bahasa indonesia

4 The suffix -kan is often attached to meN- words to make them I
transitive. Of course, we can also have transitive verbs without the
suffix -kan, as we saw in the previous chapters. When a prefix and a
suffix are attached to the same base word, we call it a circumfix.
MeN-kan words are primarily verbs; a few are adjectives. They can be
grouped according to the meaning that the affixation gives to the base
word.
In many cases, meN-kan merely indicates that the verbs are transitive.
The affixation gives no other meaning except that its presence is
required to make the verb well formed. For example, the verb
melakuka-n (do, carry out or commit something) cannot occur without
the prefix meN- and the suffix -kan. Similarly, the verb menganjurkan
[suggest, advise) must have the affixes to make sense at all; anjur does
not make sense by itself.
Other examples of -kan transitive verbs are listed below.
membandingkan to compare
mem bayangkan to imagine
mem bicarakan to talk about, discuss
memikirkan to think about
mendengarkan to listen to
menerangkan to explain
menerjemahkan to translate
mengabaikan to ignore
mengadakan to do, hold an event (for example, a parry, meeting)
mengatakan to say
mengenakan to wear
mengerjakan to do (for example, homework) .
menjele kkan to say bad things about someone
menyalahkan to accuse someone of wrongdoing
76 A Student's Guide to Indonesian Grammar I