika menonton televisyen is habitual. The prefix changes event perspective, not tense.
Menidurkan: cause or help somebody to sleep
Menidurkan is transitive. Its object is the person put to bed, soothed to sleep, or medically sedated.
Ayah menidurkan bayi itu dengan mendukungnya sambil berjalan perlahan.
The father put the baby to sleep by carrying him while walking slowly.
Kakak sedang menidurkan anaknya, jadi jangan bunyikan loceng.
My sister is putting her child to sleep, so don't ring the bell.
Pakar bius akan menidurkan pesakit sebelum pembedahan bermula.
The anaesthetist will put the patient under before the operation begins. (medical)
The object separates this causative verb from intransitive tidur: Ibu tidur means the mother sleeps; Ibu menidurkan bayi means the mother causes or helps the baby to sleep. Tidurkan bayi is the corresponding command or root-based object-voice form.
Bayi itu saya tidurkan lebih awal kerana dia kelihatan letih.
I put the baby to bed earlier because she looked tired.
Ditidurkan: put to sleep or sedated
Ditidurkan foregrounds the person affected and may omit the causer. With children it usually means being put to bed or soothed to sleep. In medical reporting it often means being sedated or placed under anaesthesia (medical/formal); the surrounding context must specify the procedure.
Kanak-kanak itu ditidurkan di bilik sebelah selepas makan ubat.
The child was put to bed in the next room after taking the medicine.
Pesakit ditidurkan sepenuhnya sepanjang prosedur tersebut.
The patient was kept fully anaesthetized throughout the procedure. (medical)
Anak patung kesayangannya turut ditidurkan di sebelah bantal.
Her favourite doll was also put to bed beside the pillow.
Passive di- attaches in ditidurkan. Locative di bilik stays separate: Bayi ditidurkan di bilik belakang.
Ketiduran: accidental sleep or sleeping too long
Ketiduran is recorded in Malaysian dictionaries with two closely related verbal meanings: falling asleep unintentionally and sleeping too long. It is therefore legitimate Malaysian Malay, although many speakers now prefer tertidur for an accidental doze and terlewat bangun for oversleeping; ketiduran is especially familiar in Indonesian usage. When it is used, a consequence often makes the intended reading clear.
Saya ketiduran dalam bas lalu terpaksa turun di hentian berikutnya.
I accidentally fell asleep on the bus and had to get off at the next stop.
Kami ketiduran sehingga tidak mendengar jam loceng berbunyi.
We overslept and did not hear the alarm clock ring. (dictionary-attested; less usual in current Malaysian conversation)
Maaf saya lambat; saya terlewat bangun selepas mematikan penggera.
Sorry I'm late; I woke up late after switching off the alarm.
Tertidur is broader for “fell asleep,” while ketiduran readily highlights that the sleep was unintended or lasted too long. If precise formal wording matters, say tertidur tanpa sengaja “fell asleep unintentionally” or terlewat bangun “woke up late.”
The older noun sense of ketiduran, “sleeping place,” is not the normal modern choice; use tempat tidur.
Tempat tidur and related compounds
Tempat tidur literally names a place for sleeping and often corresponds to “bed.” Bilik tidur is a bedroom, waktu tidur is bedtime or sleeping time, and ubat tidur is sleeping medicine. These are multiword compounds under standard Rumi.
Asrama itu menyediakan tempat tidur untuk dua puluh orang pelajar.
The hostel provides sleeping places for twenty students.
Telefon bimbit perlu diletakkan di luar bilik tidur pada waktu malam.
Mobile phones must be left outside the bedroom at night.
One nearby derivative needs care: meniduri is not the ordinary way to say “sleep on” a bed. In modern usage it can mean having sexual relations with someone (formal/euphemistic, semantically sensitive). For ordinary sleep, use tidur di atas katil.
Common Mistakes
1. Using the causative for one's own sleep
❌ Saya menidurkan awal setiap malam.
Incorrect—menidurkan requires someone or something caused to sleep.
✅ Saya tidur awal setiap malam supaya mudah bangun pagi.
I sleep early every night so that I can wake easily in the morning.
2. Giving intransitive tidur a direct sleeper object
❌ Ibu tidur bayi selepas menyusukannya.
Incorrect—use the causative menidurkan when the baby is the object.
✅ Ibu menidurkan bayi selepas menyusukannya.
The mother put the baby to sleep after feeding her.
3. Treating tertidur as past tense
❌ Saya ter- tidur semalam kerana ter- bermaksud masa lalu.
Incorrect analysis—ter- is not a past-tense marker, and actual derivatives are written solid.
✅ Saya tertidur semalam kerana terlalu letih.
I fell asleep yesterday because I was too tired.
4. Separating passive di-
❌ Pesakit itu di tidurkan sebelum pembedahan.
Incorrect spacing—the passive form ditidurkan is one word.
✅ Pesakit itu ditidurkan sebelum pembedahan kecemasan.
The patient was anaesthetized before the emergency operation. (medical)
5. Adding an English past ending
❌ Mereka tidured di ruang tamu malam tadi.
Incorrect—tidur does not take an English past ending.
✅ Mereka tidur di ruang tamu malam tadi kerana bilik tetamu sedang dibaiki.
They slept in the living room last night because the guest room was being repaired.
Key Takeaways
Use tidur for the state or activity of sleeping and tertidur for entering that state, often accidentally. Menidurkan adds a causer and a sleeper object; ditidurkan foregrounds that sleeper and can have a medical sedation reading. Ketiduran marks unintended or excessive sleep, while modern tempat tidur names a sleeping place or bed. None of these forms carries person or tense agreement.
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
- Past, Present, and Future Reference in Malaysian MalayA1 — Locate unchanged Malay verb phrases in time through adverbials, context, event sequence, and optional aspect markers.
- ter-: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayC1 — Connect accidental events, resulting states, potential readings, and superlatives through ter-'s shared focus on low control or a prominent endpoint.
- -kan: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayC1 — Understand how Malaysian Malay -kan adds or promotes a causer, beneficiary, moved theme, or caused result.
- Bare Verbal Roots: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA1 — Recognize full unaffixed predicates in activities, colloquial transitives, imperatives, serial environments, and category-flexible roots.
- 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.
- Writing di and ke: Prefix or Preposition in Malaysian MalayA1 — Distinguish attached di- and ke- prefixes from the separate location and direction prepositions di and ke.