In affected-experiencer uses of ke-...-an, the first noun phrase is commonly the participant undergoing a state, loss, or intrusive arrival rather than an intentional actor. Saya kedinginan presents me as affected by cold; dia kehilangan dompet presents her as the person deprived of a wallet; marked kami kedatangan tamu presents us as hosts affected by a guest's arrival. These predicates share an experiencer orientation but do not all have the same number of arguments.
This page analyzes participants and order only. Formation, discourse choice, particle placement, and advanced extraction/register are handled by the other four pages in this series. The broader noun-versus-predicate network appears under the meanings of ke-...-an.
Three core frames
| Clause | First participant | Following participant | Valency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saya kedinginan. | saya: experiencer of cold | none required | intransitive affected state |
| Dia kehilangan dompet. | dia: experiencer deprived of something | dompet: lost theme | transitive experiential predicate |
| Kami kedatangan tamu. | kami: affected host/domain | tamu: arriving stimulus | marked presentational experiencer frame |
All three first noun phrases behave like clause subjects, but they are not agents in the ordinary sense. They do not intentionally create cold, loss, or arrival. The postpredicate dompet is a selected lost theme; tamu supplies the arriving stimulus in a more restricted lexical frame.
In contemporary Malaysian Malay, Saya kedinginan is standard but can sound more literary or descriptive than everyday Saya kesejukan or Saya sangat sejuk. Kami kedatangan tamu is supported by the dictionary sense “be visited/come under the arrival of,” yet the experiencer predicate is marked (formal/literary); neutral everyday Malaysian normally says Kami menerima tetamu or Tetamu datang ke rumah kami. Both tamu and tetamu are Malaysian words, with tetamu the ordinary guest word in many contemporary contexts.
The experiencer is the subject
The first noun phrase controls subject-oriented continuation and can head a subject relative.
Saya kedinginan selepas menunggu hampir sejam di luar klinik.
I was chilled after waiting outside the clinic for nearly an hour.
Pendaki itu kehilangan bekalan air ketika menuruni lereng bukit.
The hiker lost his water supply while descending the hillside.
Kami kedatangan tetamu dari Sarawak pada malam terakhir persidangan.
We received visitors from Sarawak on the final night of the conference. (formal/literary)
In each example, the next predicate can continue with the experiencer without restating it: Saya kedinginan lalu masuk ke dalam, Pendaki itu kehilangan bekalan lalu berpatah balik, Kami kedatangan tetamu lalu menyediakan bilik tambahan. That continuity supports subject status.
A subject relative likewise retains the predicate:
Pendaki yang kedinginan itu diberi selimut tebal oleh pasukan penyelamat.
The chilled hiker was given a thick blanket by the rescue team.
Pelancong yang kehilangan dompet itu sedang membuat laporan polis.
The tourist who lost a wallet is making a police report.
The head noun fills the experiencer subject gap after yang. Advanced extraction of the following theme is a different matter and belongs on the advanced page.
Kehilangan takes a lost-theme object
Predicate kehilangan directly selects the person, object, opportunity, status, or abstract resource lost.
Dia kehilangan dompet semasa bertukar tren di pusat bandar.
She lost her wallet while changing trains in the city centre.
Syarikat kecil itu kehilangan tiga pelanggan utama dalam tempoh sebulan.
The small company lost three major clients within a month.
Pasukan kami kehilangan peluang untuk menyamakan kedudukan pada minit akhir.
Our team lost the chance to equalize in the final minute.
The theme follows without akan, kepada, or daripada. A source or cause can be added separately: kehilangan pelanggan akibat kenaikan harga, kehilangan dompet di stesen.
The same surface word can be a noun. Compare:
Kehilangan dompet itu telah dilaporkan kepada pihak polis.
The loss of the wallet has been reported to the police. (formal noun phrase)
Here kehilangan dompet itu is the subject noun phrase of telah dilaporkan. In Dia kehilangan dompet, kehilangan is the predicate and dia is its subject. Position and the larger clause distinguish the readings.
Pronoun objects and clitic attachment
The lost theme can be a full pronoun or attached -nya.
Saya menyimpan salinan gambar itu dengan baik kerana tidak mahu kehilangannya.
I keep a copy of that photograph safely because I do not want to lose it.
Selepas berpindah, dia kehilangan beberapa fail dan masih mencarinya.
After moving, she lost several files and is still looking for them.
In kehilangannya, -nya attaches to the complete kehilangan predicate and refers to the lost theme. The same spelling can be nominal in Kehilangannya amat dirasai “His/her absence is deeply felt.” Context distinguishes object clitic from possessor-like -nya on a noun.
First- and second-person experiencer pronouns remain before the predicate: saya kehilangan, awak kedinginan, kami kedatangan tetamu. There is no special agreement ending.
Causes are not passive agents
An adverse state often has a cause, but that cause is not normally introduced as a passive oleh-agent after these predicates. Use a causal phrase such as kerana, akibat, or disebabkan oleh, or choose a separate causative/passive clause.
Mereka kedinginan kerana pakaian mereka basah kuyup.
They were chilled because their clothes were soaking wet.
Kedai itu kehilangan bekalan elektrik akibat kerosakan kabel bawah tanah.
The shop lost its electricity supply because of damage to an underground cable.
Kami kedatangan tetamu tanpa diduga selepas majlis tamat.
