Sunday, January 3, 2010

How to use 'pinjam' with its affixes correctly

Mastering affixes in the Malay language is good way to write grammatically correct essays.

I shall try my best to make readers have a better grasp of words with affixes or 'kata berimbuhan'.

In this post, I shall deal with one word 'pinjam' [borrow] and add affixes to it and see how these words should be used in sentences.

1 By itself, the transitive verb 'pinjam' should be used in the passive voice.
e.g. Buku cerita ini saya pinjam daripada Ali. [Literally: This story book I borrowed from Ali. It is better to be rendered as 'I borrowed this story book from Ali.]

2 When meN...i is added to 'pinjam', it becomes 'meminjami' which should be used according to the following formula: 1st person + meminjami + 2nd person + thing loaned to the 1st person
e.g Hamid meminjami Ali sebatang pen. [Hamid lent Ali a pen.]

3 With the addition of 'meN...kan', 'pinjam' becomes 'meminjamkan'. You can use it correctly by following the rule below.
1st person + meminjamkan + thing to be loaned + kepada + 2nd person
e.g. Susan meminjamkan sebuah novel kepada Lina. [Susan lent a novel to Lina.]

4 By adding suffix 'i' to 'pinjam', the verb 'pinjami' is formed. The usage is bit tricky here. Just follow this formula: Person + saya / awak + pinjami + thing to be loaned
e.g. Suresh saya pinjami basikalku kelmarin. [Literally: Suresh I lent my bicycle yesterday. It is better translated in the active voice, that is 'I lent my bicycle to Suresh yesterday.]

5 If the suffix 'kan' is added to 'pinjam', 'pinjamkan' is formed. Based on the rule below, you can use it correctly.
Thing to be loaned + saya / awak + pinjamkan + kepada + person
e.g. Nota Sains itu awak pinjamkan kepada Ahmad dua hari yang lalu. [Literally: The Science notes you lent to Ahmad two days ago. It is better to be rendered as 'You lent the Science notes to Ahmad two days ago.]

6 When you add the prefix 'meN' to 'pinjam', the derivative verb 'meminjam' formed should be used in the following way.
Person + meminjam + thing loaned + dari / daripada + place / person
e.g. Saya meminjam buku ini dari perpustakaan. [I borrowed this book from the library.]
Dia meminjam pen itu daripada Azmi. [He borrowed the pen from Azmi.]

7 The word 'dipinjam' is formed when the prefix 'di' is added to 'pinjam'. You should use it according to the rule below.
Thing loaned + dipinjam + oleh + person + dari / daripada + place / person
e.g. Buku ini dipinjam oleh adik dari perpustakaan. [Literally: This book was borrowed by my brother from the library.]
Disket ini dipinjam oleh Abu daripada kawannya. [This diskette was borrowed by Abu from his friend.]

8 If you add affix 'di...i' to 'pinjam' you get the word 'dipinjami'. This is how you use the word in sentences.
1st person (the recipient) + dipinjami + 2nd person (the owner) + thing loaned
Zamri dipinjami Muthu cakera padat video. [Muthu lent a video Cd to Zamri.]

9 When the affix 'di...kan' is added to 'pinjam' to form 'dipinjamkan' you can use it in the following way.
Thing loaned +dipinjamkan + oleh + 1st person (owner) + kepada + 2nd person (recipient)
e.g. Buku itu dipinjamkan oleh Johari kepada Mazlan. [This book was borrowed by Johari to Mazlan.]

I do hope by using rules and formulae readers will be able to remember how to use the above derivative verbs of 'pinjam' better.

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