Choose an -i applicative when a container, destination, recipient, or affected target deserves direct-object status. Then choose actor voice, di- passive, or first-/second-person object voice according to what the discourse is already about. Pegawai mengisi borang itu, Borang itu diisi pegawai, and Borang itu saya isi can describe comparable events, but they do different conversational work.
This page is a discourse decision guide. Formation, detailed argument diagnostics, particle order, and advanced extraction constraints belong to the other four pages in the -i series. For the broader semantic opposition, see the Malaysian -kan versus -i guide.
The model mengisi needs one reminder: its root is isi, already ending in i. Its container-object pattern is useful for comparison here, but its spelling does not show an additional suffix.
The central choice: what is the clause about?
| Discourse question | Likely construction | Example |
|---|---|---|
| What did the officer do? | actor voice | Pegawai itu mengisi borang. |
| What happened to this form? | di- passive | Borang ini diisi pegawai itu. |
| What did you do with this form? | object voice | Borang ini saya isi. |
| Where did the officer go? | intransitive goal phrase | Pegawai itu datang ke rumah tersebut. |
| Which target did the officer formally visit? | -i actor voice | Pegawai itu mendatangi rumah tersebut. |
Formal possibility does not make these interchangeable. A reply beginning with an already mentioned borang itu naturally preserves that form as topic; a report introducing the officer's actions may select actor voice instead.
Definiteness and topicality
Passive subjects and object-voice pivots are often definite or otherwise identifiable because speakers use these voices to continue an established topic.
Seorang petugas mengambil satu borang kosong lalu mengisinya di kaunter belakang.
A staff member took a blank form and then filled it in at the back counter.
The first clause introduces satu borang kosong. Attached -nya in the next clause refers back to that now-identifiable form while actor voice continues following seorang petugas.
If the form itself becomes the topic, passive voice is more natural:
Borang tersebut diisi oleh petugas sebelum diserahkan kepada pemohon.
The form was filled in by the staff member before being handed to the applicant.
Indefinite passive subjects are possible in news-like or presentational contexts, so definiteness is a tendency rather than a ban.
Beberapa borang diisi secara tidak lengkap pada hari pertama pendaftaran.
Several forms were filled in incompletely on the first day of registration. (formal/reporting)
The passive is justified because the report classifies problematic forms, not because beberapa borang is definite.
Animacy changes which target is salient
With transfer verbs, an animate recipient is a strong candidate for -i promotion. Compare recipient-oriented menghadiahi with theme-oriented menghadiahkan.
Pihak perpustakaan menghadiahi Rina sebuah buku rujukan.
The library presented Rina with a reference book.
Pihak perpustakaan menghadiahkan sebuah buku rujukan kepada Rina.
The library gave a reference book to Rina as a gift.
The first packages Rina as the immediate affected recipient and makes Rina dihadiahi sebuah buku available. The second packages the book as the theme and makes Buku itu dihadiahkan kepada Rina available. Use the first if discourse tracks recipients; use the second if it inventories gifts.
Animacy does not automatically force -i. A gift catalogue may quite naturally center inanimate books, and a list of award recipients may center people. Topic and communicative purpose work with animacy.
Goal object or prepositional destination?
Datang ke rumah presents motion toward a destination. Mendatangi rumah makes the destination a direct affected goal and often suggests a deliberate visit, official approach, inspection, or repeated attention.
Kami datang ke rumah Pak Cik Rahman untuk minum petang.
We came to Uncle Rahman's house for afternoon tea.
Pegawai kesihatan mendatangi rumah Pak Cik Rahman untuk menjalankan pemeriksaan.
Health officers visited Uncle Rahman's house to carry out an inspection. (formal/reporting)
The everyday social visit favors the ordinary motion phrase; the official visit naturally favors mendatangi. This is a register and event-construal contrast, not a claim that one sentence is more grammatical.
If the house is already topical, choose a patient-centered voice:
Rumah itu didatangi pegawai kesihatan dua kali dalam minggu yang sama.
The house was visited by health officers twice in the same week. (formal/reporting)
Marked target or signifying event?
Menandai halaman treats the page as a surface or item receiving a mark. Menandakan commonly means “indicate” or “signify,” while an analytic expression can explicitly name the mark and its location.
Penyunting menandai halaman itu dengan dua garis merah.
The editor marked that page with two red lines.
Dua garis merah pada halaman itu menandakan bahawa petikan tersebut perlu dipadam.
Two red lines on that page indicate that the passage must be deleted.
Penyunting meletakkan dua garis merah pada halaman yang perlu disemak.
The editor placed two red lines on the page that needed review.
All three may belong to one event sequence, but their subjects and topics differ: editor, sign, and page. Choosing the -i derivative keeps the marked target immediately available for passive or relative-clause tracking.
One event in dialogue
Casual conversation often chooses short roots or analytic alternatives where a formal report prefers full -i actor voice.
“Borang ni dah isi?” “Dah. Lepas tu saya pergi ke rumah Rina, bagi dia buku tu, dan tanda halaman yang dia kena baca.”
