ber- (saling)

Reciprocal Ber- Verbs

Level 3

Reciprocal ber- verbs describe participants acting on one another, such as people hugging or cars colliding. The participants need not all be people or all appear inside the grammatical subject.

How It Works

Reciprocal ber- verbs are a standard way to describe social interactions, physical collisions, or relationships where the participants act upon one another.

1. Formation and Meaning
The prefix attaches to a verb, noun, or adjective base. While a simple ber- can be reciprocal (like bertemu), the form ber-...-an is very common for both physical actions like bersalaman (shaking hands) and non-physical social or emotional actions like bermaafan (forgiving each other) or berpandangan (looking at each other). This pattern also covers positional relationships, such as berhadapan (facing each other) or berdampingan (side by side). When attached to a noun, it often describes a social relationship, such as bermusuhan (being enemies) from musuh. When attached to an adjective, it describes a mutual state, such as berjauhan (far from each other) or berdekatan (close to each other).

2. Grammatical Structure
In the standard pattern taught here, use an oblique phrase for a separately expressed partner rather than making it a direct object. Introduce that partner with dengan (with), whether the subject is singular or plural (e.g., Kami bersalaman dengan para tamu).

  • Mereka berpelukan. (They hugged each other.)
  • Saya berpelukan dengan ibu. (I hugged [with] mother.)

3. Phonological Rules
Remember the be- allomorph rules: the 'r' in ber- is dropped if the base starts with 'r' (e.g., ber- + rebut + -an = berebutan, snatching from each other) or in established forms where the first syllable of the base contains the schwa sound /ə/ and ends in 'r' (e.g., ber- + cermin = becermin, to look in the mirror). While this specific example is not reciprocal, learn the established form rather than mechanically deleting every r after a schwa syllable, with belajar being a primary exception.

4. Reduplication for Emphasis
To emphasize the reciprocal nature of the action, Indonesian often uses verb reduplication within the pattern, such as bermaaf-maafan (forgiving one another) or berpandang-pandangan (gazing at each other).

5. Other Uses of ber-...-an
Note that ber-...-an can occasionally signify continuous actions or multi-directional/plural movement rather than reciprocity, such as berlarian (running around) or berdebaran (throbbing/beating continuously).

6. Register
These established reciprocal verbs occur in neutral and formal language as well as conversation. In casual speech, the ber- is often dropped (e.g., pelukan instead of berpelukan).

7. Another Reciprocal Pattern: saling
Not every verb sounds natural with the reciprocal affix. For verbs that do not naturally take this pattern, you can use the word saling (each other / mutually) followed by an active verb when the intended reciprocal relation fits the verb. For example, saling memukul (hitting each other) is a clear reciprocal construction. Speakers also frequently combine saling with an already reciprocal ber-...-an verb for emphasis, as in saling berpelukan; this apparent redundancy is natural and common.

Standard Model and Attested Omission: TBBI recommends bertemu dengan tetangga saya in its standard pattern. Published everyday Indonesian also contains bertemu guru without dengan. Keep the standard prepositional model for this lesson while recognizing that actual complementation varies with the verb and context.

Examples (5)

  1. Mereka bersalaman setelah rapat selesai.

    They shook hands after the meeting finished.

    Word by Word: They shake-hands after meeting finish.

    The base 'salam' (greeting/peace) becomes 'bersalaman' to indicate the mutual act of shaking hands.

  2. Kedua mobil itu bertabrakan di persimpangan.

    Those two cars collided at the intersection.

    Word by Word: Both car that ber-collision-an at intersection.

    The circumfix ber-...-an is used here with 'tabrak' (hit/collide) to show a mutual collision between two objects.

  3. Kami berjanji untuk bertemu lagi minggu depan.

    We promised to meet again next week.

    Word by Word: We ber-promise for ber-meet again week front.

    'Bertemu' is a common reciprocal verb meaning 'to meet each other'.

  4. Anak-anak itu berkejaran di taman.

    Those children are chasing each other around in the park.

    Word by Word: Child-child that ber-chase-an at park.

    Berkejaran can describe chasing one another around. The reciprocal and moving-about readings come from the verb and context; ber-...-an does not impose continuous random motion on every base.

  5. Saya berpapasan dengan guru saya di jalan.

    I passed my teacher on the street (we passed each other).

    Word by Word: I ber-pass-an with teacher my at road.

    The partner is introduced with dengan because it is syntactically separate from the subject; the same rule applies with a plural subject.

Common Mistakes

  • Adding a direct object after a reciprocal ber- verb.

    Mereka berpelukan dia.
    Mereka memeluk dia. / Mereka berpelukan dengan dia.

    Reciprocal ber- verbs are intransitive. To have a direct object, use the meN- prefix (memeluk). To keep the reciprocal form, use 'dengan'.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

ber- (saling)Level 3Reciprocal Ber- Verbs

Learn This First

To understand reciprocal ber- verbs, you first need to be familiar with the basic ber- prefix and how it forms verbs. Since reciprocal actions involve two or more people doing something to each other, you should also understand plural subjects and how to use the preposition 'dengan' (with) to link participants in the action.

Words in This Pattern

ber-