Module 5 – An Interview for a Job

  The Indonesian Way Module 5 – An Interview for a Job

  George Quinn & Uli Kozok

  5

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  Date of Last Revision: 19 April 2015

  The development of “The Indonesian Way” was sponsored by grant P017A090375-10 from the US Department of Education, International Research and Studies Program. The development of the print version was made possible by a grant received from the University of Tasmania.

  Module 5 An Interview for a Job

  The main aim of Module 5 is to provide you with the vocabulary, sentence shells and cultural skills that will enable you to talk about education and work, ask and answer questions about these topics, and express a variety of opinions about them. The module will also help you consol- idate the skill studied in Module 4 of engaging in debate. By reading a short story and a number of shorter reading passages you will make a start on the development of reading skills.

  There is special emphasis in the module on gaining a command of verbs that begin with the me- prefix. You will learn the names of occupations and subjects of study. You will also get more practice in expressing opinions and preferences. The module provides some basic information about Indonesia’s education system. It will show you how to use an Indonesian dictionary and how to format a business letter. You will also learn how to pronounce the letters of the alphabet and you will get to know a number of very commonly used abbreviations.

  In the culminating role play you will practise taking part in an interview for a job. Aims

• To provide some basic information on the verb system of Indonesian, focusing on transitive verbs and giving practice in the analysis and formation of transitive verbs.

  Vocabulary Review

  Here are some of the frequent words used in this lesson that have appeared in previous les- sons. Make sure that you remember their meanings. memakai to use, wear menunggu to wait membantu to help, assist merusak to damage memelihara to take care of menolong to help mengajar to teach ujian examination menjadi to be, to become

  Rambu di Jalan Raya Bahasa An Overview of Indonesian Verbs

  Probably no feature of Indonesian is more di fficult for foreign learners than verbs, so at this point we are going to pause to take stock of what has already been presented on verbs, and we will add more information about them.

  The discussion that follows is a little technical in places, but don’t worry if you don’t take it all in at first reading. It is given here more for the sake of completeness than because it is absolutely essential for mastering the language. After all, there are well over 200 million Indonesians who speak their lan- guage perfectly, mostly without any self-aware knowledge of its grammar, and in theory you can too. Nevertheless, many students of Indonesian do find that an understanding of the grammatical system can sometimes help improve fluency, correctness and expressiveness. But knowledge of the grammatical system of a language can only complement and never substitute for accurate im- itation of models and memorable repetition as tools for the attainment of practical correctness and fluency.

  You have already noticed that words in Indonesian are either single, indivisible forms (single morphemes or free morphemes) that stand on their own and don’t change their form, or they are “divisible” and can be broken up into a base word and one or more a

  Some examples of the former category — the “nude” words of Indonesian — are:

  mau, makan, rumah, kuning, pandai, telepon, mobil, pensil, komputer

  Examples of the latter category — the “clothed” words of Indonesian — are:

  berjalan, makanan, buah-buahan, membaca, perpustakaan, menarik

  The words above belong to various parts of speech: nouns, verbs and adjectives. In this lesson we are looking for the moment at verbs only. So far you have met three kinds of verb:

  1. Helper verbs or auxiliary verbs

  These are verbs that sometimes occur on their own, but more usually occur immediately in front of another verb. They function to give an extra dimension of meaning to the second verb, es- pecially by showing some aspect of how the doer of the action does the action or relates to the action expressed in the second verb. Examples of helper verbs are:

  dapat, suka, boleh, bisa, mau, mulai, ingin, harus, ikut, pandai

  Helper verbs have only one form, and they never change form. So they are “nude” words, or single indivisible morphemes. Study these examples. The helper verbs are in italics.

  Kami suka makan di Rumah Makan Kartika.

  We like eating at the Kartika Restaurant.

  Apakah Ibu Prawoto ikut makan nanti malam?

  Is Mrs Prawoto going to join us for dinner tonight? Maaf, saya kurang pandai menulis dalam bahasa Cina. Sorry, I’m not really very good at writing in Chinese.

  Mereka tidak dapat datang.

  They can’t come.

  Biasanya mahasiswa tidak mau masuk kuliah pada malam hari.

  Students don’t usually want to follow lectures at night.

  Saya sudah mulai belajar Ilmu Kimia.

  I have begun to study Chemistry.

  2. Intransitive verbs.

  I suppose you could say that an intransitive verb is one that “looks back” in the sense that it relates back to the doer of the action and not to anyone or anything else. In other words it signi- fies an action that is done by someone or something, but it is not done to anyone or anything. An example of an intransitive verb in English is the verb “to die”. You can say:

  “She died.”

