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ter-

Verbs with prefix ter- have three categories:

Stative

These verbs refer to a state of affairs and there is no action involved.
Rootter – RootMeaning
apungDi Kalimantan Selatan ada pasarterapung.In South Kalimantan there is a floatingmarket.
letakKoran itu terletak di atas meja.The newspaper is(located) on the table.
tulisSurat itu tertulis dalam bahasa Inggris.That letter is written in English.
buatBajunya terbuat dari sutera.Her dress is made of silk.

Accidental

Verbs in Indonesian distinguish between accidental and deliberate action. The verb with prefix ter- forms a term for a variety of uncontrolled actions, unintended, unexpected, involuntary or sudden.
DeliberateAccidental
Tasnya ditinggalkan di kantor.
His bag was left at the office.		Tasnya tertinggal di kantor.
His bag was left at the office.
It can be transitive or intransitive.
IntransitiveTransitive
Maman tertidur di kelas.
Maman fell asleep in class.		Buku saya terbawa oleh kamu.
You took my book by mistake.
Tadi pagi saya terbangun jam lima.
This morning I woke at five o’clock.		Obat itu terminum oleh saya.
The medicine was accidentally drunk by me.
The prefix ter- is also used to express the passive voice, and the agent is of no importance:
Meaning
Penumpang itu terlempar ke laut.The passenger was accidentally thrown outside.
Kaki orang itu terinjak oleh Ahmad.The man’s foot was accidentally trampled on by Ahmad.
Rumahnya terbakar tadi malam.The house was burned down by accident last night.

Abilitative

These verbs indicate that the agent has the ability to perform the action. All of them are transitive verbs and usually negated, indicating the inability. Sometimes the agent is not expressed.
Meaning
Mobil itu tidak terbeli oleh sayaI can’t afford to buy that car.
Suaranya tidak terdengar.Her voice can’t be heard.
Persoalan itu akhirnya terselesaikan.That problem is finally solved.
Kegagalan ini tidak terhindarkan.This malfunction is unavoidable.

Notes

The prefix ter- is also used to explain the greatest degree of a quality or quantity among two or more persons or things as a superlative form to replace the word ‘paling’.
RootMeaningter – RootSynonymMeaning
baikgoodterbaikpaling baikthe best
burukbadterburukpaling burukthe worst
akhirendterakhirpaling akhirthe last one
banyaka lotterbanyakpaling banyakthe greatest number, majority, most
panjanglongterpanjangpaling panjangthe longest
No double ‘r’ in prefix formation.
RootMeaningter – RootMeaning
rampasseize, rob, plunder, captureterampasseized, robbed, plundered, captured
rencanaplanterencanaplanned
*) Reference: Indonesian Reference Grammar, by James Neil Sneddon, 1996

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