‘Have you filled in this form?’ ‘Yes. Then I went to Rina's house, gave her that book, and marked the pages she needs to read.’ (informal Malaysian dialogue)
The exchange uses ni, dah, pergi ke, bagi, tu, and bare tanda, all natural (informal) choices. A learner should not mechanically replace every form with a longer derivative in speech. However, the root in Borang ni dah isi? is licensed by an understood subject/object-voice-like colloquial frame; it does not prove that prefixes may be deleted anywhere.
“Halaman mana yang awak tandai?” “Halaman dua belas, yang ada jadual panjang.”
‘Which page did you mark?’ ‘Page twelve, the one with the long table.’ (informal dialogue)
Here the question makes halaman mana the target under discussion, favoring object voice with awak tandai.
The same sequence in news style
Selepas mengisi borang lawatan, wakil persatuan mendatangi rumah Rina dan menghadiahinya sebuah buku yang halamannya telah ditandai untuk rujukan.
After filling in the visit form, the association representative went to Rina's house and presented her with a book whose pages had been marked for reference. (news style)
The sentence tracks wakil persatuan through two actor-voice events. Menghadiahinya keeps Rina as an attached recipient object, while the relative clause shifts attention to marked pages. Full morphology and compact subordination suit (formal/reporting) prose.
If the story is about Rina instead, patient-centered voice is better:
Rina didatangi wakil persatuan dan dihadiahi sebuah buku panduan untuk menjaga bangunan lama itu.
Rina was visited by an association representative and presented with a guidebook for maintaining the old building. (news style)
Voice choice makes Rina the continuous topic across both events.
Narrative tracking
Narrative voice can change when the camera of attention changes.
Amir mengisi borang lawatan di pejabat persatuan, kemudian mendatangi rumah jirannya sambil membawa sebuah buku untuk Rina.
Amir filled in a visit form at the association office, then went to his neighbour's house carrying a book for Rina. (narrative)
Rina dihadiahi buku itu, lalu menandai halaman kegemarannya sebelum mula membaca.
Rina was given the book, then marked her favourite page before beginning to read. (narrative)
The first sentence tracks Amir as actor. The second begins with Rina as recipient-patient and then makes her the actor of menandai. A good narrative changes voice when its discourse center changes, not according to a fixed rule that one participant must always stay subject.
A quick decision guide
| If your intended topic is... | Prefer... | Typical frame |
|---|---|---|
| the actor | meN- actor voice | pegawai mengisi borang |
| a third-person-affected target | di- passive | borang diisi pegawai |
| a target affected by me/you | object voice | borang saya/awak isi |
| motion toward a place | intransitive + ke | datang ke rumah |
| an animate gift recipient | menghadiahi | menghadiahi Rina buku |
| the transferred gift | menghadiahkan + kepada | menghadiahkan buku kepada Rina |
Common Mistakes
1. Treating actor and passive versions as pragmatically identical
⚠️ Borang itu mempunyai tiga bahagian. Pegawai mengisi borang sebelum menyimpannya di dalam fail.
Awkward topic management—the passage begins with the form, then needlessly switches to the officer.
✅ Borang tersebut diisi pegawai sebelum disimpan di dalam fail khas.
The form was filled in by the officer before being stored in a special file.
2. Choosing mendatangi for every casual destination
⚠️ Saya mendatangi rumah kawan untuk lepak petang tadi.
Grammatical but mismatched with the very casual social context.
✅ Saya pergi ke rumah kawan untuk lepak petang tadi.
I went to a friend's house to hang out this afternoon. (informal)
3. Using recipient-oriented morphology while topicalizing the gift
❌ Buku panduan itu dihadiahi Rina oleh persatuan.
Incorrect mapping—the intended topic is the gift, but menghadiahi selects the recipient.
✅ Buku panduan itu dihadiahkan kepada Rina oleh persatuan.
The guidebook was presented to Rina by the association.
4. Calling an indefinite passive impossible
❌ Beberapa halaman ditandai ialah ayat yang salah kerana subjeknya tidak tentu.
Incorrect claim—indefinite passive subjects are possible when discourse makes them relevant.
✅ Beberapa halaman ditandai untuk pemeriksaan lanjut oleh penyunting kanan.
Several pages were marked for further review by the senior editor. (formal)
Key Takeaways
Choose an -i frame when the container, goal, recipient, or marked target should be structurally central. Choose actor voice to follow the actor, di- passive to follow a third-person target, and object voice when a first- or second-person actor affects a topical target. Definiteness and animacy influence the choice, but discourse purpose decides it. Formally possible alternatives are not automatically equally natural in dialogue, news, and narrative.
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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: Subjects, Objects, and Argument Order in Malaysian MalayB2 — Identify actors, target objects, secondary participants, passive subjects, and pronoun order in Malaysian Malay -i applicative clauses.
- -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.
- -kan: Valency, Lexicalization, and Register in Malaysian MalayB2 — Use Malaysian Malay -kan verbs with attested object frames, lexicalized senses, and register-appropriate alternatives.
- -kan versus -i in Malaysian MalayB1 — Choose -kan or -i by deciding whether the direct object is the transferred theme, the affected recipient, or the affected location.