pernah + Verb

Experiential Aspect Pernah

Level 2

The word pernah is used to talk about life experiences. It is the equivalent of saying 'have ever' or 'have ... before' in English.

How It Works

1. Placement
Pernah is an independent word that is placed directly before the verb phrase. It does not change its form regardless of the subject.

2. Experiential vs. Completed
It is important to distinguish pernah from sudah. While sudah means an action is finished (perfective), pernah focuses on the fact that the experience exists in the subject's history. For example, 'Saya sudah makan' means 'I have (already) eaten [the meal]', while 'Saya pernah makan' means 'I have eaten [this type of food] before'.

3. Negation
To say you have 'never' done something, you use two forms:

  • Tidak pernah: Absolute 'never'.
  • Belum pernah: 'Never yet' (implies you might do it in the future).

4. Questions
To ask 'Have you ever...?', you add the question suffix -kah to pernah at the beginning of the sentence: Pernahkah anda...?

Examples (5)

  1. Saya pernah melawat ke Jepun.

    I have visited Japan before.

    Word by Word: I ever visit to Japan.

    This shows that the speaker has the experience of visiting Japan at least once in the past.

  2. Dia pernah menjadi guru di sekolah itu.

    He was once a teacher at that school.

    Word by Word: He ever become teacher at school that.

    Pernah can be used with verbs like 'menjadi' (to become) to describe a past state or role.

  3. Pernahkah awak makan durian?

    Have you ever eaten durian?

    Word by Word: Ever-kah you eat durian?

    Adding -kah to pernah creates a formal question about someone's experience.

  4. Kami tidak pernah melihat filem ini.

    We have never seen this movie.

    Word by Word: We not ever see film this.

    The combination of 'tidak' and 'pernah' creates the meaning of 'never'.

  5. Saya belum pernah pergi ke London.

    I have never been to London yet.

    Word by Word: I not-yet ever go to London.

    Using 'belum' instead of 'tidak' suggests that the speaker might go to London in the future.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'sudah' to ask about life experiences.

    Sudahkah anda ke London?
    Pernahkah anda ke London?

    Using 'sudah' makes it sound like you are asking if they just finished a specific trip. Use 'pernah' to ask if they have ever been there in their life.

  • Treating 'pernah' as a past tense marker for every past action.

    Saya pernah makan nasi lemak pagi tadi.
    Saya sudah makan nasi lemak pagi tadi.

    If you are talking about a specific completed action (like breakfast this morning), use 'sudah'. 'Pernah' is for general life experiences.

How It Connects

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pernah + VerbLevel 2Experiential Aspect Pernah

Learn This First

To understand 'pernah', a learner needs to be comfortable with basic Malay sentence structure and the concept that Malay uses auxiliary markers rather than verb conjugations to express when or how an action occurred.

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