The Malaysian Malay di- passive puts the affected person or thing—the patient—at the beginning of the clause and attaches di- to the verb. Rina membaca buku itu is about Rina as reader; Buku itu dibaca Rina is about what happens to the book. The passive verb does not agree with the subject and does not mark past time.
This page gives only the core formation and neutral clause shape. The rest of the series separately covers argument diagnostics, discourse choice, aspect and negation, and advanced relative-clause patterns.
The basic form and function
| Clause type | Malay shape | What is foregrounded? |
|---|---|---|
| actor voice | Rina membaca buku itu. | Rina, the reader |
| di- passive, bare agent | Buku itu dibaca Rina. | buku itu, the thing read |
| di- passive with oleh | Surat itu ditulis oleh Ali. | surat itu, the thing written |
| agentless di- passive | Kuncinya diambil. | kuncinya; the taker is unstated |
The neutral template is:
affected subject + aspect/modal marker + di-verb + optional third-person agent
The subject can be a thing, person, place, or other participant affected by the verb. The agent can follow directly or after oleh. It may disappear when unknown, obvious, or unimportant.
Buku cerita itu dibaca Rina sebelum tidur.
That storybook was read by Rina before bed.
Surat jemputan itu ditulis oleh Ali pada waktu pagi.
That invitation letter was written by Ali in the morning.
Kunci stor sudah diambil dari kaunter keselamatan.
The storeroom key has been taken from the security counter.
Forming the passive verb
Attach di- directly to the verb base or derived stem. Do not add person or number endings.
| Base/stem | di- passive | Example meaning |
|---|---|---|
| baca | dibaca | be read |
| tulis | ditulis | be written |
| ambil | diambil | be taken |
| buka | dibuka | be opened |
| baiki | dibaiki | be repaired |
| masukkan | dimasukkan | be put in |
The suffixes in dibaiki and dimasukkan remain part of the verb stem. Voice changes the prefix layer; it does not erase the verb's established valency.
Pintu sisi dewan dibuka oleh pengawal sebaik sahaja petugas katering tiba.
The hall's side door is opened by the guard as soon as the catering staff arrive.
Komputer pejabat itu sedang dibaiki oleh juruteknik.
That office computer is being repaired by a technician.
Semua dokumen dimasukkan ke dalam sampul biru.
All the documents are put into a blue envelope.
The shape stays the same with singular and plural subjects: Buku itu dibaca and Buku-buku itu dibaca. It also stays the same with any person because Malay verbs do not agree with their subjects.
The patient is the grammatical subject
In Buku itu dibaca Rina, the book is not merely an active object moved to the front for emphasis. Passive morphology makes buku itu the syntactic subject or pivot. It can be the established topic that later sentences continue discussing.
Jalan utama itu ditutup selepas pokok besar tumbang. Jalan tersebut akan dibuka semula petang nanti.
The main road was closed after a large tree fell. The road will be reopened later this afternoon.
The second sentence naturally continues with jalan tersebut because the first passive already made the road central. English also has passive subjects, but Malay does not add a form of be: Jalan ditutup, not a word-for-word equivalent of road is closed with an extra copula.
The full diagnostics for subjecthood and relativization belong on the arguments page. At this introductory level, use the reliable core: affected subject before an attached di- verb.
Expressing the agent
A third-person name or full noun can follow the passive verb directly.
Bilik mesyuarat itu dibersihkan pekerja hotel setiap petang.
That meeting room is cleaned by hotel staff every afternoon.
The same agent can follow oleh:
Bilik mesyuarat itu dibersihkan oleh pekerja hotel setiap petang.
That meeting room is cleaned by hotel staff every afternoon.
Both are grammatical. Oleh clearly marks the agent and is useful when that phrase is long, coordinated, or emphasized. It is especially frequent in careful (formal) writing, though it is not compulsory with every full-noun agent.
Laporan tahunan itu disediakan oleh pasukan kewangan yang baharu dilantik.
That annual report was prepared by the newly appointed finance team. (formal)
If the actor does not matter, omit it:
Lampu koridor telah dipadam sebelum bangunan dikunci.
The corridor lights were switched off before the building was locked.
An omitted agent does not mean the action occurred by itself. It means the speaker chooses not to name the actor.
First- and second-person agents normally use the neighboring object-voice pattern: Buku itu saya baca, not neutral Buku itu dibaca saya. That construction has its own guide and is not part of basic di- formation.
Third-person pronouns and -nya
A compact third-person agent may appear as attached -nya: dibacanya, diambilnya, ditulisnya. This pattern is common in compact narration and careful prose (formal/literary).
