Colloquial Prefixes On Transitive Verbs
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, mbantu |
| 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 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.:
- ngabisIN instead of formal menghabisI
- ngewarnaIN instead of formal mewarnaKAN
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.
