The suffix -kan changes a verb's participant structure. Depending on the lexical family, it can add a causer, a beneficiary, a moved theme, or an entity brought into a result state. That is why menidurkan anak, membacakan buku kepada anak, memasukkan kunci, and membersihkan meja cannot all be translated with one English word such as make.
This page gives the core formation and neutral clause shapes. The other four pages in the series separately handle detailed arguments, discourse choice, aspect and negation, and advanced constraints. For spelling beyond this overview, see the formation of -kan.
Form and function at a glance
| Pattern | Core example | Participant added or promoted | Typical interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| benefactive/deputative | Ibu membacakan buku kepada anak. | beneficiary/audience | read a book aloud for/to the child |
| caused motion | Petugas memasukkan kunci. | moved theme | put/insert the key |
| resultative | Pekerja membersihkan meja. | entity caused to be clean | clean the table |
| passive benefactive | Tetamu dibukakan pintu. | beneficiary plus affected door | the door is opened for the guest |
The most useful generalization is structural: -kan adds or reorganizes a participant. The identity of that participant comes from the root and the construction, so translation alone cannot predict it.
Building the written form
Write actual -kan verbs solid. In ordinary actor voice, meN- appears outside the base-plus-suffix stem; in a third-person passive, di- appears outside it.
| Base | Bare -kan form | Actor voice | Passive |
|---|---|---|---|
| baca | bacakan | membacakan | dibacakan |
| masuk | masukkan | memasukkan | dimasukkan |
| bersih | bersihkan | membersihkan | dibersihkan |
| buka | bukakan | membukakan | dibukakan |
Masuk + -kan yields masukkan with kk across the boundary. No letter is deleted. The abstract label -kan has a hyphen, but the real word does not: memasukkan, not memasuk-kan.
Bare suffixed forms occur in commands and in first-/second-person object voice.
Bacakan arahan itu dengan kuat supaya semua orang dapat mendengarnya.
Read those instructions aloud so that everyone can hear them.
Kunci pendua itu saya masukkan ke dalam laci paling atas.
I put the spare key into the top drawer.
These forms lack meN- for grammatical reasons; the suffix itself remains present and attached.
Causative: adding someone who causes the event
An intransitive base can gain an external causer. Tidur describes the sleeper; menidurkan describes someone causing or helping that person to sleep. Duduk describes posture; mendudukkan means seat someone.
Ayah menidurkan bayi itu sambil menyanyikan lagu perlahan.
The father put the baby to sleep while singing softly.
Petugas mendudukkan warga emas tersebut berhampiran pintu keluar.
The staff member seated the elderly person near the exit.
Bunyi penggera itu membangunkan semua penghuni asrama.
The alarm woke all the hostel residents.
English may use put to sleep, seat, or wake. None contains a consistent word make, even though all three Malay verbs add a causer. Causation can also be gentle or indirect: singing can menidurkan a baby without forcing sleep.
The neutral actor-voice shape is:
causer + meN-base-kan + caused participant + other complement
The caused participant can become passive subject: Bayi itu ditidurkan ayahnya.
Benefactive: doing the activity for someone
With an already transitive activity, -kan may introduce a beneficiary or audience. Membacakan buku kepada anak keeps the book as the direct object and introduces the child with kepada.
Nenek membacakan buku cerita kepada cucunya sebelum tidur.
Grandmother read a storybook aloud to her grandchild before bed.
Pegawai itu membacakan keputusan permohonan kepada semua calon.
The officer read the application results aloud to all candidates. (formal)
Some established benefactive verbs allow two noun phrases, with the beneficiary first:
Farid membelikan ibunya ubat batuk di farmasi.
Farid bought his mother cough medicine at the pharmacy.
Do not impose English double-object order on every -kan verb. Membacakan buku kepada anak and membelikan ibu ubat are both established, but their natural arrangements must be learned with the whole lexical family.
Caused motion: moving a theme to a goal
With motion bases, -kan commonly adds the mover-causer and promotes the moved item to direct-object position. The goal remains in a phrase with ke, ke dalam, atas, or another locative expression.
Petugas memasukkan kunci ke dalam lubang kunci dengan berhati-hati.
The staff member inserted the key into the keyhole carefully.
Pembantu tadbir memasukkan data pelanggan ke dalam sistem baharu.
The administrative assistant entered customer data into the new system. (formal)
Sila keluarkan makanan dari peti sejuk sebelum memasukkannya ke dalam ketuhar.
Please take the food out of the refrigerator before putting it into the oven.
The digital use of memasukkan data extends the spatial model: data is conceptualized as a theme entering a system. Attached -nya in memasukkannya represents the moved object and stays attached to the complete verb.
Compare Kunci masuk ke dalam lubang “the key goes into the hole” with Petugas memasukkan kunci ke dalam lubang “the worker inserts the key.” The suffix adds the causer and gives that causer an actor-voice clause.