We had unexpected visitors after the event ended. (formal/literary)
Saya kedinginan oleh angin is not the neutral equivalent of an English by-phrase. Say Saya kedinginan kerana angin kuat or Tubuh saya disejukkan oleh angin if a true passive causer must be expressed. The latter changes to a causative verb and gives the wind an agent/cause role.
Changed word order changes the construction
Because these predicates do not form one ordinary active–passive paradigm, foregrounding another participant often requires lexical or clausal restructuring rather than mechanical movement.
| Experiencer-centered | Alternative center | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Saya kedinginan. | Kedinginan malam itu menusuk hingga ke tulang. | kedinginan becomes a state noun |
| Dia kehilangan dompet. | Dompetnya hilang. | the lost theme becomes subject of hilang |
| Kami kedatangan tetamu. | Tetamu datang ke rumah kami. | the arriving visitor becomes actor/theme subject |
Dompetnya hilang ketika dia turun dari bas di Jalan Ampang.
Her wallet went missing when she got off the bus on Jalan Ampang.
Tetamu dari Sarawak datang ke rumah kami selepas makan malam.
Visitors from Sarawak came to our house after dinner.
The events overlap with dia kehilangan dompet and kami kedatangan tetamu, but the syntactic subjects and discourse centers differ.
Left-dislocation is also possible in conversation when a resumptive clitic remains:
Dompet kulit itu, dia kehilangannya masa turun dari teksi.
That leather wallet—she lost it while getting out of the taxi. (informal left-dislocation)
This is not passive voice. Dompet kulit itu is a detached topic, dia remains the experiencer subject, and attached -nya resumes the lost theme.
Omitted participants
The experiencer can be omitted only when discourse or genre supplies it. Diary headings and informal replies may contain Kehilangan dompet lagi!, but this is ambiguous between a noun phrase “another wallet loss” and an understood-subject predicate. Full clauses are clearer.
The lost theme after kehilangan can be omitted when recoverable:
Saya pernah kehilangan telefon sebelum ini, tetapi kali ini adik pula yang kehilangan.
I have lost a phone before, but this time it was my younger sibling who lost one.
The omitted object inherits its meaning from the previous clause. Kedinginan needs no object at all, while the marked arrival construction normally identifies what arrived if that information is not already known.
Common Mistakes
1. Treating the experiencer as an intentional agent
❌ Saya sengaja kedinginan orang lain di dalam bilik berhawa dingin.
Incorrect valency—kedinginan presents the subject's own affected state.
✅ Saya kedinginan di dalam bilik berhawa dingin itu.
I was chilled in that air-conditioned room.
2. Adding a preposition before the lost theme
❌ Dia kehilangan kepada dompetnya di stesen.
Incorrect—predicate kehilangan takes the lost theme directly.
✅ Dia kehilangan dompetnya di stesen ketika membeli tiket.
She lost her wallet at the station while buying a ticket.
3. Inventing a di- passive of kehilangan
❌ Dompet itu dikehilangan oleh dia semalam.
Incorrect—this experiencer predicate has no corresponding dikehilangan passive.
✅ Dompetnya hilang semalam semasa dia membeli makanan.
Her wallet went missing yesterday while she was buying food.
4. Treating oleh as a cause marker after kedinginan
❌ Kami kedinginan oleh angin malam yang kuat.
Non-neutral cause expression—oleh is not an ordinary passive-agent marker here.
✅ Kami kedinginan kerana angin malam yang kuat.
We were chilled because of the strong night wind.
5. Treating marked kedatangan as the only Malaysian choice
⚠️ Kami kedatangan tamu secara tiba-tiba petang tadi.
Dictionary-supported but marked in contemporary everyday Malaysian speech.
✅ Kami menerima tetamu yang datang secara tiba-tiba petang tadi.
We received guests who arrived unexpectedly this afternoon.
Key Takeaways
The first noun phrase in saya kedinginan, dia kehilangan dompet, and marked kami kedatangan tamu is an affected experiencer subject, not necessarily an agent. Kehilangan selects a lost-theme object; kedinginan is intransitive; kedatangan has a restricted arriving-stimulus frame. Causes use causal phrases, and changing the discourse center usually requires dompet hilang or tetamu datang, not a fabricated di- passive.
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- ke-...-an Experiencer Constructions: Overview and Formation in Malaysian MalayB2 — Recognize ke-...-an predicates that present involuntary states, losses, perceptions, and arrivals from an affected experiencer's perspective.
- ke-...-an Experiencer Constructions: Choosing This Construction in Malaysian MalayB2 — Choose a ke-...-an experiencer predicate when discourse centers the person affected by cold, loss, or an arrival rather than an agent or theme.
- ke-...-an Experiencer Constructions: Aspect, Modality, and Negation in Malaysian MalayC1 — Combine affected-experiencer ke-...-an predicates with Malaysian aspect, modal, and negative particles while respecting stativity and control.
- ke-...-an Experiencer Constructions: Advanced Constraints and Register in Malaysian MalayC2 — Handle relative-clause pivots, extraction limits, lexical ambiguity, agentless affected states, and register variation in Malaysian Malay ke-...-an predicates.
- ke-...-an: Meanings and Derivational Network in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how ke-...-an expresses abstract qualities, states, domains, and experiences that affect a participant.
- Subject Relative Clauses in Malaysian MalayA2 — Build yang clauses whose understood subject is an actor, a patient, or the subject of a nonverbal predicate.