What is the correct form of meN- + seleksi?

menyeleksi. Roots beginning with 's' trigger the meny- allomorph and the 's' of the root drops. So meN- + seleksi becomes menyeleksi, not menseleksi (which would treat s like c/j/d/t — wrong) or mengseleksi (which would be the form for a vowel/k/g/h/q initial).

Which of the following is the correct prefixed form of the root pukul with the meN- prefix?

memukul. Roots beginning with p trigger the mem- allomorph and the p drops. So meN- + pukul becomes memukul. 'Mempukul' is the most common wrong answer — it forgets that p assimilates. The 'k' equivalent is meng- + k drop (mengumpulkan), and 't' is men- + t drop (menari).

Which root-initial consonants trigger the meng- allomorph in meN- prefixation?

k, g, h, q, and vowels. meng- appears before vowel-initial roots and before k, g, h, q (with k dropping). The other groupings trigger men- (c/d/j/t/z), me- (l/m/n/r/w/y), mem- (b/p/f/v, with p dropping), and meny- (s, with s dropping). Each allomorph corresponds to a specific phonological class — memorise the classes, not individual words.

The meN- Prefix — Free Study Guide 2026

The meN- Prefix and Nasal Assimilation

Quick Answer: The Indonesian active-verb prefix meN- has six surface forms (me-, mem-, men-, meny-, meng-, and the underlying meN- itself). Which form appears depends entirely on the first sound of the root. This process — nasal assimilation — is one of the most heavily tested topics in Merespons Kaidah. Learn the table below and the assimilation rule becomes mechanical.

Why meN- Has Multiple Forms

Indonesian prefixes are subject to phonological assimilation: the prefix-final consonant changes to ease pronunciation when it meets the root-initial sound. The abstract prefix meN- (where N stands for a nasal consonant) surfaces as one of six allomorphs depending on the root. The rule is predictive: given a root, you can compute the correct form without exception. There are no irregulars.

The Full Assimilation Table

Root-initial sound	Allomorph	Notes	Example
Vowel (a, i, u, e, o)	meng-	inserts ng	ajar → mengajar; ucap → mengucap; erti → mengerti
k (k drops)	meng-	k assimilates	kumpul → mengumpulkan; kira → mengira; kupas → mengupas
g, h, q	meng-	no drop	gali → menggali; hitung → menghitung; qasar → mengqasar (rare)
b	mem-	—	baca → membaca; beli → membeli
p (p drops)	mem-	p assimilates to m	pukul → memukul; pilih → memilih; putus → memutus
f, v	mem-	loanwords	foto → memfoto; vonis → memvonis
c	men-	—	cium → mencium; cari → mencari
d	men-	—	dengar → mendengar; datang → mendatang
j	men-	—	jual → menjual; jemput → menjemput
t (t drops)	men-	t assimilates to n	tari → menari; tulis → menulis; tunggu → menunggu
z	men-	loanwords	zaman → menzamani (rare)
s (s drops)	meny-	s fully assimilates to ny	sapu → menyapu; siram → menyiram; suara → menyuarakan
l	me-	no assimilation	lihat → melihat; lari → melari
m	me-	no assimilation	makan → memakan; minum → meminum
n	me-	no assimilation	nikah → menikah; nama → menamai (with -i)
r	me-	no assimilation	rusak → merusak; rencana → merencana
w, y	me-	semi-vowels	wujud → mewujud; yakin → meyakin

How to Apply the Rule in Three Steps

Identify the root — strip any prefixes/suffixes you can see. memukulkan — root is pukul (after removing mem- and -kan).
Identify the root's first sound — pukul starts with p.
Apply the rule for that sound — p drops and the allomorph is mem-. Result: memukul. Add -kan: memukulkan.

The same root can appear with the prefix meN- (active), di- (passive), peN- (noun), and ter- (accidental/comparative), and the nasal assimilation rule applies only to meN- and peN-. The prefix di- never assimilates (di-pukul, not dimukul).

Common Traps in Merespons Kaidah

Forgetting that p, t, k drop: candidates pick mempukul, mentari, mengkumpulkan — all wrong. The correct forms are memukul, menari, mengumpulkan.
Treating s like c: candidates write mensapu instead of menyapu. Only s takes meny-, never c.
Applying assimilation to di-: ditulis is correct; the di- stays unchanged even though t follows. The passive prefix di- does not assimilate.
Misclassifying f and v: these are loan consonants and take mem-: memvonis, memfoto. They do not take men-.
Confusing me- before ny with meny- before s: when the root itself begins with ny (e.g. nyanyi, to sing), the form is me- + nyanyi + -kan = menyanyikan — no s-drop occurs, because the root has no s. The meny- allomorph applies only before s-initial roots.

Two Worked Examples

Example 1: meN- + seleksi. Root = seleksi, starts with s. Rule for s: drop s, use meny-. Result: menyeleksi. The wrong distractors would be menseleksi, memseleksi, or mengseleksi.

Example 2: meN- + karang. Root = karang, starts with k. Rule for k: drop k, use meng-. Result: mengarang. Note that the k of karang is lost; the surface form is meng- + arang. The wrong distractors would be menkarang, memkarang, or mengkarang.

Memory Aids

"Vowels and back consonants (k, g, h, q) take meng-." Think: the ng matches the velar place of k, g.
"Labial consonants (b, p, f, v) take mem-." The m matches the labial place.
"Alveolar consonants (c, d, j, t, z) take men-." The n matches the alveolar place.
"s is special — it takes meny- (full palatal assimilation)."
"Liquid and nasal consonants (l, m, n, r) plus w, y take me- (no change)."

These five rules plus the assimilation table cover every meN- item you will see on UKBI.

UKBI — Indonesian Language Proficiency Test

3.3 The meN- Prefix (Nasal Assimilation)

Key Takeaways