A kata ganda is a doubled word, written with a hyphen. Doubling a noun usually means “many”: buku-buku is books. But some doubled words are simply names — rama-rama is one butterfly, and gula-gula is a sweet.
What your child will learn
- Double a noun to show more than one
- Write doubled words with a hyphen
- Recognise doubled words that are names
- Leave out the doubling after semua, banyak and para
When not to double
Words such as semua (all), banyak (many), para and beberapa (several) already mean more than one, so the noun stays single: “semua murid”, not “semua murid-murid”.
Doubling also works on other word classes: cepat-cepat (quickly), perlahan-lahan (slowly), tiba-tiba (suddenly), kadang-kadang (sometimes).
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. “Rumah-rumah” bermaksud…
🏠- banyak rumah
- sebuah rumah
- rumah besar
- rumah kecil
Show answer
Answer: banyak rumah. “Rumah-rumah” bermaksud banyak rumah.
2. Isi tempat kosong: “___ sedang beratur di kantin.”
- Muridmurid
- Murid murid
- Murid-murit
- Murid-murid
Show answer
Answer: Murid-murid. Kata ganda ditulis dengan tanda sempang.
3. Gambar yang manakah menunjukkan “rama-rama”?
- 🦋
- 🍬
- 🐢
- 🕷️
Show answer
Answer: 🦋. Rama-rama ialah serangga yang bersayap cantik.
Tips for grown-ups
- List doubled animal names: rama-rama, kura-kura, labah-labah, biri-biri, anai-anai.
- Fix the sentence: “Banyak buku-buku di atas meja.”