  But you cannot say:

• *“She died her husband.”

  Intransitive verbs take several forms in Indonesian. Some are single morphemes, others have

  setuju, mandi, tidur, bangun, pergi, datang, terbang, masuk, duduk, kawin

  Other intransitive verbs consist of a base word plus an a ffix. The most common affix on in- transitive verbs is the prefix ber-, in fact most (but not all) words that have a ber- prefix on them are intransitive verbs.

  berjalan, berhenti, beristirahat, berubah, berlibur, bermain, berbicara

  A complicating factor here is that sometimes the ber- prefix is dropped, especially if you are speaking rapidly or informally. Compare these pairs of sentences. Each pair has basically the same meaning and both sentences are 100% correct, but the first is formal and the second in- formal.

  Saya ingin berjalan kaki saja.

  Aku kepengin jalan kaki aja.

  I’d prefer to just walk.

  Sesudah beristirahat dia mandi Sesudah istirahat dia mandi.

  After taking a rest she had a bath.

  Pada hari Sabtu pagi biasanya saya bermain golf.

  Sabtu pagi biasanya aku main golf.

  I usually play golf on Saturday mornings.

  There are also some intransitive verbs that have a me- prefix. You have already met one or two of them.

  Apakah Anda pandai menyanyi? Di mana Anda mengajar?

  Are you any good at singing? Where do you teach? Katanya mereka akan menikah. I’ve heard they’re going to get married.

  Gunung Merapi meletus kemarin.

  Mount Merapi erupted yesterday. If an intransitive verb is one that “looks back”, a transitive verb is one that “looks forward” in the sense that it signifies an action that is done to someone or something. You have seen that the English verb “to die” is intransitive. An example of a transitive verb in

  English is “to fell”. In English you can say:

  “She felled the tree.”

  But unlike “She died” we cannot say:

• *“She felled.”

  Actually, verbs like “to fell” are a bit of a rarity in English. As you can see, it cannot be intransit- ive. But most verbs in English can be either transitive or intransitive, and what’s more they look the same whether they are transitive or intransitive. Take, for example, the verb “to stop”. You can say:

  “The bus stopped.”

  Here the verb “to stop” is intransitive because it is simply signifying an action and it is “looking back” at the doer of the action, the bus. But “to stop” can also be used transitively.

  “He thought he could get away with it, but I stopped him.”

  In the latter sentence the verb “to stop” is looking forward, indicating that something was done to “him”. So far so good. Now let’s turn to transitive verbs in Indonesian. In this module we are concerned with transitive verbs that have a me- prefix on the front of them.

  If a verb has a me- prefix this indicates two things. First, the verb is most likely transitive (the number of intransitive me- verbs is relatively small). So it has a receiver (often called the goal). The receiver is on the receiving end of the action expressed in the verb. Second, there is an emphasis, or focus, in the sentence on the doer of the action, often called by grammarians the actor. What this means is, in a subtle way, the doer of the action is in clear focus in the mind of the speaker, whereas the receiver of the action is a bit vague. Take this example.

  Pak Sukamtono memukul anjing.

  Mr Sukamtono hit the dog.

  In this sentence it is clear who the doer of the action is. In the context of the “text” from which this sentence has been lifted, we can assume that there has been previous mention of Pak Sukamtono. The speaker knows who he is. He is in sharp, unambiguous focus. But the receiver of the action (anjing) is not so clear. Yes, we know it is a dog, but one dog? ... or dogs in general? ... or any old dog? ... or a particular dog? It is not so clear.

  So this sentence has a focus on the hitter of the dog, the doer of the action. The grammar of Indonesian requires this “actor focus” to be expressed by attaching a me- prefix to the front of the base form of the transitive verb.

  The transitive verb here is -pukul (to hit). In its actor focus form this verb assumes the form

  memukul. You will see that the me-

  prefix seems to “fuse” with the base word pukul, melting the /p/ of -pukul and turning it into a nasal sound, an /m/. This nasal sound takes a variety of forms, but grammarians usually represent it generically with a capital “N” (standing for “nasalised assimilation”). So in grammatical descriptions the me- prefix, when it is written on its own, is usu- ally written meN-, where /N/ could be any one of four nasalised consonant sounds, /m/, /n/, /ny/ You have already met and used some actor focus transitive verbs. Study these examples. The transitive verb is in italics.

  Saya suka menonton televisi.

  I like watching television Dia akan mengambil uang di bank. She’s going to get some money at the bank.

  Saya selalu membeli surat kabar.

  I always buy a newspaper.

