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A large number of the words used in the Bahasa Indonesia are formed by
combining root words with affixes and other combining forms. Knowing how affixes are
used is the key to understanding the meanings of derived words and in learning to read
bahasa Indonesia. There are a relatively small number of Indonesian affixes in common
usage and bahasa Indonesia is still very much a root-based language with nice complete
word "families". This is in contrast to English where there
are many more affixes from
diverse sources and the study of root words and their "families" is not as useful.
Infixes
There are 3 types of infix that are inserted after the first syllable of root words to
create new words with varying meanings:
el, em and er. Infixes are rarely used and are
not productive (not capable of being used to form new words freely). In general, an infix
adds a notion of "being many, having repetition, being in the form of or being an actor or
tool."
Prefixes
a.
Prefix
–ber
Adding this prefix –ber to verb, noun or adjective root words results in a verb that
often means "being something, having something, having a certain attribute" or
"indicating a state of being or condition".
Examples:
beragama {ber+agama} = having a religion [
"agama" is a noun]=
religion
berbahaya {ber+bahaya} = being dangerous [
"bahaya" is an adjective]=
dangerous
berhenti {ber+henti} = to stop [
"henti" is a verb]= stop
b. Prefix
me-, mem- men-, meng-, menge-, meny
me-, mem- men-, meng-, menge-, meny-, All six of these prefixes are variations
of the same prefix
"me-" and we refer to them collectively as the
"me-group". They have
the same meanings and usage but are spelled differently, depending on the first letters of
the root word to which they are attached. Examples:
melihat {me+lihat} = to see; to
look at
menjadi {men+jadi} = to become
mengerti {meng+erti} =
to understand
mengelap {menge+lap} = to dust with a cloth
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menyapu {meny+(s)apu} = to
sweep with a broom
membuat {mem+buat} = to make; to build
Prefixes from the
me-group may be optionally
dropped in informal speech,
except when the root word also has the suffix
-kan or
-i attached, in which case it cannot
be dropped. Prefixes from the
me- group are never used in imperatives when the speaker
gives a command.
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
