Kepada
These prepositions relate more to a person. ‘Kepada‘ is used for the verbs that need the particle ‘to‘. But in spoken/informal Indonesian, people may violate this rule and use “ke” instead of the proper “kepada“.
Some verbs in English like “to send”, “to give” need the particle “to”, followed by a person. For example: “I give the book to you”. In Indonesian, for this notion of to, you cannot use the particle ke. Rather, you’ll use the particle kepada.
Example:
- Saya memberikan buku ini kepadamu.
- I give this book to you.
- Dia mengirimkan surat ini kepada saya.
- He/she sends this letter to me.
Pada
Many words are followed by ‘pada’. It means “to, towards.”
Examples:
- Dia takut pada anjing. He/She is scared of dogs.
- Dia lupa pada mimpi buruk itu. He/She quickly forgot that bad dream.
- Dia kagum pada Jepang. He/She admires Japan.
- Dia curiga pada orang itu. He/She is suspicious of that person.
Untuk
“Untuk” can also relate to a person. It is almost synonymous with “for”.
The particle untuk is almost synonymous with for. For example:
- Buku ini untukmu. : This book is for you.
It is also used to explain the usage of a thing:
- Pensil ini untuk menulis. : This pencil is for writing [things].