Meaning: to [someone, something]
into [parts, sections, groups]
Rules:
- This preposition is used mainly with people, animals and objects, and not with locations and time.
- In sentence 1, 2 and 3, ‘kepada’ is used to show the direction of which their respective objects move.
- In sentence 4 and 5, ‘kepada’ is used with verbs involving division, separation etc. This is equivalent to ‘into’ in English.
Examples:
- Mereka sudah menghantar kerja sekolah mereka kepada guru.
- Hadiah ini saya akan berikan kepada kawan baik saya.
- Surat ini adalah daripada Thiva kepada Syasya.
- Cikgu membahagikan kami kepada tiga kumpulan.
- Dia memotong kek hari lahir kepada sepuluh bahagian.
Note: For sentence 3, ‘untuk’ can replace ‘kepada’.
- They already sent their school work to their teacher.
- I will give this present to my good friend.
- This letter is from Thiva to Syasya.
- Teacher divided us into three groups.
- She cut the birthday cake into ten parts.
Colloquial Malay
In colloquial Malay, when using ‘kepada’ as in Sentence 1 to 3, kepada is often replaced with ‘dekat’ or ‘kat’. These alternatives are not used for the case in Sentence 4 and 5.
- Mereka dah hantar kerja sekolah mereka kat cikgu.
- Hadiah ini saya akan bagi kat kawan baik saya.
- Surat ini dari Thiva kat Syasya.
- Cikgu bahagikan kami kepada tiga kumpulan.
- Dia potong kek hari lahir kepada sepuluh bahagian.
Note that:
In colloquial Malay, the prefix meN- is often omitted from a verb. ‘Bagi’ is more favored than ‘beri’ and ‘daripada’ is often shortened to ‘dari’ (although this is grammatically incorrect.)