The turun family is the downward counterpart of naik, but its derivatives divide several perspectives. Bare turun presents a subject descending, getting out of transport, or decreasing. Menuruni makes a downward path the direct object; menurunkan introduces an actor who lowers something; and menurun presents a downward slope or trend. Penurunan names a decrease or descent, while lexicalized keturunan names descent in the genealogical sense: lineage or descendants.
Compare the upward patterns in the naik family guide.
This page explains the lexical contrasts within the turun family. The productive formation and broader meanings of -i, -kan, and meN- belong to Word Formation; see the -i guide, -kan guide, and meN- formation.
No person or tense conjugation
| Frame | Present/general | Past context | Future context |
|---|---|---|---|
| subject descends | Saya turun dari bas. | Tadi saya turun dari bas. | Nanti saya akan turun dari bas. |
| traversed path | Kami menuruni tangga. | Kami telah menuruni tangga. | Kami akan menuruni tangga. |
| caused descent | Kedai itu menurunkan harga. | Kedai itu sudah menurunkan harga. | Kedai itu akan menurunkan harga. |
| downward trend | Permintaan menurun. | Permintaan telah menurun. | Permintaan mungkin akan menurun. |
None of the verb forms changes for person or tense. Time and aspect markers remain separate. Bare turun is a complete predicate, not an infinitive awaiting conjugation.
Turun: descend, get off, or decrease
With turun, the subject itself moves downward or becomes lower. A person can descend from a place, leave a vehicle, or come down to a lower floor; a price, temperature, or water level can decrease.
Kami turun dari bas di hadapan perpustakaan negeri.
We got off the bus in front of the state library.
Apabila lif berhenti, dia turun ke tingkat bawah untuk mengambil surat.
When the lift stopped, she went down to the lower floor to collect the mail.
Suhu turun mendadak selepas hujan lebat pada sebelah petang.
The temperature dropped suddenly after heavy rain in the afternoon.
Air sungai sudah turun, tetapi beberapa jalan masih ditutup.
The river level has gone down, but several roads are still closed.
The standard Malaysian spelling is bas, so the manifest comparison turun dari bus represents neighboring Indonesian spelling. Malaysian Malay writes turun dari bas. The preposition dari marks the physical source; ke marks the destination: turun dari tingkat lima ke tingkat tiga.
Bare turun also appears in conventional weather and activity expressions.
Hujan mula turun ketika para peniaga sedang mengemas gerai.
Rain began to fall while the traders were packing up their stalls.
Pengarah sendiri turun padang untuk meninjau kerosakan selepas ribut.
The director personally went to the site to inspect the damage after the storm. (idiomatic/formal)
Turun padang means personally go to the scene and become directly involved; it is not merely a vertical descent.
Menuruni: make the downward path the object
Menuruni is transitive. Its direct object is a path, staircase, slope, river, valley, or other extent traversed downward. It does not need ke before that object.
Para pengunjung menuruni tangga batu dengan berhati-hati selepas hujan.
The visitors went down the stone steps carefully after the rain.
Pasukan itu menuruni lereng bukit sebelum hari menjadi gelap.
The team descended the hillside before it became dark.
Bot kecil tersebut menuruni sungai menuju ke kawasan paya bakau.
The small boat travelled down the river toward the mangrove area.
Compare turun ke kaki bukit, where the phrase names a destination, with menuruni lereng bukit, where the slope itself is traversed. The difference is argument structure rather than formality alone.
The passive dituruni is possible when the route is the topic, though active menuruni is usually clearer in ordinary narrative.
Laluan curam itu jarang dituruni pendaki selepas waktu senja.
That steep trail is rarely descended by hikers after dusk.
Menurunkan: cause something to descend or become lower
Menurunkan adds a causer. Its object can be a physical item, passenger, price, rate, volume, temperature, rank, or even a selected player sent onto the field.
Pekerja gudang menurunkan kotak-kotak itu dari lori dengan bantuan troli.
The warehouse workers unloaded the boxes from the lorry with the help of a trolley.
Pemandu teksi menurunkan kami di pintu masuk utama hospital.
The taxi driver dropped us off at the hospital's main entrance.
Pasar raya itu menurunkan harga buah tempatan sepanjang minggu promosi.
The supermarket reduced the price of local fruit throughout the promotional week.
Tolong menurunkan kelantangan radio kerana bayi sedang tidur.
Please turn down the radio because the baby is sleeping.
The contrast is parallel to English fall versus lower, but Malay uses it more widely. Harga turun presents the price as changing; peniaga menurunkan harga supplies the decision-maker who causes the change.