  Kami tidak melihat Anda di pasar.

  We didn’t see you at the market.

  Katanya, Pak Hasan sudah menulis buku.

  I’ve heard that Mr Hasan has written a book.

  Anda harus dapat memakai kata kerja dengan baik.

  You’ve got to be able to use verbs properly.

  Sebaiknya mencuci pakaian sebelum siang hari.

  It’s best to wash clothes before the middle of the day.

  The verbs in these sentences consist of a prefix and a base word. The prefix fuses, or “assimil- ates”, to the base word in some way. So the verbs can be analysed as follows.

  menonton consists of meN- + -tonton mengambil consists of meN- + -ambil membeli consists of meN- + -beli melihat consists of me- + -lihat menulis consists of meN- + -tulis memakai consists of meN- + -pakai mencuci consists of meN- + cuci

  Some base words that begin with “m” often (a few verbs even always) avoid attaching the ini- tial meN- prefix when they function as a transitive verb. The most common of these are minta,

  minum, makan, mohon, mulai, and masak:

  Biasanya mereka makan nasi goreng pada pagi hari. (not memakan) They usually have fried rice for breakfast. Boleh saya minta teh? (usually minta but sometimes meminta)

  Could you give me some tea? (Literally: “May I request tea?”)

  Apakah Anda mau minum kopi? (not meminum)

Would you like to drink co ffee?

  Dia mulai perjalanannya di Padang. (also fairly commonly memulai) She began her journey in Padang. Mereka tidak mau mohon maaf. (usually mohon but sometimes memohon)

  They didn’t want to apologise. (Literally: “to ask for forgiveness”)

  Dia masak ayam dan sayur-sayuran. (sometimes memasak) She cooked chicken and vegetables. The meN- prefix is attached or assimilated to the base word in a variety of ways depending on the initial sound in the base word. Let’s review this briefly. Here are the main rules.

  /ng/ sound. For example:

• ambil ð mengambil
• ajar ð mengajar

  2. If the base word begins with the consonant /b/ the meN- prefix is fused on to it with the sound /m/. For example:

• buka

  ð membuka

• baca

  ð membaca

• bawa ð membawa
• buat ð membuat
• beli ð membeli
• bantu ð membantu

  3. If the base word begins with the consonant /p/ the meN- prefix is fused on with the sound /m/. In addition, the /p/ in the base word merges with the prefix and disappears. For ex- ample:

• pakai

  ð memakai

• pilih

  ð memilih

• panggil ð memanggil
• pelihara ð memelihara
• pimpin ð memimpin

  BUT NOTE this common exception: -punyai ð mempunyai (also note that punya never be- comes *memunya!. You can only use punya or the more formal variant mempunyai).

  4. If the base word begins with the consonants /d/, /j/ or /c/ the meN- prefix is fused on to it with the sound /n/. For example:

• dapat ð mendapat
• dengar ð mendengar
• cari

  ð mencari

• coba

  ð mencoba

• cuci ð mencuci
• jual ð menjual
• jadi ð menjadi

  5. If the base word begins with the consonant /t/ the meN- prefix is fused on to it with the sound /n/. In addition the initial /t/ of the base word merges with the prefix and disappears. For example:

• tarik ð menarik
• tutup

  ð menutup

• terima

  ð menerima

• tulis ð menulis
• tolong ð menolong
• tunggu ð menunggu

  6. If the base word begins with the consonants /g/ or /h/ the meN- prefix fuses on to it with the sound /ng/. For example:

• goreng ð menggoreng
• hitung ð menghitung

  7. If the base word begins with the consonant /k/ the meN- prefix fuses on to it with the sound /ng/. In addition the initial /k/ of the base word merges with the prefix and disappears. For example:

• kirim ð mengirim
• katakan ð mengatakan

  8. If the base word begins with the consonant /s/ the meN- prefix is fused on to it with a /ny/ sound. In addition the /s/ sound in the base word merges with the prefix and disappears. For ex- ample:

• simpan

  ð menyimpan

• senangkan

  ð menyenangkan

  9. If the base word begins with the consonants /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /w/ and /y/ the meN- prefix at- taches straight on the front end of the base word without any assimilation or “glue”. For example:

• lihat ð melihat
• mulai ð memulai
• nikah ð menikah
• rasa ð merasa
• wakili ð mewakili
• yakinkan

  ð meyakinkan

  Mohon Perhatian!!

