Me – as prefix
This is the third type of prefix in Indonesian. Me- can be applied to infinitives, adjectives and nouns.
A word with the me- prefix suggests that the sentence in which the word is used, is in the active voice.
When me- is attached to a noun or an adjective, it changes them into verbs. So basically the meaning of me + infinitive/adjective/noun in English grammar is equal with to + verb.
Me + the infinitive
The examples that are shown below are used both in written and spoken Indonesian.
Me + ajak = mengajak Tuti mengajak Santo pergi ke bioskop.
Tuti asked Santo to go to the theater.
Me + beli = membeli Ibu membeli beberapa macam makanan untuk makan malam
Mother bought several kinds of foods for dinner.
Me + dengar = mendengar Saya mendengar kabar jelek.
I heard bad news.
Me + sewa = menyewa Dia menyewa sebuah kamar kecil
He rents a small room.
Me + the adjective
Adding me- to an adjective changes it into a verb. The subjects turns into the state indicated by the adjective.
Me + besar = membesar Api itu makin membesar
The fire is getting bigger.
Me + kecil = mengecil Celana itu mengecil sesudah dicuci oleh mereka.
That pants shrank after they washed it.
Me + merah = memerah Daun-daunan di pohon sudah mulai memerah
The leaves on the tree becoming red.
Me + the noun
Adding me – to a noun changes it into a verb. The subject does the work indicated by the noun.
Me + darat = mendarat Pesawat terbang itu sudah mendarat.
That airplane has landed
Me + udara = mengudara Radio BBC mengudara setiap hari jam 5 sore.
BBC radio goes on the air at 5 PM every day.
Me – kan
Sometime you also can put a combination of me-kan into a verb. But not all of the verbs can be combined with me-kan. For verbs, some simple / independent verbs will do. Also some of ber-verbs and some me-verbs.
The basic rules are:
- Simple / independent verb With me- kan = do something / do something for somebody
Pulang memulangkan to make somebody leave
Tidur menidurkan to put somebody to sleep
Mandi
memandikan to give a bath to somebody/an
animal
Masuk memasukkan to put in something into somewhere
Keluar
mengeluarkan to take out something from
somewhere
- 2. Ber –verb With me –kan = do something
Berjalan menjalankan to run something (a machinery/ a
an organization )
Bercerita menceritakan to tell a story
Bekerja mengerjakan to do something
- 3. Me-verb With me-kan = do something to somebody
Memukul memukulkan to hit something for somebody
Mencari mencarikan to search for/ to look for something
for somebody
Menjual menjualkan to sell something for somebody
Irregular Me + Verb / Noun + kan
There are about 16 roots (8 verbs and 8 nouns) which require the treatment of me______kan ( instead of me only) in order to become transitive verbs. They have to be memorized.
ROOTS:
Anjur
|
menganjurkan
|
To recommend something
|
beri
|
memberikan
|
To give something to somebody
|
bicara
|
membicarakan
|
To discuss smth
|
dengar
|
mendengarkan
|
To listen to smth
|
kirim
|
mengirimkan
|
To send smth to smbd
|
pikir
|
memikirkan
|
To think of smth
|
pinjam
|
meminjamkan
|
To lend smth
|
terjemah
|
menterjemahkan
|
To transalate smth
|
NOUNS
|
||
sewa
|
menyewakan
|
To rent out smth to smbd
|
kerja
|
mengerjakan
|
To do something
|
cerita
|
menceritakan
|
To tell a story
|
kapal
|
Mengapalkan (only with ship)
|
To send something with ship
|
janji
|
menjanjikan
|
To promise something
|
kata
|
mengatakan
|
To say something
|
kabar
|
mengabarkan
|
To report a news of something
|
ucap
|
mengucapkan
|
To say/ pronounce something
|
Sound Assimilation
Assimilation of sounds
occurs as me- attached into the initial sounds of the joining words.
These changes meant for convenience in pronunciation.
Here are the basic rules:
Rule 1: Me + l, m, n, ny, r, y, w à nothing change
Me + lihat à melihat to see
Me + masak à memasak to cook
Me + nikah à menikah to marry
Me + nyala à menyala to be on
Me + rusak à merusak to damage
Me + yakin à meyakinkan to convince
Me + warna à mewarnai to color
Rule 2 : Me + b, f à insert m in the between ( mem- )
Me + beli à membeli to buy
Me + bayar à membayar to pay
Me + fitnah à memfitnah to slander
Me + fotokopiàmemfotokopi to make a copy
Rule 3 : Me + p à changes the initial sound into m ( mem- ), then p is dropped.
