How to use 'bertanya', 'menanyai', 'menanyakan' and 'bertanyakan' correctly

In today's post, I will discuss the correct usage of 'bertanya', 'menanyai', 'menanyakan' and 'bertanyakan'.

1 The word 'bertanya' (to ask) is a intransitive verb and it should be followed by a preposition such as 'kepada' or 'tentang'. Look at the following examples:
a) Dia bertanya saya mengenai hal itu. [wrong]
Dia bertanya kepada saya mengenai hal itu. [correct]
(He asked me about the matter.)

b) Dalam mesyuarat itu, ada beberapa orang anggota yang bertanya isu itu. [wrong]
Dalam mesyuarat itu, ada beberapa orang anggota yang bertanya tentang isu itu. [correct]
(During the meeting, several members asked about the issue.]

2 The word 'menanyai' is a transitive verb and should be followed by an human object.
The example below will make it clear to you as to its usage.

Johari menanyai kawannya tentang perkara itu.
(Johari asked his friend about the matter.)

In the sentence, the human object is 'kawannya' (his friend)

3 The word 'menanyakan' is also a transitive and this time the object should be 'perkara' (matter) As a example, you can write a sentence such as the one below:
Saya menanyakan tarikh peperiksaan itu kepada Johan.
[I asked Johan about the date of the examination.]

The object here is 'tarikh peperiksaan' (date of exam) which is considered a matter.

4 The word 'bertanyakan' is invariabley followed by 'khabar'. 'Bertanyakan khabar' means to ask after the health of someone you meet because you have not seen him for a long time.
Let us look at the following example:
Hassan bertanyakan khabar kawan lamanya kerana sudah lama tidak berjumpa dengannya.
[Hassan asked after the health of his old friend because he had not seen him for a long time.

I hope students and readers will know how to use the above 4 words correctly.