Why do Indonesian speakers overuse passive “di-” verbs?

July 23, 2023

MsFixer

Question

“That course is joined by twelve students”^{(sentence source)} sounds unnatural and snaky in English. Why does Bahasa Indonesia use “diikuti” (passive voice) instead of “mengikuti”?

Question Category

Articles, CEFR-A2, Grammar

Table of Content

Debunk misunderstandings

FALSE — “Di- verbs are always used for a passive voice.”

TL;DR (short answer)

“Di-” (and its family forms such as “di-kan”, “di-i”, and “diper-“) verbs have five other functions.
1. Jussive
2. Polite or respectful
3. Sequential
4. “The” (definite) v. “A” (indefinite)
5. Mandatory v. optional
“Di-” prefix swaps the word order between a subject and an object. This is based on “the main thought comes first, adjunct follows” principle.

Long answer with example sentences

Everybody has probably heard that “Indonesian is one of the easiest languages for English speakers”. And you would get realized that that’s a total myth once you bumped into example sentences with “di-” verbs.

The way they use “di-” verbs is super snaky. Why?

List of Example Sentences with “di-” prefix

All of the following sentences use “di-” verbs.

“Tolong diminum air dengan obat ini.” (Word-for-word translation: Please be drunk water with this medicine.) ==> Why not “minum” but “diminum”?
“Silakan dimakan.” (WFWT: Please be eaten.) ==> Why not “makan” but “dimakan”?.
“Klien itu ditunggu oleh Andi.” (WFWT: That client is waited by Andi.) ==> Why not “Andi menunggu klien itu”?
“Andi membeli buku. Buku itu diberikan pada adiknya Tini, kemudian dibacanya.” (WFWT: Andi bought a book. The book was given to his younger sister Tini, and then read by her.) ==> Why not “Andi memberikan bukunya pada adiknya Tini, kemudian Tini membacanya”?
“Anak Tono digigit anjing.” (WFWT: Tono’s child was bitten by a dog.) ==> What’s the difference between the di- verb sentence and “Anjin menggigit anak Tono”?
“Menteri kabinet diangkat oleh presiden.” (WFWT: Ministers were appointed by the president.) ==> What’s the difference between the di- verb sentence and “Presiden mengangkat menteri kabinet”?

Example #1 & #2 are categorized in “jussive”; #3 is “polite”; #4 is “sequential”; #5 is “definite v. indefinite”; and #6 is “mandatory v. optional” patterns.

Pattern A: Jussive (Imperative)

“Jussive“, in a linguistic term, means a “command”.

Many native Indonesian speakers say that a di-verb works much better than a me- verb in an imperative sentence. Using a me- verb sounds too direct to “you” (the listener). On the other hand, a di-verb makes it vague who should take the action and thereby softens the tone (or increases the politeness) even if a pharmacist, for example, says “please take this medicine with a glass of water” to a patient over the counter.

“Silakan dimakan” (Please be eaten) from example #2 is also very frequently used when someone offers you something to eat. Equivalent of “Enjoy your meal” in English. “Silakan makan” sounds a bit rude or too pushy even though preceded by “silakan” (please). So, the connotation of the di- verb sentence is “I don’t mind if someone eats food I prepared.”

For the same reason, “Tolong dikirim surat ini segera.” (Please be sent this letter immediately) sounds better and makes it softer than “Tolong kirim surat ini segera.” (Please send…) The speaker hopes you (the listener) to fulfill the request, but it’s also okay if someone else does so when a di- verb is used.

Pattern B: Polite

Imperative sentences are not the only situation where you need to be polite. Example #3 (Andi is waiting for the client) is the case you should show some respect for the client.

If you convert the sentence from a passive voice to an active voice, it could be even interpreted as “What did that client do improperly? Andi expects an explanation from the client.” That sounds like a criticism from Andi to the client.

Pattern C: Sequential

There are three verbs in example #4 (buying and reading a book). Only the first one is a me- verb (active) whereas the rest are usually di- verbs because these sentences are talking about the same topic sequentially. This pattern is linguistically explained as a part of “the main thought comes first, adjunct follows principle.” Once a main topic is introduced, the following sentences are usually with di- verbs in order for the topic to become the subject.

Pattern D: Definite (the) v. Indefinite (a)

For English speakers, “A dog has bitten Tono’s child” in an active voice sounds natural, but don’t apply the same word order to bahasa Indonesia. Nothing details about a dog is mentioned in this context. If so, native Indonesian speakers usually prefer a di- verb sentence by starting from Anak Tono (i.e. the subject is not a general child but definitely Tono’s child). This is also the main thought comes first, adjunct follows principle.

Pattern E: Mandatory v. Optional

“Menteri kabinet diangkat oleh presiden” (Ministers were appointed by the president) and “Presiden mengangkat menteri kabinet” (The president appointed ministers) are both correct. The me- verb sentence, however, implies that the appointment is a mandatory procedure (e.g. the constitution defines president’s responsibilities). The original di- verb sentence doesn’t have such a nuance.

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References and Further readings

Dedi Sutedi (scholar at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia)「インドネシア語の｢di-動詞｣構文と日本語の｢（ら）れる｣との対照研究」(“Study on the difference between di- verbs in Indonesian and passive forms in Japanese“), 2006

Duolingo lesson: “Mereka dijumpai oleh ibumu di sekolah.” / “They are met by your mother at school.” — A passive voice sounds unnatural in English. But this is how it works in Indonesian.
Duolingo lesson: “Siapa yang dilayani oleh Dimas?” / “Who is being served by Dimas?” — Another snaky sentence.

Revisions

Version 1: May, 2021 — Posted on the Duolingo Indonesian forum (and the entire forum was shut down by Duolingo in March, 2022)
Version 2: May, 2022 — Reposted on the old blog
Version 3: July, 2023 — Migrated from the old blog domain (as a part of rebranding project).

Credentials and Copyright information

Author(s) of the article: MsFixer (May 2021)
Native Indonesian review: N/A
English proofreading: N/A
Copyright and licensing (text): CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Copyright and licensing (image): the featured image is created by jeffjacobs1990 and distributed via Pixabay under the “no attribution required” license.