interesting_username wrote:Terima kasih, laoshu! Saya punya satu pertanyaan, yang saya akan bertanya dalam bahasa Inggris
My question, I'm sure, has no short answer; there are likely entire books devoted to the answer! I'd like to know, what are the general functions of verb prefixes and suffixes? I don't expect you to define every affix, of course! I mean in a general sense. For example, I have learned that "bantu" means "to help," but I see you wrote, "membantu," using the prefix "mem."
Are prefixes like mem-, be-, etc. commonly used in speech, or are they most omitted and used only in writing? Is the use of a verb prefix guided by rules, or do native speakers merely have a "feel" for when to use them, feeling that certain words sound better with a prefix vs. without one?
I realize this is a complicated question, and I'm certainly not expecting a highly detailed response! Perhaps just a very short summary of the logic behind their use in modern bahasa Indonesia. Thanks in advance!
Sampai nanti.
Basically as you might already know, prefixes like meN- is used to form a transitive verb from a basic verb stem word, however, the meaning of the word once it is affixed with this meN- is likely similar with the stem itself. So in general everyday conversation, we often omit this prefix and only use the stem.
In my sentence: "... saya siap membantu semampu saya", we can also say "... saya siap bantu semampu saya". However, I agree with what you said that in some cases, the native speakers tend to have this kind of "feeling" on when to use or not to use the prefixes in conversation, in order to make the sentence sounds natural.
In this case, I used 'membantu' because this is a written forum and I want my sentence to sound formal, merely for this reason.
But some prefixes and suffixes must not be omitted in use because they have the function to change the meaning of the stem word, like: peN- (usually to form a noun from verb, means 'doer'), di- (to form passive verb), ke-an, -an, peN-an, and so on.
Hope this might answer your question.