Me + pakai à memakai to wear
Me + pukul à memukul to hit/ to strike
Rule 4 : Me + vowel, g, h, k à insert ng in the between ( meng- )
Me + uji à menguji to test
Me + obrol à mengobrol to chat
Me + ajak à mengajak to invite
Me + ingat à mengingat to remember
Me + ukur à mengukur to measure
Me + ganti à mengganti to change
Me + hukum à menghukum to punish
Rule 5 : Me + d,j,c à insert n in the between ( men- )
Me + dorong à mendorong to push
Me + jual à menjual to sell
Me + cari à mencari to look for
Rule 6 : Me + s à insert ny in the between ( meny- )
Me + sewa à menyewa to rent
Me + surat à menyurati to write a letter
Rule 7 : Me + k à insert ng in the between ( meng- ) but then k is dropped
Me + kirim à mengirim to send
Me + kenal à mengenal to know somebody
Rule 8 : Me + t à insert n in the between ( men- ) but then t is dropped
Me + tari à menari to dance
Me + tunjuk à menunjuk to appoint somebody/ to point out on something======
The prefix me- forms an active verb out of any root word.
Me- creates an intransitive verb
Me-i creates a transitive verb preceding a direct object (accusative)
Me-kan creates a transitive verb preceding an indirect object (dative)
Let's take the root word 'tembak' (shoot).
Ari sedang menembak (Ari is shooting)
Ari sedang menembaki semangka (Ari is shooting at watermelons)
Ari sedang menembakkan anak panah (Ari is shooting arrows)
In English the verb doesn't explicitly indicate whether you're doing it to/at the object or with the object. Grammatically "shooting watermelons" can mean shooting at watermelons or shooting with watermelons. In Indonesian "menembaki semangka" means shooting at watermelons while "menembakkan semangka" means shooting with watermelons.
To expand the example:
Ari sedang menembaki semangka dengan anak panah (Ari is shooting watermelons with arrows)
Ari sedang menembakkan anak panah ke semangka (Ari is shooting arrows to watermelons)
Me-kan can be used with any root word, but me and me-i are not applicable to all words. I'll see if I can tease out a pattern, it seems to be related with the nature of the root word, whether's it's a noun, verb, or adjective.
==
Some base words that are combined with two affixes (eg. me + root word+ kan) can produce an adjective rather than a verb, or even both.
Examples
| Root Word | Meaning | me – kan | In a sentence | Meaning |
| takut | scared | menakutkan | Film itu menakutkan | That movie is scarry |
| biar | let | membiarkan | Saya membiarkan hal itu terjadi | I am letting that happen |
| kerja | work/do | mengerjakan | Dia sedang mengerjakan pekerjaan rumah | He’s doing his homework |
| bingung | comfuse | membingungkan | Masalah ini membingungkan saya | This problem confuses me |
| darat | land | mendaratkan | Pilot itu mampu mendaratkan pesawat dengan selamat | That pilot can land the airplane safely |
Me- verbs
Verbs (action/doing words) in Indonesian often have a me- prefix. There are so many words that can have the me- prefix on them that there could be a whole dictionary full of me- words. So words are put in the dictionary under their base-word.There are five me- prefixes assigned to the different letters of the alphabet. For example, all words that can have a me- prefix that start with L, M, N, R, W, or Y have the prefix me-. All words that can have a me- prefix that start with C, D, or J have the prefix men-. All except for two letters (that are rarely used in Indonesian) are listed in the table below next to their prefix.
| Me- | L melanjutkan M memaafkan N menantikan R merindukan W mewujudkan Y meyakinkan |
|---|---|
| Men- | C mencoba D mendorong J menjelang (T) menulis (the t gets dropped when the men- gets added, so for menulis you'd look up tulis) |
| Meng- | A mengamati E mengeja I mengiklankan O mengobati U mengumumkan G menggosok H menghormati (K) mengunci (the k gets dropped when the meng- gets added, so for mengunci you'd look up kunci) |
| Mem- | B membalas F memformulirkan (P) memutus (the p gets dropped when the mem- gets added, so you'd look up putus) V memvonis |
| Meny- | (S) menyakitkan (the s gets dropped when the meny- gets added, so for menyakitkan you'd look up sakit) |
0 comments:
Post a Comment