Resultative: causing a state
When the base denotes a state or property, -kan can form a verb meaning bring an object into that state. Bersih is “clean”; membersihkan meja causes the table to become clean. Panas → memanaskan and pendek → memendekkan follow comparable established patterns.
Pekerja kantin membersihkan meja selepas setiap kumpulan murid selesai makan.
The canteen worker cleans the tables after each group of pupils finishes eating.
Panaskan sup itu dengan api perlahan selama lima minit.
Heat the soup over low heat for five minutes.
Penyunting memendekkan tajuk laporan supaya lebih mudah dibaca.
The editor shortened the report title so that it would be easier to read.
Causative and resultative are not mutually exclusive. Membersihkan meja is causative because an actor causes a change and resultative because the endpoint is a clean table.
Actor and passive voice
The -kan stem keeps its participant frame under different voices.
Pengawal membukakan pintu untuk tetamu yang menggunakan kerusi roda.
The guard opened the door for the guest using a wheelchair.
Tetamu itu dibukakan pintu oleh pengawal sebelum memasuki dewan.
The door was opened for the guest by the guard before the guest entered the hall.
In the second clause, Malaysian school grammar can analyze tetamu itu as the beneficiary promoted in a two-object construction, with pintu following as the secondary object. Another natural passive centers the door: Pintu itu dibuka oleh pengawal untuk tetamu tersebut. These alternatives are not mere word-order variants; they select different affected participants.
Aspect and modal markers remain separate: sudah dibukakan, akan dimasukkan, boleh dibersihkan. Passive di- attaches, whereas locative di dewan is separate.
Lexical restrictions
The pattern is productive, but not every root accepts -kan, and not every possible object arrangement is equally natural. Membesarkan anak conventionally means raise a child as well as make something larger. Menjalankan tugas means carry out a duty. These meanings are motivated by caused result or motion, but they must still be learned as whole Malaysian collocations.
Mereka membesarkan tiga orang anak di sebuah kampung berhampiran Muar.
They raised three children in a village near Muar.
The nearest English translation cannot decide whether -kan adds a causer, beneficiary, moved theme, or result. The root family and construction decide together.
Common Mistakes
1. Translating every -kan as make
❌ Nenek membacakan buku bermaksud nenek membuat buku itu membaca.
Incorrect analysis—membacakan here means read aloud for or to someone.
✅ Nenek membacakan buku itu kepada cucunya selepas makan malam.
Grandmother read the book aloud to her grandchild after dinner.
2. Copying English double-object order into every family
❌ Pegawai membacakan semua calon keputusan itu.
Unnatural for the intended neutral frame—use the text first and kepada for the audience.
✅ Pegawai membacakan keputusan itu kepada semua calon.
The officer read the result aloud to all the candidates. (formal)
3. Dropping one k in masukkan
❌ Sila masukan kunci itu ke dalam peti simpanan.
Incorrect spelling—masuk plus -kan preserves both k letters.
✅ Sila masukkan kunci itu ke dalam peti simpanan selepas digunakan.
Please put the key into the safe after using it.
4. Separating the suffix
❌ Pekerja itu member sih kan meja selepas makan.
Incorrect segmentation—the actual derivative membersihkan is one word.
✅ Pekerja itu membersihkan meja kaunter sebaik sahaja kumpulan terakhir meninggalkan kantin.
The worker cleaned the counter table as soon as the last group left the canteen.
5. Treating -kan as a tense ending
❌ Semalam memasukkan ialah bentuk lampau, tetapi esok mesti bentuk lain.
Incorrect—-kan changes valency, not tense.
✅ Esok petugas akan memasukkan rekod baharu ke dalam sistem.
Tomorrow the staff member will enter new records into the system.
Key Takeaways
Write actual -kan verbs solid and place actor meN- or passive di- outside the complete stem. The suffix commonly adds or promotes a causer, beneficiary, moved theme, or result-bearing entity, but the lexical family determines which role appears and how objects are ordered. Keep aspect words separate, preserve attached clitics, and never assume -kan always means make.
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Start learning Malay →Related Topics
- -kan Valency Patterns: Subjects, Objects, and Argument Order in Malaysian MalayB2 — Track causers, themes, beneficiaries, goals, and passive pivots in Malaysian Malay clauses whose verb ends in -kan.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Choosing This Construction in Malaysian MalayB2 — Choose -kan when a clause presents caused motion, a result-bearing participant, or an action performed for someone.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Aspect, Modality, and Negation in Malaysian MalayB2 — Place aspect, modal, and negative particles before unchanged active, passive, and object-voice verbs ending in -kan.
- -kan Valency Patterns: Advanced Constraints and Register in Malaysian MalayC1 — Analyze -kan in relative clauses, extraction, lexicalized verbs, agentless passives, and formal and colloquial voice patterns.
- -kan: Formation and Allomorphy in Malaysian MalayA2 — Form Malaysian Malay -kan verbs with solid spelling, an intact base, and the correct double k at a root boundary.
- -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.