ber..yes it used for verbs.. example lets take the word 'tanya' (ask) ....bertanya mean asking some one...boleh saya bertanya kepada awak? can i asking you?...in colloquial form ber is always dropped...boleh saya tanya awak? per is for nouns...never drop it..it is used with the suffix -an..here is the example...per+tanya+an...then you get pertanyaan which means 'question'...bual (chat) - perbualan (chatting).. cakap(speak) - percakapan (speech)... for verb start with 'b' such as 'bunuh'(kill) the per change to pem- pembunuhan (act of killing/murder)...for verb which start with 's' it will change to 'peny'....seksa (to torture) - penyeksaan (the torture)..just simply throw out the 's' letter

Ber is used for verbs while per is used for nouns

Ber is used for verbs while per is used for nouns