Advanced Passive Constructions in Indonesian

In Brief

Indonesian commonly puts the affected person or thing first and marks the verb with di-: Polisi menangkap dia becomes Dia ditangkap polisi (“He was arrested by the police”). The agent—the person or thing performing the action—may be omitted, placed after the verb, or introduced with oleh. In everyday speech, kena often presents an unpleasant event as something that happened to someone, while terkena means “be affected, exposed, or hit by.”

Overview

A passive sentence presents an action from the viewpoint of its patient (the person or thing affected by the action), rather than its agent. English often does this with “be” plus a past participle: “The door was opened.” Indonesian does not need an equivalent of “be.” Instead, its most recognizable passive pattern uses the prefix di- on the verb: Pintu dibuka.

At A2, you meet basic forms such as dibaca, ditulis, and dijual. At B1, the important question is no longer simply how to build the verb. You learn when to identify the agent, when to leave it unspoken, when oleh sounds useful or formal, and how kena and terkena frame an event differently. These choices appear constantly in conversation, news reports, notices, and academic or administrative writing.

English speakers sometimes assume that a passive must sound formal or evasive. That is not true in Indonesian. Passives are ordinary and frequent because Indonesian often begins a sentence with information already under discussion. If everyone is talking about a song, Lagu itu dikenal banyak orang naturally keeps “that song” as the topic.

How It Works

The core di- passive

Start with a transitive action—an action directed at an object—and move that object into the subject or topic position. Replace the active me(N)- verb with its corresponding di- form.

Active pattern	Passive pattern
agent + me(N)-verb + object	patient + di-verb + (agent)
Polisi menangkap dia.	Dia ditangkap polisi.
Banyak orang mengenal lagu itu.	Lagu itu dikenal banyak orang.

The passive keeps the root and any suffixes that belong to the verb. Only the active prefix changes.

Root	Active	Passive	Meaning of passive
baca	membaca	dibaca	be read
tangkap	menangkap	ditangkap	be arrested/caught
cintai	mencintai	dicintai	be loved
jelaskan	menjelaskan	dijelaskan	be explained
perbaiki	memperbaiki	diperbaiki	be repaired/improved

Indonesian verbs do not change for tense. Time and completion come from context or words such as sudah (“already”), sedang (“currently”), akan (“will”), and belum (“not yet”). These words normally come before the passive verb:

• Dokumennya sudah ditandatangani. — “The document has been signed.”
• Jalan itu sedang diperbaiki. — “That road is being repaired.”
• Hasilnya akan diumumkan besok. — “The result will be announced tomorrow.”
• Paketnya belum dikirim. — “The package has not been sent yet.”

Three ways to handle the agent

The agent may be absent, directly follow the passive verb, or follow oleh (“by”).

Pattern	Example	Typical effect
patient + di-verb	Pintu sudah ditutup.	The agent is unknown, obvious, or irrelevant.
patient + di-verb + agent	Dia ditangkap polisi.	A short agent is stated compactly and naturally.
patient + di-verb + oleh + agent	Keputusan itu disetujui oleh semua anggota.	The agent is explicit, emphasized, long, or useful in formal prose.

Do not treat oleh as compulsory simply because English uses “by.” Saya ditipu teman and Saya ditipu oleh teman are both possible. The version with oleh makes the agent boundary especially clear and may give the agent more weight. With a short, immediately adjacent noun phrase, omission is often natural.

If other material separates the verb from its agent, oleh is especially helpful and is generally the safer choice:

• Proposal itu disetujui kemarin oleh direktur baru kami.
• “The proposal was approved yesterday by our new director.”

Omitting the agent

Agentless passives are useful when:

1. the agent is not known: Mobilnya dicuri tadi malam (“The car was stolen last night”);
2. the agent is obvious: Saya diperiksa di rumah sakit (“I was examined at the hospital”);
3. the action or result matters more: Data akan disimpan selama satu tahun (“The data will be stored for one year”);
4. a notice gives a general rule: Dilarang merokok (“Smoking is prohibited”).

