tambah

Tambah is a word in the Malay and Indonesian languages meaning to add or to increase, and it is also used as a noun to refer to an addition or an extra item in everyday speech. It is widely used across Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore.

Etymology and forms: The root tambah serves as the basis for several related words. Common derivatives include menambah (to add), bertambah (to increase, intransitive), tambahan (an addition or extra item), and penambahan (an increase, addition). The passive form, ditambah, can indicate that something has been added. In formal or written language, these variants are used to convey different grammatical roles.

Usage: In Indonesian and Malay, tambah appears in multiple constructions. In informal speech, you may hear tambahkan garam or tambah garam to mean “add salt,” with tambahkan being a more formal imperative form. To express increasing quantity, one might say saya ingin menambah satu orang ke daftar (I want to add one more person to the list). The noun form tambahan is common in phrases such as biaya tambahan (additional cost) or satu lagi sebagai tambahan (one more as an addition). In everyday contexts, tambah can function as a concise way to request or indicate an increase, while adding forms like menambah or penambahan provides more precise grammatical meaning.

See also: Bertambah, Penambahan, Tambahan. The term is closely related to other Malay-Indonesian words for addition and increase and is widely understood in both standard and colloquial registers.