Surat itu dibacanya sekali lagi sebelum disimpan di dalam laci.
He or she read the letter once more before putting it in the drawer. (formal/literary)
The clitic attaches to the complete passive verb. Write dibacanya, not dibaca nya. This is an agent expression, not subject agreement; the form remains -nya regardless of the affected subject.
di- does not mark past tense
The prefix identifies passive voice. Time comes from context and separate markers.
Bilik itu dibersihkan setiap pagi.
That room is cleaned every morning.
Bilik itu sudah dibersihkan pagi tadi.
That room was cleaned earlier this morning.
Bilik itu akan dibersihkan esok.
That room will be cleaned tomorrow.
Dibersihkan is unchanged in all three. Sudah gives a completed reading; akan gives a prospective reading; setiap pagi gives a habitual reading. The dedicated aspect-and-negation page handles more complex marker order.
Passive di- versus locative di
Malaysian Rumi distinguishes a bound prefix from a preposition:
- di- + verb, written solid: dibaca, ditulis, diambil;
- di + place, written separately: di rumah, di pejabat, di atas meja.
Borang itu diisi di pejabat sebelum temu duga.
The form is filled in at the office before the interview.
The first di- belongs to diisi; the second di introduces pejabat. The di/ke spacing guide gives a fuller spelling test.
Frequency and register
The di- passive is normal Malaysian Malay, not a rare bookish transformation. It occurs in conversation when an affected item is already topical and is especially frequent in instructions, reports, news, official notices, and academic prose (formal/academic) because those genres often care more about procedures and results than individual actors.
Permohonan yang lengkap akan diproses dalam tempoh lima hari bekerja.
Complete applications will be processed within five working days. (formal)
Telefon saya diambil orang masa saya tengah beratur tadi.
Someone took my phone while I was queuing just now. (informal)
The informal example shows that the construction itself is not exclusively formal. Vocabulary such as tengah and tadi establishes the conversational register.
Common Mistakes
1. Separating the passive prefix
❌ Buku itu di baca Rina.
Incorrect spelling—the passive prefix must attach to the verb.
✅ Buku itu dibaca Rina semasa perjalanan pulang.
Rina read that book on the journey home.
2. Treating di- as past tense
❌ Esok laporan itu menulis kerana di- hanya untuk masa lalu.
Incorrect analysis—di- marks passive voice, not past time.
✅ Esok laporan itu akan ditulis oleh setiausaha baharu.
Tomorrow the report will be written by the new secretary.
3. Keeping active morphology after promoting the patient
❌ Kek itu memakan para tetamu selepas makan malam.
Incorrect voice for the intended meaning—this says the cake ate the guests.
✅ Kek itu dimakan para tetamu selepas makan malam.
The cake was eaten by the guests after dinner.
4. Using oleh for a place
❌ Surat itu ditulis oleh ruang bacaan.
Incorrect—oleh introduces an agent, not the place of writing.
✅ Surat itu ditulis di ruang bacaan oleh ketua pasukan.
The letter was written in the reading room by the team leader.
5. Adding agreement to the passive verb
❌ Buku-buku itu dibacas oleh murid-murid.
Incorrect—Malay verbs do not take a plural ending.
✅ Buku-buku itu dibaca oleh murid-murid semasa cuti sekolah.
The books were read by the pupils during the school holidays.
Key Takeaways
Form the di- passive as affected subject + di-verb + optional third-person agent. Attach di- to the verb, keep locative di separate, and use oleh when an agent needs explicit marking. The affected participant is the syntactic subject, but the verb never agrees with it. Separate words and context express time; di- itself marks voice only.
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Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- di- Passive: Subjects, Objects, and Argument Order in Malaysian MalayA2 — Identify the patient subject, optional agent, pronoun patterns, and argument alternations licensed by the Malaysian Malay di- passive.
- di- Passive: Choosing This Construction in Malaysian MalayA2 — Choose the di- passive when an affected, usually identifiable participant—not its actor—is the clause's discourse center.
- di- Passive: Aspect, Modality, and Negation in Malaysian MalayC1 — Build temporal, modal, and negative meanings by placing preverbal particles before an unchanged di- passive verb.
- di- Passive: Advanced Constraints and Register in Malaysian MalayC1 — Analyze di- passive relativization, extraction, agent placement, lexical limits, agentless discourse, and formal-colloquial distribution.
- meN- Actor Voice: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayA1 — Form Malaysian Malay meN- actor-voice verbs, recognize their nasal shapes, and use them to organize a clause around its actor rather than its time.
- 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.