An -i applicative typically treats a location, goal, recipient, container, or marked target as its direct object. In pegawai mendatangi rumah itu, the officer is the actor subject and the house is the goal object. In rumah itu didatangi pegawai, the same house becomes the passive subject. The roles are diagnosed through voice morphology, order, relativization, and discourse together—not by copying English subject and object labels onto every Malay noun phrase.
This page covers participants and order only. Basic formation, construction choice, aspect and negation, and advanced extraction constraints belong to the other four pages in this series; the semantic network is introduced on the meaning of -i page.
Four core argument frames
| Actor-voice clause | Selected direct object | Further participant |
|---|---|---|
| Pegawai mengisi borang. | borang: container/form | contents may follow with dengan |
| Pegawai mendatangi rumah. | rumah: goal visited | normally none |
| Kelab menghadiahi Rina sebuah buku. | Rina: recipient | sebuah buku: transferred theme |
| Editor menandai halaman. | halaman: marked target | mark may follow with dengan |
The object immediately after the verb is not always the thing English places after its verb. English says visit the house, matching Malay order, but present Rina with a book or give Rina a book offers more than one English frame. Malay menghadiahi specifically selects the recipient first.
Mengisi is the spelling exception in this set: its root is already isi, so the final i is not a second suffix. It is included because its container-object alignment parallels the target-oriented pattern of the transparently derived verbs. The formation page handles that spelling issue; the argument diagnostics here do not depend on counting suffixes.
Full nouns in actor voice
In an ordinary meN- actor-voice clause, the actor subject precedes the verb and the selected target object follows it directly.
Pegawai kaunter mengisi borang pendaftaran itu berdasarkan maklumat pemohon.
The counter officer filled in the registration form using the applicant's information.
Dua orang pegawai kebajikan mendatangi rumah keluarga tersebut pada sebelah petang.
Two welfare officers visited the family's home in the afternoon. (formal/reporting)
Persatuan penduduk menghadiahi Rina sebuah buku sejarah tempatan.
The residents' association presented Rina with a book on local history.
Penyunting menandai halaman yang perlu disemak semula dengan pelekat kuning.
The editor marked the pages needing revision with yellow stickers.
Borang, rumah, Rina, and halaman share direct-object status, but their semantic roles differ. The first is a container for information, the second a goal, the third a recipient, and the fourth an affected surface or item. Syntactic status and semantic role are related but not identical.
Passive voice promotes the selected object
The target object of actor voice can become the subject or pivot of the corresponding di- passive. The actor follows as a bare full noun or an oleh phrase.
Borang pendaftaran itu diisi oleh pegawai kaunter selepas dokumen sokongan diperiksa.
The registration form was filled in by the counter officer after the supporting documents were checked.
Rumah keluarga tersebut didatangi dua orang pegawai kebajikan pada sebelah petang.
The family's home was visited by two welfare officers in the afternoon. (formal/reporting)
Rina dihadiahi sebuah buku sejarah tempatan oleh persatuan penduduk.
Rina was presented with a local history book by the residents' association.
Halaman yang perlu disemak semula ditandai penyunting dengan pelekat kuning.
The pages needing revision were marked by the editor with yellow stickers.
The promoted subjects are exactly the targets selected by these verbs. With menghadiahi, that is the recipient Rina, not the book. To foreground the theme, Malay commonly chooses the related theme-oriented form: Sebuah buku dihadiahkan kepada Rina.
This alternation is a useful diagnostic, but it is not a mechanical operation available to any imaginable derivative. The whole verb and its attested valency must license the pattern.
First- and second-person agents use object voice
When a first- or second-person pronoun is the actor and the target is foregrounded, standard Malaysian Malay normally uses object voice: target + actor pronoun + bare suffixed verb. The pronoun stands immediately before the verb.
Borang ini saya isi sebelum sesi temu duga bermula.
I filled in this form before the interview session began.
Rumah di hujung jalan itu kami datangi semula pada keesokan harinya.
We returned to visit the house at the end of the road the next day.
Rina akan kami hadiahi sebuah buku semasa majlis penutup.
We will present Rina with a book during the closing ceremony.
Halaman yang meragukan itu awak tandai dahulu sebelum berbincang dengan penyunting.
Mark the questionable pages first before discussing them with the editor.
Do not insert meN- after the actor pronoun in this pattern. Borang ini saya mengisi wrongly mixes object-voice order with actor-voice morphology. Likewise, a neutral first-person agent does not normally use diisi saya.
The marker akan in Rina akan kami hadiahi precedes the actor–verb unit. Complex marker order is handled on the aspect-and-negation page.
Pronoun objects and attached -nya
When the selected target is a third-person pronoun in actor voice, attached -nya can realize it. It attaches to the complete verb.
Pegawai itu mendatanginya di tempat kerja untuk mendapatkan penjelasan.
The officer approached him or her at work to obtain an explanation. (formal)
Penyunting menandainya dengan simbol bintang supaya mudah ditemui semula kemudian.
The editor marked it with a star so that it could be found easily again later.
In mendatanginya, -nya is the target object. In a passive such as rumah itu didatanginya, the attached clitic may instead express a third-person agent (formal/literary). The voice prefix changes the clitic's syntactic environment:
- Dia mendatangi rumah itu / Dia mendatanginya: -nya is the object;
- Rumah itu didatanginya: -nya is the compact passive agent.
