After discussing prefix “me_” and its derivatives including prefix “mem_”, “men_”, “meng_”, in this post I would like to address prefix “di_” which is usually used to make passive verb.
Note: Don’t be confused with preposition “di”. This one is prefix “di-“ which should be written in one word with the root word.
| Root | Active | Passive |
|---|---|---|
| Makan | Memakan - eat | Dimakan - to be eaten |
| Baca | Membaca - read | Dibaca - to be read |
| Tulis | Menulis - write | Ditulis - to be written |
For some words, adding prefix “di-“ to change active verb into passive verb should be followed by suffix “-i”. Unfortunately, there is no any explanation you can find in any Indonesian grammar book about this point.
