Choose -kan when discourse needs a moved, transferred, or caused theme as the primary object; choose -i when a recipient, goal, surface, or container is construed as the central affected object. Amir mengirimkan surat kepada Rina tracks the letter, whereas Amir mengirimi Rina surat profiles Rina as recipient. Pekerja memasukkan barang ke dalam kotak tracks the goods being moved, whereas Pekerja memenuhi kotak dengan barang presents the box as extensively affected.
This is not a one-word translation rule. Definiteness, animacy, topicality, lexical convention, and what the discourse will mention next all contribute. See the argument-order diagnostics for the structural evidence behind the choice.
Two choices operate at once
Suffix choice and voice choice are independent but interacting decisions.
| Primary object selected | Actor voice | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| theme with -kan | Amir mengirimkan surat kepada Rina. | Surat dikirimkan kepada Rina oleh Amir. |
| recipient with -i | Amir mengirimi Rina surat. | Rina dikirimi surat oleh Amir. |
| moved item with -kan | Pekerja memasukkan barang ke dalam kotak. | Barang dimasukkan ke dalam kotak. |
| container with -i | Pekerja memenuhi kotak dengan barang. | Kotak dipenuhi dengan barang. |
First choose the event construal and object; then choose actor voice, passive, or object voice according to discourse topic. Treating -kan, -i, and di- as a single list of interchangeable endings obscures these two axes.
Theme-centered transfer with -kan
Use mengirimkan + theme + kepada recipient when the sent item is specific, newly introduced, contrasted, counted, or followed through the discourse.
Amir mengirimkan surat permohonan itu kepada Rina pagi tadi.
Amir sent that application letter to Rina this morning.
Dia mengirimkan tiga keping gambar kepada setiap peserta.
She sent three photographs to each participant.
Definite surat permohonan itu and counted tiga keping gambar are natural themes to track. A later clause may say whether they arrived, were signed, or were lost. The recipient remains important but is not the primary object.
In everyday Malaysian conversation, menghantar is often more frequent than mengirimkan for parcels, files, and messages. That lexical preference does not invalidate the suffix contrast: the page models a standard family in which the alignment is especially transparent.
Recipient-centered transfer with -i
Use mengirimi + recipient + theme when the recipient is already topical, is affected by repeated deliveries, or will remain the center of the next clause.
Amir mengirimi Rina surat setiap bulan sepanjang dia belajar di luar negara.
Amir sent Rina a letter every month while he was studying abroad.
Syarikat itu mengirimi semua pelanggan notis pembaharuan, lalu menghubungi mereka seminggu selepas itu.
The company sent all customers renewal notices, then contacted them a week later. (formal)
The animate recipient readily supports the -i object, and mereka in the continuation refers back to those recipients. The repeated reading is strongly supported by setiap bulan and the plural set; -i itself does not require repetition.
Moved theme versus affected container
With spatial transfer, memasukkan construes an item moving into a goal. The number of items can be small, and the container need not become full.
Sukarelawan memasukkan dua tin susu ke dalam kotak bantuan.
The volunteer put two tins of milk into the aid box.
By contrast, memenuhi selects the container or space and normally presents it as filled, occupied, or meeting a required level.
Sukarelawan memenuhi kotak bantuan itu dengan makanan kering.
The volunteer filled the aid box with dry food.
Bau durian memenuhi seluruh ruang tamu.
The smell of durian filled the entire living room.
The -i construal encourages a holistic effect on definite kotak itu or seluruh ruang tamu. Animacy is irrelevant here; what matters is whether the location is conceptualized as an affected whole. With memenuhi syarat “meet requirements,” the verb is lexicalized even further and no literal container exists.
Definiteness and topicality are tendencies, not rules
A definite theme can favor -kan, and a definite recipient/location can favor -i, but morphology does not mechanically follow the word itu. Either participant can be definite. Speaker perspective decides which becomes object.
Pegawai itu mengirimkan sijil tersebut kepada Rina.
The officer sent that certificate to Rina.
Pegawai itu mengirimi Rina sijil tersebut.
The officer sent Rina that certificate.