An omitted agent does not make the sentence incomplete. Indonesian often prefers not to mention information that the listener can recover from context.

Kena: an affected person in colloquial speech

Kena has several lexical meanings, including “hit,” “come into contact with,” and “be subject to.” In colloquial passive-like expressions, it often means “get” or “be subjected to,” especially when the event is unwanted.

Pattern	Example	Natural English sense
kena + bare verb	kena tipu	get tricked/scammed
kena + noun/event	kena denda	get fined / incur a fine
kena + established expression	kena marah	get scolded
kena + institutional term	kena PHK	get laid off

Kena highlights what befell the affected person: Saya kena tipu sounds like “I got scammed.” A regular passive, Saya ditipu, neutrally reports that someone deceived me. Because kena commonly suggests trouble, do not use it as a universal replacement for every di- passive. For a beneficial event such as being praised or invited, dipuji and diundang are the normal neutral choices.

Terkena: affected, exposed, or struck

Terkena is a conventional ter- form related to kena. It commonly introduces the source of an effect rather than a deliberate human agent:

• terkena hujan — get caught in / exposed to rain
• terkena penyakit — contract or be affected by a disease
• terkena dampak — be affected by an impact or consequence
• terkena sinar matahari — be exposed to sunlight
• terkena peluru — be hit by a bullet

Compare Dia ditipu penjual itu (“He was deceived by that seller”), where a deliberate agent performs an action, with Dia terkena dampak banjir (“He was affected by the flood’s impact”), where the following phrase identifies the harmful force or effect. Terkena often belongs to neutral and formal reporting as well as ordinary speech; it is not merely a casual substitute for a passive verb.

Examples in Context

Indonesian	English	Note
Saya ditipu oleh teman.	I was tricked by a friend.	oleh explicitly introduces the agent.
Dia dicintai semua orang.	She is loved by everyone.	A short agent follows directly.
Dia ditangkap polisi.	He was arrested by the police.	Compact and natural without oleh.
Lagu itu dikenal banyak orang.	The song is known by many people.	The song remains the topic.
Sepeda saya dicuri tadi malam.	My bicycle was stolen last night.	The thief is unknown or irrelevant.
Surat itu sudah dikirim oleh Rina.	The letter has already been sent by Rina.	sudah marks completion.
Jembatan ini sedang diperbaiki.	This bridge is being repaired.	sedang marks an ongoing action.
Nama pemenang akan diumumkan besok.	The winner’s name will be announced tomorrow.	Agentless formal announcement.
Masalahnya belum dijelaskan dengan jelas.	The problem has not yet been explained clearly.	belum means “not yet.”
Keputusan tersebut disetujui oleh mayoritas anggota.	That decision was approved by a majority of the members.	A longer agent with oleh.
Kemarin saya kena tipu waktu belanja daring.	Yesterday I got scammed while shopping online.	Colloquial, adverse event.
Kalau terlambat, kamu bisa kena denda.	If you are late, you may get fined.	kena plus a penalty noun.
Banyak petani terkena dampak kekeringan.	Many farmers were affected by the drought.	terkena dampak is common in reporting.
Kami kehujanan karena tidak membawa payung.	We got caught in the rain because we did not bring an umbrella.	A lexical alternative; not every affected meaning needs terkena.

Common Mistakes

Writing the passive prefix as a separate word

• Wrong: Surat itu di tulis kemarin.
• Right: Surat itu ditulis kemarin.
• Why: Passive di- is a prefix and attaches to the verb. The location preposition di is separate: ditulis di kantor means “written at the office.”

Keeping the active me(N)- verb

• Wrong: Dia menangkap oleh polisi.
• Right: Dia ditangkap oleh polisi.
• Why: In this passive pattern, the active form menangkap changes to passive ditangkap.

Treating oleh as mandatory

• Less natural in a simple conversational context: Dia ditangkap oleh polisi.
• Often more compact: Dia ditangkap polisi.
• Why: Both are grammatical, but a short adjacent agent often needs no oleh. Use oleh when clarity, contrast, separation, or formal style calls for it.