This is precisely why position alone is insufficient. Voice morphology must be read with the clitic.
Two postverbal noun phrases with menghadiahi
Menghadiahi licenses a recipient object followed by a transferred theme:
actor + menghadiahi + recipient + gift
Pihak sekolah menghadiahi setiap pemenang sebuah kamus dwibahasa.
The school presented each winner with a bilingual dictionary.
The second noun phrase is not another equivalent direct object. The recipient is the participant promoted by -i and becomes the passive subject in Setiap pemenang dihadiahi sebuah kamus. The gift remains after the verb.
If the gift is topical, use the theme-oriented alternative:
Sebuah kamus dwibahasa dihadiahkan kepada setiap pemenang oleh pihak sekolah.
A bilingual dictionary was presented to each winner by the school.
English double-object terminology can be a useful mnemonic, but Malay morphology supplies independent evidence about which participant is structurally selected.
Omitted arguments
Arguments may be omitted when discourse makes them recoverable. Agentless passives are especially common in instructions and reports.
Borang itu sudah diisi, tetapi belum ditandatangani.
The form has been filled in but has not yet been signed.
Rumah kosong tersebut kerap didatangi pada waktu malam, tetapi identiti pengunjungnya tidak diketahui.
That vacant house is frequently visited at night, but the visitors' identities are unknown.
Rina dihadiahi sebuah buku sempena persaraannya.
Rina was presented with a book on the occasion of her retirement.
Semua halaman penting telah ditandai dengan penanda berwarna biru.
All the important pages have been marked with blue markers.
The absence of an expressed agent does not remove the argument from the event concept. Likewise, a recoverable secondary theme can occasionally be omitted after menghadiahi, but an isolated Kelab menghadiahi Rina invites the question “with what?” and is less informative than a complete transfer frame.
Relativization as a supporting diagnostic
A target that becomes a passive pivot can head a yang relative: borang yang diisi pegawai, rumah yang didatangi petugas, Rina yang dihadiahi buku, halaman yang ditandai penyunting. This supports its subject status in the passive.
Inilah borang yang diisi pegawai baharu itu semalam.
This is the form that the new officer filled in yesterday.
The advanced page treats extraction limits and marked relatives. Here the essential point is narrower: morphology, pivot behavior, and information structure converge on the selected -i target.
Common Mistakes
1. Keeping a preposition before the direct goal object
❌ Pegawai itu mendatangi ke rumah ketua kampung.
Incorrect—mendatangi selects the goal directly.
✅ Pegawai itu mendatangi rumah ketua kampung untuk berbincang.
The officer visited the village head's house to talk.
2. Reversing recipient and gift after menghadiahi
❌ Persatuan menghadiahi sebuah buku Rina.
Incorrect order for menghadiahi—the recipient must precede the gift.
✅ Persatuan menghadiahi Rina sebuah buku tentang sejarah bandar.
The association presented Rina with a book about the city's history.
3. Mixing object-voice order with actor morphology
❌ Borang ini saya mengisi pagi tadi.
Incorrect—the first-person actor in this object-voice order requires bare isi.
✅ Borang ini saya isi pagi tadi sebelum kaunter dibuka.
I filled in this form this morning before the counter opened.
4. Treating the second noun as the passive pivot
❌ Buku itu dihadiahi Rina oleh pihak sekolah.
Incorrect mapping for the intended theme passive—menghadiahi promotes the recipient.
✅ Buku itu dihadiahkan kepada Rina oleh pihak sekolah.
The book was presented to Rina by the school.
5. Separating attached morphology
❌ Halaman itu di tanda i oleh penyunting.
Incorrect spelling—both the passive prefix and the actual derived verb are written solid.
✅ Halaman itu ditandai oleh penyunting dengan pelekat merah.
The page was marked by the editor with a red sticker.
Key Takeaways
In actor voice, the actor precedes mengisi, mendatangi, menghadiahi, or menandai, and the selected target follows directly. That target becomes the subject of a di- passive or precedes a first-/second-person pronoun in object voice. Menghadiahi selects the recipient before the gift. Read full nouns, pronouns, omitted arguments, voice morphology, and information structure together rather than assigning roles from English order alone.
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- -i Applicative Patterns: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how -i promotes a location, recipient, or affected target to direct-object status and why its meaning remains lexically constrained.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Choosing This Construction in Malaysian MalayB2 — Choose an -i applicative when discourse centers a container, goal, recipient, or marked target, then select actor, passive, or object voice by topicality.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Aspect, Modality, and Negation in Malaysian MalayC1 — Place aspect, modal, and negative particles before an unchanged Malaysian Malay -i applicative while preserving voice morphology and scope.
- -i Applicative Patterns: Advanced Constraints and Register in Malaysian MalayC2 — Handle relative clauses, extraction limits, agentless passives, lexical exceptions, and formal-colloquial alternation across Malaysian Malay -i applicatives.
- -i: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how Malaysian Malay -i verbs promote a location, goal, recipient, or other target to direct-object status.
- Object Voice with a Bare Verb: Subjects, Objects, and Argument Order in Malaysian MalayC1 — Analyze the patient pivot, immediately preverbal first- or second-person agent, bare verb, omitted arguments, and voice alternations in Malaysian object voice.