mempertanggungjawabkan

To Justify or Account for

Level 5

mempertanggungjawabkan = to account for / to justify.
Used in formal contexts (legal, administrative, religious) to describe the act of explaining or being held responsible for something to a superior or the public.

How It Works

The verb mempertanggungjawabkan is a high-level term frequently appearing in formal and bureaucratic Malay.

1. Morphological Structure
The root is tanggungjawab. In Malay, most compound words are written with a space, but tanggungjawab is one of the 15 exceptions known as Kata Majmuk Mantap. These are fixed compounds that are always written as a single word, regardless of whether they have prefixes or suffixes.

2. Phonological Rule
While the meN- prefix usually causes a root starting with 't' to drop the 't', the memper- prefix (used in memper-...-kan) does not trigger this nasalization. The 't' remains intact: memper-tanggungjawab-kan.

3. Dual Meanings
This verb carries two primary nuances:
• To account for / justify: Explaining one's actions or the use of resources (e.g., accounting for funds).
• To hold responsible: Assigning the burden of responsibility to a specific party (e.g., holding a manager responsible for a mistake).

4. Register
This is a formal word. You will encounter it in legal proceedings, government reports regarding accountability, or religious contexts regarding being answerable for one's deeds.

Examples (5)

  1. Setiap pemimpin harus mempertanggungjawabkan tindakannya kepada rakyat.

    Every leader must account for their actions to the people.

    Word by Word: Every leader must account-for action-their to people.

    Here, 'tindakannya' (their actions) is the direct object of the verb, showing the 'account for' meaning.

  2. Pihak pengurusan perlu mempertanggungjawabkan penggunaan dana tersebut.

    The management needs to justify the use of those funds.

    Word by Word: Side management need to justify use fund that.

    In a professional context, this refers to providing a formal report or justification for financial spending.

  3. Kita akan mempertanggungjawabkan segala perbuatan kita di akhirat kelak.

    We will be held accountable for all our deeds in the afterlife.

    Word by Word: We will account-for all deeds our in afterlife later.

    This demonstrates the religious nuance of being held answerable for one's life choices.

  4. Syarikat itu mempertanggungjawabkan pengurus projek atas kegagalan tersebut.

    The company held the project manager responsible for that failure.

    Word by Word: Company that hold-responsible manager project over failure that.

    This demonstrates the secondary meaning: to assign responsibility or hold someone accountable for a specific outcome.

  5. Pegawai itu gagal mempertanggungjawabkan kehilangan dokumen sulit tersebut.

    The officer failed to account for the loss of the confidential document.

    Word by Word: Officer that failed account-for loss document secret that.

    Used here to describe a failure in administrative duty.

Common Mistakes

  • Thinking the word is joined only because of the affixes.

    tanggung jawab
    tanggungjawab

    The root 'tanggungjawab' is one of the 15 'Kata Majmuk Mantap' (Fixed Compound Words) in Malay. It is always written as one word, even without the memper-...-kan circumfix.

  • Dropping the initial 't' of the root.

    memperanggungjawabkan
    mempertanggungjawabkan

    Unlike the meN- prefix, the memper- prefix does not cause the initial 't' to drop.

  • Using the verb without an object.

    Dia enggan mempertanggungjawabkan.
    Dia enggan mempertanggungjawabkan kesilapannya.

    This is a transitive verb; you must specify what is being accounted for or who is being held responsible.

How It Connects

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

mempertanggungjawabkanLevel 5To Justify or Account for

Learn This First

To understand 'mempertanggungjawabkan', a learner must first be familiar with the complex circumfix 'memper-...-kan', which is used to form causative verbs from nouns or adjectives. Additionally, knowledge of how the nasal prefix 'meN-' triggers the replacement of the initial 't' in the root 'tanggung' is essential for correct spelling and pronunciation.

Words in This Pattern

mempertanggungjawabkantanggungjawab