Some (BY NO MEANS ALL!) Stuff about me(n...)- and di-
The General Rule:
Verbs with the me(n/m/ng/ny)- [click here to discover the mysteries of meN-] prefix USUALLY have the doer of the verb in front of them and the receiver of the action of the verb after them. We call them "active" verbs in English, though this has nothing to do with how "actively" one might do them.
Verbs with the di- prefix USUALLY have the receiver of the action of the verb in front, and the THIRD PERSON doer coming after, optionally preceded by the word oleh, which means "by". We call them "passive" verbs in English, and, again, this doesn’t mean much in terms of the usual meaning of passive (also, don’t get "passive" confused with "past"; this stuff has NOTHING to do with actions being done in the past, present or future.)
IMPORTANT: The di- prefix only is used when you are talking about something being done by a THIRD PERSON -- that is, not "I" or "you". So while you can say "Buku itu dibeli (oleh) ibu saya," meaning "That book was bought by my mother (= third person)," you cannot say "Buku itu dibeli oleh saya," to mean "That book was bought by me (= first person)." There are ways to say "That book was bought by me," but you’ll just have to wait to find out about them!
In general, active verbs focus the attention of the sentence on whoever is doing the action, and on the action itself, while passive verbs focus on what happens to something as a result of doing the verb; you can even leave out the doer entirely with a passive verb if you don’t want to bother saying who did the action. "The book was bought (by my teacher)," is more focused on the book than on who did the buying. In Indonesian, and in English, too, using the passive ("Mistakes were made!") can let you off the hook, by saying that something was done but you aren’t specifying by whom.
Finally, you can order/urge/invite people to do things, using imperative verbs which use NEITHER men- or di-, and which can have -lah at the end, to add a kind of urging tone.
Here are some examples of words you should know, in their me(n...)- , di- and imperative forms (and, in a couple of cases, their ber- and ter- forms, just for fun):
| Penjual buah menjual sebuah nenas kepada Ali. | "The fruit seller sells a pineapple to Ali ." |
| Sebuah nenas dijual oleh penjual buah kepada Ali. | "A pineapple is sold by the fruit seller to Ali." |
| Jangan jual nenas di sini! | "Don’t sell pineapple here!" |
| Ani menerima surat dari ibunya. | "Ani receives a letter from her mother." |
| Surat dari ibunya diterima Ani. | "A letter from her mother is received by Ani" |
| atau | or |
| Surat diterima Ani dari ibunya. | "A letter is received by Ani from her mother." |
| Silakan terima uang ini, Tuan Bea-Cukai! | "Please accept this money, Mr. Customs Man!" |
| Terima kasih! | "Receive love!" (= Thanks!) |
| Teman saya suka menonton televisi. | "My friend likes to watch television." |
| Televisi suka ditonton (oleh) teman saya. | "Television is enjoyed (LIT. likes to be watched) by my friend." |
| Tontonlah film itu! | "Watch that film!" |
| Tomo ingin membaca surat kabar itu. | "Tomo wants to read that newspaper." |
| Surat kabar itu ingin dibaca Tomo. | "That paper wants to be read by Tomo" |
| Bacalah surat kabar itu! | "Read that newspaper!" |
| Rey belum membuka pintu. | "Rey hasn’t yet opened the door." |
| Pintu belum dibuka Rey. | "The door hasn’t yet been opened by Rey." |
| Kantor dibuka pada jam tujuh pagi. | "The office was opened at seven a.m. |
| Kantor tetap terbuka sampai jam dua. | "The office stays open until 2:00." |
| Jangan buka pintu! Ada anjing besar di luar! | "Don’t open the door! There’s a big dog outside!" |
| Ibu Sugandi membeli pisang di pasar. | "Mrs. S. buys bananas in the market. |
| Pisang dibeli Ibu Sugandi di pasar. | "Bananas are bought by Mrs. S. in the market. |
| Belilah pisang di toko saya! | "Buy bananas at my store!" |
| Guru kita harus membicarakan film itu. | "Our teacher must discuss that film." |
| Film itu harus dibicarakan guru kita. | "That film must be discussed by our teacher." |
| Bicarakanlah film itu! | "Discuss that film!" |
| Kita berbicara tentang film itu | "We talked about that film." |
| Mahasiswa harus menulis latihan ini. | "The students have to write this excercise." |
| Latihan ini harus ditulis mahasiswa. | "This exercise has to be written by the students." |
| Tulislah latihan ini! | "Write this exercise!" |
| Pak Lubis menutup kantornya. | "Mr. L. closes his office" |
| Kantornya ditutup Pak Lubis. | "The office is closed by Mr. L." |
| Tolong tutup kantor! Tutuplah kantor! | "Please close the office!" |
| Seorang juru ketik sudah mengetik surat itu. | "A typist has already typed that letter." |
| Surat itu sudah diketik oleh seorang juru ketik. | "That letter has been already typed by a typist." |
| Harap ketik surat ini! Ketiklah surat ini! | "Please type this letter" |
| Ibu Ani mengirimkan surat kepada Ani. | "Ani’s mother sends a letter to Ani." |
| Surat dikirimkan Ibu Ani kepada Ani. | "A letter is sent by Ani’s mother to Ani." |
| Kirimkanlah surat ini kepada Ani! | "Send this letter to Ani!" |
| Ibu Supardi sedang menyiapkan ikan goreng. | "Ms. S. is preparing fried fish." |
| Ikan goreng sedang disiapkan Ibu Supardi. | "Fried fish is being prepared by Ms. S." |
| Tolong siapkan ikan goreng! Siapkanlah ikan goring! | "Please prepare fried fish!" |