Petugas imigrasi memeriksa halaman paspor saya dengan teliti sebelum memberi stempel.

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Breakdown of Petugas imigrasi memeriksa halaman paspor saya dengan teliti sebelum memberi stempel.

• sebelum: before
• saya: my
• teliti: careful

Questions & Answers about Petugas imigrasi memeriksa halaman paspor saya dengan teliti sebelum memberi stempel.

Why is it memeriksa and not just periksa?

Memeriksa is the active verb form, built from the root periksa (to inspect / check) with the prefix meN-.

• periksa = the root
• memeriksa = to inspect / is inspecting

In a normal full sentence, Indonesian often uses the meN- verb form for active verbs:

• Petugas itu memeriksa paspor. = The officer checks/checked the passport.

You may hear periksa! by itself as a command, like Check it! or in informal shortened speech, but memeriksa is the standard form here.

Why does meN- become mem- in memeriksa?

This happens because of Indonesian sound changes when the meN- prefix is added.

The root is periksa. When meN- attaches to roots beginning with p, the p often drops, and the prefix becomes mem-:

• pakai → memakai
• pilih → memilih
• periksa → memeriksa

So meN- + periksa becomes memeriksa.