Making someone do: -kan suffix

By Speak Indo, from the Speak Indo Indonesian course.

Adding -kan to a verb makes it causative or transitive.

How it works

The -kan suffix transforms verbs in two common ways: 1. Causative (make someone do / bring about a state): • tinggi (tall) → meninggikan (to raise, make higher) • cepat (fast) → mempercepat (to speed up) • ingat (remember) → mengingatkan (to remind) 2. Benefactive (do something FOR someone): • beli (buy) → belikan (buy for) • ambil (take) → ambilkan (get for) The benefactive -kan is ultra common. If you ask someone to 'get me a glass', you use ambilkan, not just ambil.

Examples

• Tolong ambilkan saya segelas air.
  Please get me a glass of water. (benefactive)
• Guru mengingatkan kami tentang ujian.
  The teacher reminded us about the exam.
• Tolong belikan roti di toko.
  Please buy (for me) bread at the shop.