Friday, January 14, 2011

Some clarification about awalan meN

I need to do a bit of explanation here as some readers may be wondering what meN refers to. Actually, meN is the collective term that refers to me, mem, men, meng, meny, and menge.

There are rules governing which one to use. The following is what meN pairs with:

me - pairs with words beginning with: l, m, n, r,w,y,z
mem - pairs with words that begin with: b, f (or with f dropped), p (or with p dropped),v
men - pairs with words with the initial letters: c, d, j, t (with t dropped)
meng - pairs with words beggining with: a,e,i,o,u,g,h, k (or with k dropped), q,x
meny - pairs with words that begin with: s (dropped)
menge - pairs with words of single syllabus:bom, cat, pos

Here are examples of the words for the above:
me - melompat, memakan, menanti, merasa, mewakili, meyakini, menziarahi
mem - membaca, memfokus, memahami, mempamerkan, memukul, memveto
men - mencari, mendapat, menjadi, mentadbir, menulis
meng - mengalih, mengelakkan, mengikut, mengolah, mengubah, menggunakan, mengkaji, mengarang, mengqada, mengX-ray
meny - menyusun
menge - mengebom, mengecat, mengepos

If you are unsure of the spelling, look up the latest edition of Kamus Dewan (4th Edition), the official reference for educational purposes.

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