  The prefix ber-, which is usually a marker of an intransitive verb, attaches directly on the front of a base word without any assimilation or fusion. Here are some examples:

• ubah -asal

  ð berubah ð berasal

• temu ð bertemu -dansa ð berdansa

• belanja ð berbelanja -henti ð berhenti
• cakap-cakap ð bercakap-cakap But in a few special cases some assimilation takes places. The /r/ in ber- may change to /l/ or disappear altogether. For exam
• ajar

  ð belajar

• kerja

  ð bekerja

• renang ð berenang

  Mohon Perhatian!!

  Sometimes a base word may even have yet another a ffix on it. One example that has appeared already in the course is the verb memperbaiki (to “make good” i.e. to repair). This is built up from the adjective baik (good) that produces the base word –perbaiki to which the me- prefix can be at- tached.

  Indonesian is an agglutinative language in which complex a ffixation plays an important role, not only in the verb system, but in other parts of speech too. Informal and slangy speech often radic- ally simplifies – even eliminates altogether – this affixation, but for a sophisticated command of the formal language you need to get used to manipulating a

  ffixes easily and automatically.

Latihan 1—Kosa Kata Lalu Jodohkan kata-kata di sebelah kiri dengan terjemahannya di sebelah kanan

  a. to help someone, to assist 2. membantu

  b. to keep (as a pet, domestic animal) 3. memelihara

  c. to use or wear something 4. menjadi

  d. examination (in school/academic sense) 5. menunggu

  e. to wait for (something/someone) 6. merusak

  f. to become, to be 7. tolong

  g. please (help me) 8. ujian

  h. to damage or destroy something

  1. memakai Latihan 2—Menyimak Listen to Sound File 060-01. The sentences below are out of order. Order them in accord with the order in the sound file.

  Is Mrs Prawoto going to join us for dinner tonight? They can’t come. We like eating at the Kartika Restaurant.

  Sorry, I’m not really very good at writing in Chinese. Are you any good at singing? I have begun to study Chemistry.

  He enjoys cooking. I’ve heard they’re going to get married. They didn’t want to apologize These children can’t read or write yet.

  She cooked chicken and vegetables. She began her journey in Padang. They usually have fried rice for breakfast.

Latihan 3—Base Words For each word, write the base word. For example, the base word for memukul is pukul

  menerima membuka mengantar membaca mengatur membawa menggoreng membuat menghitung membeli mengirim membantu mengisi memakai menutup memilih menyimpan memanggil mengambil memelihara mengajar memimpin

Latihan 4— The me(N) Prefix For each base word, write the word with the meN- prefix. For pukul, write memukul

  ambil cari ajar senangkan jual tolong coba panggil dengar terima lihat tutup simpan pimpin baca pilih buat pelihara dapat cuci rasa rusak goreng tarik bantu tulis beli tunggu bawa hitung kirim jadi katakan pakai

  Latihan 5—Rangkai Kata Urutkan kata-kata di bawah ini menjadi kalimat yang baik sesuai dengan arti:

  1. “Students don’t usually want to follow lectures at night.” Biasanya—kuliah—mau—ikut—pada—malam—tidak—mahasiswa—hari. 2. “We like eating at the Kartika Restaurant.” Kami—di—Restoran—makan—suka—Kartika. 3. “She’s going to get some money at the bank.” Dia—mengambil—di—uang—akan—bank. 4. “It’s best to wash clothes before the middle of the day.” Sebaiknya—mencuci—pakaian—siang—sebelum—hari. 5. “They usually have fried rice for breakfast.” Biasanya—pada—goreng—makan—mereka—pagi—nasi—hari.

  Latihan 6— Me(N)- Prefix I In the space in each sentence write a verb with a properly attached meN- prefix. The base

form of the verb is given in brackets at the end of the sentence. For example, if the base

word is beli, write membeli in the blanks.

  11. Mereka ___________ saya ke perpustakaan. [antar]

  20. Kami sudah ___________ Anda selama tiga jam! [tunggu]

  19. Apakah Anda dapat ___________ saya? [tolong]

  18. Saya akan ___________ pintu depan. Dingin! [tutup]

  17. Kita tidak boleh ___________ hutan dan sungai. [rusak]

  16. Sudah jam sembilan! Mengapa Anda belum ___________ piring? [cuci]

  15. Mereka pergi ke sana, tetapi mereka tidak ___________ apa-apa. [lihat]

  13. Yulie tidak mau ___________ polisi. Dia mau ___________ guru. [jadi] 14.

  12. Apakah Anda sudah ___________ uang dari kantor? [terima]

  Pak Bintoro sudah tidak lagi ___________ matematika sekarang. [ajar]

