Colloquial Prefixes & Suffixes

Prefixes

One basic feature has been deliberately omitted until now, as it merits separate treatment: sound changes for forming verbs.

You already know the set of sound changes to form transitive verbs in formal Indonesian, e.g. tulis  → menulis. Colloquial Indonesian has its own set of sound changes, e.g. tulis  → nulis.

Here is a table which displays this system of sound changes.

INITIAL LETTER OF BASE	FORMAL VERB	COLLOQUIAL VERB
ambil[vowel]	mengambil	ngambil
bantu	membantu	ngebantu, ∫bantu
cuci	mencuci	nyuci
dengar	mendengar	ngedengar, ndengar
ganggu	menggangu	ngeganggu,ngganggu
habis	menghabiskan	ngabisin [drops the h]
potong	memotong	motong
tunggu	menunggu	nunggu
kirim	mengirim	ngirim
marah	memarahi	marahin
nikmat	menikmati	nikmatin
nyanyi	menyanyi	nyanyi
sewa	menyewa	nyewa
jawab	menjawab	ngejawab, njawab
rusak	merusak	ngerusak, ngrusak
larang	melarang	ngelarang, nglarang
warna	mewarnakan	ngewarnain
yakin	meyakinkan	ngeyakinin

-IN Suffix

• ngabisIN instead of formal menghabisI
• ngewarnaIN instead of formal mewarnaKAN

You might have noticed a strange suffix on a few words in the table above, namely, “-in”. This “– in” suffix replaces the formal suffixes –i and –kan. So e.g.:

Indonesians irregularly add this “–in” suffix sometimes even when the formal verb would not have “–i” or “–kan”. So e.g. they sometimes write or say ngebantuIN, instead of ngebantu, despite the fact that in formal Indonesian we just say plain membantu.

© Tim Hassall 2012
(May be reproduced for private study or for classroom use, with acknowledgement of author)