Both are grammatical. The first makes sijil tersebut more accessible for a following passive or relative; the second makes Rina more accessible. Register also matters: the analytic -kan ... kepada ... frame is generally clearer and more frequent in formal Malaysian administration than mengirimi, despite the latter being standard.
One transfer event in dialogue, news, and narrative
The same document delivery can be presented three ways.
Dialogue: actor and practical task
“Surat itu dah awak kirimkan kepada Rina?” “Dah, pagi tadi.”
‘Have you sent that letter to Rina?’ ‘Yes, this morning.’ (informal dialogue)
The speakers are checking a task involving a known letter, so object voice surat itu ... awak kirimkan keeps the theme first. Informal dah marks register.
News: theme as institutional record
Surat tawaran telah dikirimkan kepada Rina oleh pihak universiti pada hari Isnin.
The offer letter was sent to Rina by the university on Monday. (news/formal)
The document is the reportable institutional item; passive dikirimkan lets it head the clause.
Narrative: recipient and reaction
Rina dikirimi sepucuk surat tawaran pada pagi Isnin, lalu dia terus menelefon ibunya dengan gembira.
Rina was sent an offer letter on Monday morning, and she immediately called her mother happily. (narrative)
The recipient remains topical into dia, making recipient-passive dikirimi coherent. The clauses are not stylistic synonyms: each chooses what the discourse follows.
One packing event in three perspectives
“Masukkan barang ini ke dalam kotak biru,” kata penyelia itu.
‘Put these goods into the blue box,’ said the supervisor. (dialogue)
Barang bantuan dimasukkan ke dalam kotak sebelum dihantar ke pusat pemindahan.
The aid supplies were put into boxes before being sent to the evacuation center. (news/formal)
Mereka terus memenuhi kotak biru itu dengan selimut sehingga penutupnya sukar dirapatkan.
They continued filling the blue box with blankets until its lid was difficult to close. (narrative)
The final narrative makes the box's increasingly full state consequential, so location-centered memenuhi is more informative than merely repeating that items moved inward.
Common Mistakes
1. Choosing by the English preposition alone
❌ Pihak universiti mengirimi kepada setiap calon keputusan temu duga.
Incorrect—the English recipient relation does not license kepada before the direct object of mengirimi.
✅ Pihak universiti mengirimkan keputusan temu duga kepada setiap calon.
The university sent the interview results to every candidate. (theme-centered)
2. Treating the two transfer frames as identical in continuation
⚠️ Amir mengirimkan surat itu kepada Rina, lalu dia terus menelefon ibunya.
Grammatical, but dia most readily continues the actor Amir rather than making Rina the discourse topic.
✅ Rina dikirimi surat itu oleh Amir, lalu dia menelefon ibunya.
Rina was sent the letter by Amir, then she called her mother.
3. Using memenuhi for a box that is not filled
❌ Dia memenuhi kotak besar itu dengan sebatang pensel.
Implausible for the intended ordinary placement—one pencil does not fill the large box.
✅ Dia memasukkan sebatang pensel ke dalam kotak besar itu.
She put a pencil into the large box.
4. Promoting the wrong participant in passive voice
❌ Surat itu dikirimi kepada Rina semalam.
Incorrect—dikirimi promotes the recipient.
✅ Surat itu dikirimkan kepada Rina semalam.
The letter was sent to Rina yesterday.
5. Assuming the rarer option is nonstandard
❌ Mengirimi Rina surat tidak baku kerana bahasa Inggeris menggunakan ‘to’.
Incorrect analysis—mengirimi is standard, though its Malaysian frequency and register differ from analytic alternatives.
✅ Pihak sekolah mengirimi setiap penjaga surat makluman.
The school sent each guardian an information letter. (formal, recipient-centered)
Key Takeaways
Choose -kan to track a transferred or moved theme and -i to track an affected recipient, location, or container. Then choose actor voice, passive, or object voice based on topicality. Definiteness and animacy influence but do not dictate the choice; register and lexical frequency matter. Most importantly, paired forms may differ in truth conditions: memasukkan can describe one item entering, whereas memenuhi presents substantial or complete effect on a container.
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