  1. Sebelum pergi ke pesta, dia ___________ pakaian baru. [beli]

  9. Sukartini sudah ___________ uang itu di bank. [simpan] 10.

  8. Dia ___________ sedih sesudah pulang dari ujian. [rasa]

  Tolong, Pak! Apakah Bapak bisa ___________ uang ini? [hitung]

  6. Maaf, saya belum ___________ kursi di kamar duduk. [atur] 7.

  5. Tadi ia pergi ke kantor pos untuk ___________ surat kepada ibunya. [kirim]

  4. Ia ___________ bahwa ibunya sedang sakit. [katakan]

  3. Mengapa teman saya tidak ___________ surat? [tulis]

  2. Dia tidak ___________ komputer. Dia ___________ pena atau pensil. [pakai]

Mau makan? Baik! Saya akan ___________ telur untuk Anda. [goreng]

  Latihan 7— Me(N)- Prefix II Fill the blanks in each group of sentences with one of the me- verbs listed below so that you produce sentences that make good sense. There are ten verbs listed, one for each group of sentences. To complete the exercise correctly make sure you have a good understanding of each sentence so that you choose the right me- verb to complete it: mengatakan—memakai

  —memukul—mengantar—menutup—menyimpan—menerima—mengirim—menggoreng— memanggil

  1. Dalam suratnya ia ___________ bahwa uangnya sudah habis. Tetapi ia tidak _____ bahwa ia ingin pulang.

  2. Dia tidak suka alat-alat modern. Dia masih ___________ pena dan pensil. Dia tidak mau ___________ komputer atau HP!

  3. Mengapa, hah? Mengapa Anda ___________ anak itu? Saya tidak setuju. Anda tidak boleh ___________ anak kecil! 4.

Pagi hari saya ___________ mereka ke Borobudur. Siang hari saya ___________ mereka ke Prambanan. Tetapi tidak ada waktu untuk ___________ mereka ke Parangtritis

  5. Andi ___________ pintu depan dan pintu belakang tetapi dia tidak ___________ jendela. Nah... penjahat itu masuk lewat jendela.

  6. Saya selalu hati-hati. Saya ___________ uang di bank. Saya tidak pernah ___________ uang di bawah tempat tidur.

  7. Ibu Danoyo sedang sedih. Dia ___________ hadiah dari kakaknya, adiknya, anaknya dan te- mannya. Tetapi ia tidak ___________ hadiah dari suaminya.

  8. Aduh! Orang-tua saya ___________ surat dengan banyak berita, tetapi mereka tidak ___________ uang.

  9. Anda boleh saja ___________ daging ayam itu, tetapi jangan ___________ sayur-sayuran!

  10. Saya masih muda. Mengapa Anda ___________ saya ‘Ibu’? Lebih baik Anda ___________ saya Yanti saja.

  Latihan 8—Auxiliary (Helper) Verbs

  These are verbs that sometimes occur on their own, but more usually occur immediately in front of another verb. They function to give an extra dimension of meaning to the second verb, es- pecially by showing some aspect of how the doer of the action does the action or relates to the action expressed in the second verb. Match each Indonesian word to the English definition. ingin to like mau to be good at suka can, able to dapat to come along, follow bisa to begin ikut to want harus to wish/want pandai may mulai must, have to boleh can

  Latihan 9—Kata Kerja Intransitif

  Intransitive verbs take several forms in Indonesian. Some are single morphemes, others have a ffixes. The most common affix on intransitive verbs is the prefix ber-. In fact most words that have a ber- prefix on them are intransitive verbs. Match each Indonesian word to the English definition. setuju to take a bath duduk to sit, to sit down mandi to sleep kawin to get/be married tidur to wake up berjalan to stop bangun to go (away) berhenti to play pergi to come beristirahat to walk, travel, to go datang to agree bermain to speak terbang to fly berbicara to rest, to take a break masuk to enter

Latihan 10—Kosa Kata Match Indonesian word or phrase with English definition

  1. berganti

  a. to hit something/someone 2. berubah

  b. to change, to evolve 3. kata kerja

  c. to receive or accept something 4. memukul

  d. a verb 5. menerima

  e. to substitute, replace, alter

  6. mengantar

  B. False 3. “Berhenti” means “to stop”. Hence “I stop the bus” is “Saya berhenti bus”.

  A. True

  B. False 5. The correct translation of “Bus berhenti” is “The bus stops”.

  A. True

  4. In the phrase “Saya bermain tenis” the word “tenis” is the grammatical object of the sen- tence.

  B. False

  A. True

  A. True

  f. to send something 7. mengatur

  B. False 2. MeN- verbs are usually transitive, but there are also a few intransitive meN- verbs.

  A. True

  Ber- verbs are always intransitive and hence cannot take an object

  Latihan 11—Grammar Quiz 1.

