Word
Cuaca sangat dingin; bahkan AC dimatikan.
Meaning
The weather is very cold; even the AC is turned off.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Cuaca sangat dingin; bahkan AC dimatikan.
adalah
to be
sangat
very
mematikan
to turn off
cuaca
the weather
Questions & Answers about Cuaca sangat dingin; bahkan AC dimatikan.
Why is the verb in the passive form dimatikan, and what does it literally mean?
Dimatikan is passive: di- + root mati (off/dead) + suffix -kan (causative). It literally means “to be turned off.”
- Active: mematikan (to turn off [something])
- Passive (agentless): AC dimatikan (the AC was/is turned off) This passive-without-agent is very common in Indonesian when the doer is unknown, unimportant, or obvious from context.
How would I say who did the action (e.g., “they turned off the AC”)?
Several natural options:
- Active: Mereka mematikan AC.
- Passive with agent: AC dimatikan oleh mereka. (grammatical, a bit heavier)
- “Short passive” with a pronoun agent: AC mereka matikan. (very natural in speech) Pick active if you want to highlight the doer; pick passive if you want to foreground the object/result.
Can I say AC mati instead of AC dimatikan?
Yes, but the nuance changes:
- AC dimatikan = an action was performed (someone turned it off).
- AC mati = the state/result (the AC is off/not working). No mention of who did it. Use the action form when you care about the turning-off event; use the state form for the current condition.
What does -kan add in dimatikan?