CapitolHillPassives

Indonesian Passive Voice

DavidMoeljadi

The passive voice is very frequent in Indonesian, much more frequent than in English. In English the frequency is estimated at about 4-5% in the input to children, but in Indonesian it is estimated between 28-35% (The Acquisition of Passive Voice in English and Indonesian).

See Transitive verbs and Voice in Indonesian.

Passive type one

The agent (optional) is third person:

1. Pronoun: dia "3SG", mereka "3PL"

2. Noun: common noun, proper noun

The structure: Patient + di-base (+ (oleh) + Agent)

Some examples:

1. a. Budi sedang dikejar.
      Budi PROG PASS-chase
      "Budi is being chased."

   b. Budi sedang dikejar dia.
      Budi PROG PASS-chase 3SG
      "Budi is being chased by him/her."

   c. Budi sedang dikejar oleh dia.
      Budi PROG PASS-chase by 3SG
      "Budi is being chased by him/her."

   d. Budi sedang dikejarnya.
      Budi PROG PASS-chase=3SG
      "Budi is being chased by him/her."

   e. Budi sedang dikejar olehnya.
      Budi PROG PASS-chase by=3SG
      "Budi is being chased by him/her."

Passive imperatives

An imperative with a transitive verb can be expressed in the passive, with prefix di- (Sneddon et al. 2010: 334-335).

Some examples:

2. a. Tolong dibuka jendela ini!
      please PASS-open window this
      "Please have this window opened!"

   b. Jangan dibuka jendela ini!
      NEG PASS-open window this
      "This window is not to be opened!"

Passive type two

The agent (obligatory):

1. Pronoun: aku "1SG", engkau "2SG", dia "3SG" etc.

2. Pronoun substitute: kinship terms bapak "father", ibu "mother" etc., proper noun

The structure: Patient + Agent + base

Some examples:

3. a. Budi sedang aku kejar.
      Budi PROG 1SG chase
      "Budi is being chased by me."

   b. Budi sedang ku=kejar.
      Budi PROG 1SG-chase
      "Budi is being chased by me."

   c. Budi sedang engkau kejar.
      Budi PROG 2SG chase
      "Budi is being chased by you."

   d. Budi sedang kaukejar.
      Budi PROG 2SG-chase
      "Budi is being chased by you."

   e. Budi sedang dia kejar.
      Budi PROG 3SG chase
      "Budi is being chased by him/her."

   f. Budi sedang bapak kejar.
      Budi PROG father chase
      "Budi is being chased by me/you (old man)."

   g. Budi sedang David kejar.
      Budi PROG David chase
      "Budi is being chased by me/you (David)."

Other passive constructions

The structure is the same as passive type one above.

Passive with prefix ter-

Passive with circumfix ke-...-an

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