Menurunkan also occurs in established formal or religious collocations such as transmitting inheritance to descendants and divine revelation (religious/formal). These extensions must be learned lexically; they are not predictable from literal vertical motion alone.
Menurun: slope downward or show a declining trend
Menurun can describe terrain that slopes downward, but it is especially common with quantities, quality, health, performance, and demand that decline over time. It often suggests a trend rather than one bounded act.
Jalan itu menurun dengan curam selepas selekoh kedua.
The road slopes steeply downward after the second bend.
Jualan kedai tersebut menurun selama tiga bulan berturut-turut.
The shop's sales declined for three consecutive months. (formal)
Keadaan kesihatannya semakin menurun sejak awal tahun.
Her health has been steadily declining since the beginning of the year.
Both jualan turun and jualan menurun are grammatical. Bare turun reports a decrease in a broad, everyday way; menurun more readily frames a developing tendency and is common in analytical prose.
Diturunkan and penurunan
Diturunkan is the passive counterpart of menurunkan, foregrounding what was lowered, unloaded, reduced, or passed down.
Had laju di kawasan sekolah itu diturunkan kepada 30 kilometer sejam.
The speed limit in the school zone was lowered to 30 kilometres per hour. (formal)
Barang bantuan diturunkan dari lori sebelum diagihkan kepada penduduk.
The aid supplies were unloaded from the lorry before being distributed to residents.
Passive di- attaches in diturunkan. Locative di kawasan sekolah stays separate.
Penurunan is the event noun for a descent, decrease, reduction, or unloading process. It is particularly frequent in (formal), (technical), and (academic) reporting.
Laporan itu mencatatkan penurunan kadar kemalangan sebanyak lapan peratus.
The report recorded an eight-percent decline in the accident rate. (formal)
Penurunan suhu secara tiba-tiba boleh menjejaskan tanaman muda.
A sudden drop in temperature can affect young crops. (technical)
Do not select penurunan for every English descent. The descent of climbers may be perjalanan turun or a clause with menuruni, depending on what the text foregrounds.
Keturunan: lineage and descendants
Keturunan is a lexicalized member of the family. It connects generations through the metaphor of traits and status passing downward, but in modern grammar it is a noun meaning lineage, descent, offspring, or descendants.
Keluarga itu berketurunan Jawa tetapi sudah lama menetap di Johor.
The family is of Javanese descent but has long been settled in Johor.
Ciri fizikal tertentu boleh diwarisi oleh keturunan seseorang.
Certain physical traits can be inherited by a person's descendants.
Adat itu dipelihara secara turun-temurun oleh penduduk kampung.
That custom has been preserved from generation to generation by the villagers.
Keturunan does not mean an ordinary physical decrease. Penurunan harga is a price reduction; keturunan keluarga concerns genealogy. Exact reduplication in turun-temurun takes a hyphen.
Common Mistakes
1. Using Indonesian bus in Malaysian Malay
❌ Kami turun dari bus di hadapan muzium.
Incorrect for standard Malaysian spelling—use bas.
✅ Kami turun dari bas di hadapan muzium sebelum tengah hari.
We got off the bus in front of the museum before noon.
2. Using menuruni for a price trend
❌ Harga tiket menuruni selepas musim cuti.
Incorrect valency—the price is decreasing, not traversing a downward path.
✅ Harga tiket menurun selepas musim cuti sekolah berakhir.
Ticket prices declined after the school holidays ended.
3. Using the causative for one's own descent
❌ Saya menurunkan dari tingkat enam melalui tangga.
Incorrect—there is no affected object being caused to descend.
✅ Saya turun dari tingkat enam melalui tangga kecemasan.
I went down from the sixth floor by the emergency stairs.
4. Adding ke before the direct object of menuruni
❌ Mereka menuruni ke lereng yang licin itu.
Incorrect frame—menuruni takes the traversed path directly.
✅ Mereka menuruni lereng yang licin itu secara perlahan-lahan.
They descended the slippery slope slowly.
5. Separating passive di-
❌ Harga makanan di turunkan selepas aduan pelanggan.
Incorrect spacing—the passive prefix in diturunkan is attached.
✅ Harga makanan diturunkan selepas pelanggan membuat aduan.
Food prices were reduced after customers complained.
Key Takeaways
Use turun when the subject itself descends, leaves transport, or decreases. Use menuruni when a downward path is the direct object and menurunkan when an actor causes something else to descend or decrease. Menurun often presents a trend, penurunan names the decrease, and lexicalized keturunan refers to lineage or descendants. Malaysian Malay writes bas, not bus.
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