  10. mengirim j. to arrange something 11. mengisi k. to get married 12. menikah l. to ask someone for s.th. (respectfully) 13. menutup m. to take/accompany someone somewhere 14. menyimpan n. to feel (an emotion) 15. merasa o. to shut or close something 16. mohon p. sad, to feel sadness 17. pena q. to store something away 18. pensil r. feeling, sense 19. rasa s. pen 20. sedih t. pencil

  h. to count something 9. menghitung i. to fill something

  g. to fry something 8. menggoreng

  B. False Latihan 12—Teka Teki Silang (TTS) Mendatar: 2. to shut or close sth 5. to hit sth or someone 7. to arrange something

  8. to fill something 9. to send something

  11. to ask someone for something (respectfully) 13. to receive sth 15. to use or wear sth 17. to take/accompany someone somewhere 18. a feeling, a sense 19. to change or evolve 21. sad, to feel sadness 22. to count something Menurun: 1. to store sth away 3. pencil 4. to have one thing replaced with another, substitute 6. to get married

  7. to fry something

  Aims

• To give more practice getting used to using verbs with the me- prefix.
• To describe how most Indonesian dictionaries are organised and give practice using a dictionary.

  Vocabulary Review

  Here are some of the frequent words used in this lesson that have appeared in previous lessons. Make sure that you remember their _{Bagian Kamus di sebuah Toko Buku. This work by JP Esperança is licensed under a} meanings. _{Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License} jagung corn, maize memelihara to take care of to use, wear menjadi to be, to become memakai membantu to help, assist menunggu to wait membawa to bring, carry padi rice plant

  Rambu di Jalan Raya Bahasa More on Me- Verbs Me- verbs have a goal, that is, the person, thing or idea that is impacted on

  by the action expressed in the verb. Usually the goal is rather ill-defined or generalised. It is something that probably hasn’t been mentioned or referred to in the preceding part of the narrative or conversation. It is a person, thing or idea that – if we were speaking English – might be marked by the indefinite articles “a” or “some” rather than the more specific “the” or “that”. Savour the di

  fference between these English sentences.

  I’m going to plant some corn. I’m going to plant the corn. He harvested rice. He harvested that rice.

  In Indonesian you can express the ideas in the sentences on the left like this.

  Saya akan menanam jagung. Dia memotong padi. The slight vagueness of jagung and padi (we don’t know precisely where, which, how much etc.) is expressed by making it the goal of a transitive me- verb.

  But what about the sentences in the right hand column above? How do we express the greater precision of the corn and the rice, i.e. corn and rice that has already been mentioned, and which is therefore already relatively clear in our minds? Well, one way is to add a definite article like itu that makes it clear we are talking about a certain (say) sack of corn seed, or (say) field of rice that has probably already been mentioned. So we could say:

  Saya akan menanam jagung itu. Dia memotong padi itu.

  But more usually, definiteness in the goal of an action is expressed through the passive form of a transitive verb, that is di- verbs and me- verbs. We practise these forms of the verb in Modules 6 and 7.

  For the moment, it is enough to be aware that, where English tends to distinguish between def- initeness and indefiniteness with articles like the, some and a, Indonesian is more complex, tend- ing to express the same distinction through forms of the verb and by positioning nouns at the be- ginning or end of a clause/sentence, as well as by using markers of definiteness like itu.

  As you have seen, English and Indonesian are dramatically different in many ways. But they are also di fferent in subtle ways. The link between forms of the transitive verb (me-, di- and verbs) and the expression of definiteness and indefiniteness is just one of these subtleties.

  Forming Transitive meN- Verbs and Recognising their Base Words

  “to use” tulis menulis “to write”

  p* pakai memakai t*

  beli membeli “to buy” dengar mendengar “to hear”

  b d

  minta meminta “to request” nama

  m n menamakan “to name”

  “to slender” cuci mencuci “to wash”

  f c

  fitnah memfitnah veto memveto “to veto” jual menjual “to sell”

  v j

  mengirim “to send” sapu menyapu “to sweep”

  k* kirim s*

  ganggu mengganggu “to disturb” nyanyi menyanyi “to sing”

  g ny

  nganga menganga “to yawn”

  ng a e i ambil, mengambil

  “to take” “to join”

  r

  rangkai merangkai ingat mengingat “to remember”

  o u

  hafal menghafal “to memorise” lihat melihat “to see”

  h l y yakin meyakinkan “to convince”

  “to represent”

  w wakil mewakili Using an Indonesian Dictionary

  We have referred to the notion of “nude” words and “clothed” words. These are just pop terms for, respectively, base forms and derived forms.