Using kena for a neutral or positive event

• Unnatural for the intended meaning: Saya kena undang ke pesta.
• Right: Saya diundang ke pesta.
• Why: Passive-like kena usually suggests an adverse or burdensome experience. The regular di- passive is neutral.

Translating English “was” into a separate Indonesian word

• Wrong: Mobil itu adalah dicuri.
• Right: Mobil itu dicuri.
• Why: Di- already marks the passive verb. Indonesian does not add adalah as an auxiliary equivalent to English “was.”

Placing a first-person pronoun after di- without considering passive type

• Awkward or nonstandard in many contexts: Buku itu dibaca saya.
• Standard conversational alternative: Buku itu saya baca.
• Also possible, but often more formal or emphatic: Buku itu dibaca oleh saya.
• Why: Indonesian has another passive pattern in which a first- or second-person agent precedes a bare verb. This is Type 2 Passive and deserves separate study.

Usage Notes

In conversation, speakers frequently omit oleh, omit an obvious agent, and choose short forms such as kena tipu. News and official writing use many agentless di- passives because the event, policy, or result is the focus: Peraturan baru akan diterapkan bulan depan (“The new regulation will be implemented next month”). Oleh remains common when a report must identify responsibility precisely.

A passive does not itself locate an event in past time. Dia ditangkap polisi can mean “He is arrested,” “He was arrested,” or, in a suitable future context, “He will be arrested.” Time expressions and context decide. Add kemarin, sudah, sedang, or akan when ambiguity matters.

English often prefers an active sentence with an indefinite subject such as “people,” “they,” or “someone.” Indonesian may sound more natural with a passive: “People know this song” can be Lagu ini dikenal banyak orang. Conversely, do not mechanically turn every English passive into Indonesian passive; choose the sentence topic that fits the conversation.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

The di- passive taught here is often called Type 1 Passive. With third-person agents, both Buku itu dibaca Rina and Buku itu dibaca oleh Rina fit this pattern. Indonesian also has Type 2 Passive, especially important with saya, aku, kami, kita, kamu, and Anda: Buku itu sudah saya baca. The agent comes before the bare verb, and words closely tied to the action normally occur before the agent: Buku itu belum saya baca, not a word-for-word copy of English order.

Do not confuse ordinary di- passives with accidental or result-oriented ter- forms. Compare:

Form	Main viewpoint	Example
Pintu dibuka oleh petugas.	A deliberate action by an agent	The door was opened by an officer.
Pintunya terbuka.	The resulting state: open	The door is open.
Pintunya terbuka karena angin.	An event/state without a deliberate agent	The door opened because of the wind.

Some passive verbs become established descriptions rather than reports of one event. Dia dikenal sebagai penulis means “She is known as a writer,” and Kota itu dikelilingi pegunungan means “The city is surrounded by mountains.” Here the passive describes a continuing relationship or state. Context, not the verb form alone, tells you whether to translate with English present or past.

Advanced writing also uses passives to manage information flow. A paragraph can keep one topic in initial position across several sentences: Program itu diluncurkan pada Mei. Program tersebut didanai oleh pemerintah dan dikelola oleh sebuah yayasan. This is not merely avoiding the agent; it creates cohesion by repeatedly beginning with the program under discussion.

Practice Tips

1. Transform active-passive pairs. Take five sentences with me(N)- verbs and move the object to the front: Rina menulis laporan → Laporan ditulis Rina. Then add oleh and notice whether it improves clarity.
2. Sort examples by viewpoint. While reading Indonesian news or social media, collect examples under three headings: neutral di-, adverse colloquial kena, and affected/exposed terkena. Record the words that commonly follow each form.
3. Retell one event in different registers. Say Saya kena tipu to a friend, then write the more neutral Saya ditipu oleh penjual tersebut for a complaint. This trains grammar and register together.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Prefix di- (Passive) — introduces the basic formation of Indonesian di- passive verbs.
• Next step: Type 2 Passive — explains agent + bare-verb passives such as Buku itu saya baca.