  Essentially, base forms are words that have affixes attached to them. Affixes are like pilot fish, they can’t swim about independently in the great ocean of language, but have to fasten them- selves to the shark-like hulks of passing base forms. Some affixes work at the nose end (like ber- and meN-

  ) and some only at the tail (like -an). Others always operate as a team – two inseparable a ffixes, one swimming at the nose and the other riding shotgun at the rear, like the per- -an team in the word perpustakaan

  . There are even a few mysterious affixes that generations ago wormed their way into the gut of certain base words and now, like parasites, have a permanent home there. If you cut into these base words you can locate the affixes, like -el- in telunjuk (index finger) and -in- in kinerja

  (performance, track record). Derived forms are those that consist of a base word plus one or more a

  ffixes. As we have seen in the case of memperbaiki, some base words may themselves have a ffixes in them. For example, the derived form berhasil

  (successful, to succeed) consists of the base word hasil and the prefix

  ber-. But berhasil

  can itself be a base word. With the affixes ke- and -an attached to it, it produces the word keberhasilan (success). You should also bear in mind that in certain circumstances most base words can also stand alone without a

  ffixes. For example, in certain contexts hasil can stand alone (it means “result”, “outcome”). It is important to be aware of the distinction between base forms and derived forms, because

• most Indonesian dictionaries organise their head words, or main entries, according to the alpha betical order of the first letter in base forms, not derived forms. So in most dictionaries you won’t find the word berjalan by looking for it under “b”. You will have to identify the first letter of its base form and look for it under that letter. With a word like berjalan there’s no great problem. With words like melihat, merusak, and even membaca, mencuci, menggoreng and many more, there’s also no huge problem. The base word is clear. You simply go to the base word entry in the dic- tionary, and under that entry you will find all the various derivatives that can be formed by attach- ing a ffixes to the base word concerned.

  But suppose you want to look up a word in which the prefix has assimilated or “fused” with the base form causing a change in the initial sound of the base form so that it is no longer instantly recognisable? In such cases we have to use the rules given earlier in this lesson to do a bit of quick detective work. Even then we may be left with two or more possible base words, so we would have to check out each possibility until we find the right base word.

  For example, supposing we want to know the meaning of the word memukul . Looking at the rules given in Lesson 60 we can deduce that the base word is either mukul

  (see rule 9) or pukul (see rule 3). So we check under “m” to see if there is a base word mukul

  . There isn’t. So we check under “p” for pukul . Aha! There it is.

  In some instances we might have to check up to three possible base words. Take for example

  Schmidgall-Tellings (2004)

  the word mengarang . Referring to our rules for the formation of derivatives we can work out that there are three possible base words that menga-

  rang

  might be formed from: ngarang, arang and karang. We would have to check each of these in the dictionary. In this case we would find that ngarang doesn’t exist. We would find that arang does exist but it doesn’t have a derivative mengarang. So we would be left with karang. Under the head word karang we would find a number of derivatives listed, like karangan, pengarang and

  mengarang .

  Let’s look at some examples of dictionaries. Here is part of the entry for membawa in A Com-

  prehensive Indonesian-English Dictionary by Alan Stevens and Ed Schmidgall- Tellings (2004).

  Compare this with the entry for membawa in An Indonesian-English Dictionary by John Echols and Hassan Shadily (3rd revised edition, 1989).

  An exception to this “normal” way of organ- ising the entries in dictionaries is George Quinn’s

  The Learner’s Dictionary of Today’s Indonesian

  (2001). Quinn’s dictionary organises all main entries according to the first letter of each word, irrespective of whether that word is a base word or a word beginning with a prefix.

  Each of the three dictionaries has a unique ap- proach to description of the Indonesian lexicon. Smith and Schmidgall-Tellings’ has a finely dis- criminated list of definitions – i.e. possible English translations – for membawa

  . It illustrates these with a few short sentences and phrases that show how membawa is used in context. It also has in- formation on colloquial variations of membawa,

  Echols-Shadily (1989)

  plus many idiomatic expressions containing

  membawa

  . Echols and Shadily is dense with information, providing several related idiomatic phrases under each main definition of membawa. Quinn’s dictionary has fewer definitions and no idiomatic phrases at all, but it has longer illustratory sentences as well as some information on pronunciation and grammar.

  All three dictionaries are bilingual, but Smith and Schmid- gall

• Tellings’ goes in one direction only: Indonesian-to-Eng- lish. Echols and Shadily and Quinn have English-to- Indone- sian sides to their dictionaries (Echols and Shadily’s is in a separate volume). Smith and Schmidgall-Tellings, and Echols and Shadily attempt to be comprehensive, covering as much of the Indonesian lexicon as they can, whereas Quinn’s is a “special purpose” dictionary concentrating on a quite limited corpus of highly frequent Indonesian and Eng- lish words. Quinn’s has a section in which the dictionary’s
• main entries are sorted into topic groups, and notes on as
• pects of Indonesian culture are scattered through the dic tionary. All three dictionaries have interesting introductions. Quinn o

  ffers a short history of the evolution of the Indone-

• sian language and an overview of its functions in modern In donesia. Echols and Shadily have a detailed description of the sound system (phonology) of Indonesian, and Smith and Schmidgall-Tellings focus on how to find the base word (they call it the “root”) of derivatives.

  Finally, let’s look at the entry for membawa in the Kamus

  Besar Bahasa Indonesia ( KBBI): http://kbbi.web.id/bawa.

  Quinn (2001)

  This is the online version of Indonesia’s semi-official diction- ary published by the nation’s Pusat Bahasa (Language Centre), an organ of the Departemen Pen- didikan Nasional (Department of National Education). The fourth edition, published in 2008, has

  90,000 entries.

  Even if you don’t understand everything in the Kamus Besar you will quickly see that the three

  sar

  . As foreign learners of Indonesian you probably have little choice but to start out with an In- donesian-English dictionary (and an English-Indonesian dictionary too, of course). But languages are self-referential, their words construct meaning only by reference to other words in the same language. So as soon as you can, you should let go of bi-lingual dictionaries and graduate to a good Indonesian-Indonesian dictionary.

  Latihan 1—Kosa Kata Lalu Jodohkan kata-kata di sebelah kiri dengan terjemahannya di sebelah kanan.

  jagung to keep (as a pet) memelihara to wait, to wait for memakai rice plant menjadi to use, wear membantu to take or bring menunggu to become, to be padi corn, maize membawa to help, assist

  Latihan 2—Prenasalisation with meN-

  Add prefix meN- to the roots below. Note that meN- may be rendered me-, meng-, men-, mem-, or meny- depending on the first sound of the base word. Note also that initial p, t, and k are dropped. ambil bantu sewa cari obral tolong hafal pukul kirim ralat intip ingat larang dengar datang angkat bayar cegah hajar jadi kenal pasang raba tata titip nyanyi kompas ganti Latihan 3—meN- Verbs starting with meng-

  Add the prefix meN- to the following base words. The prefix meN-is rendered meng- if the base begins with a vowel or with the sounds k, g, and h. Initial k is dropped. Some of the words are not included in the wordlist of The Indonesian Way . ambil katakan hafal oles kirim elak uji hukum gantung gebu

  Latihan 4—Identifying the Base Word (1)

  Bearing in mind that words in most Indonesian dictionaries are arranged in alphabetical order of the first letter of their base words, go to a comprehensive dictionary and identify the base forms of these verbs. For each verb, write the base form. For example, the base form of mengu-

  lang is the word ulang .

  menganga menilai mengena menyala memuji mengelak menyimpang menampung mengolah mengantuk menyatakan mengganggu

  Latihan 5—Identifying the Base Word (2)

  Find the base words for the MeN- verbs below. For example, the base word of mengikat is the word ikat . mengikat mengisi mengikuti mengizinkan mengimpor mengobati menginap mengobral mengingat mengobrol mengingatkan mengontrak menginginkan mengoperasi mengira menguasai mengirim mengubah

Latihan 6—Forming Transitive MeN- Verbs (1)

  It is important to get used to generating me- verbs and recognising their base words. For the following exercise, type the base word for each me- verb. For example, for the verb melihat, you would type the base word lihat . menyanyikan mengisi melakukan menghitung memakai memilih

  Add the prefix meN- to the following base words. Don’t forget that in many cases you also have to add a nasal to ‘glue’ the nasal to the base word.

• bersihkan -terima
• panggil -atur
• lihat -cuci
• pakai -rusak
• nyanyikan -dengarkan
• bantu -ambil
• lakukan -antar
• tolong -bawa
• isi -buka
• adakan -goreng
• bayar -hitung
• berikan -pukul
• buat -baca
• jual -pelihara
• potong -dengar
• bunuh -beli
• tunggu -cari
• pilih -tutup
• katakan -kirim
• pimpin -tonton
• perbaiki -tulis
• curi -ucapkan
• tanam -simpan
• cium -coba