Fundamentals of Bahasa MalaysiaBy : DjRay, DLanguage STUDIO Langkawi

DLanguage STUDIO provides Malay Video Lessons

This page reveals the basic fundamentals of Malay,

designed for English speaking students

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The Basic RulesAbout Tenses

Tenses

In Bahasa Malaysia, Past Tense Verbs do not exist.

Eg : I eat = I ate = Saya makan.

Actions are explained using timeas indicator of present, past or future

Eg : I eat everydaySaya makan setiap hari

Eg : I ate just nowSaya makan tadi

Prefixes are widely used

with Bahasa Malaysia

verbs

eg : me.., be.., ter.. and

di...

Suffixes are also widely

used with Bahasa

Malaysia verbs

eg : ..kan, …i

Note : Prefix and suffix is

available in Bahasa

Malaysia Part 2

The Basic Rules About Verbs

Verbs

Similar to English, Bahasa Malaysia uses Simple, Continuous and

Perfect Verbs to explain present, past and future actions

Simple : Saya makan hari-hari – I eat everyday

Continuous : Saya sedang makan sekarang – I am eating now

Perfect : Saya sudah makan – I have eaten

Active & Passive verbs

Similar to English, Active and Passive sentences exist in Bahasa

Malaysia

Active : Saya makan ayam – I eat chicken

Passive : Ayam itu dimakan.. – The chicken was eaten ..

The Basic Rules Arrangement of Articles, possessions,adjectives

• Opposite to English, the articles, possessive pronouns and adjectives are placed after the nouns. Examples :

• Articles : the house rumah itu

• Possessive pronoun : my house rumah saya

• Adjective : big house rumah besar

The Basic Rules About Verb to be

The use of ‘to be’ ie is, are, am, was, were

• When a noun explains its position

‘to be’ is translated as : berada

• When a noun explains itself as a noun

‘to be’ is translated as : ialah

• When a noun explains its adjective,

‘to be’ is not translated

• When ‘to be’ is used in continuous action,

‘to be’ is translated as : sedang

• When ‘to be’ is used in a passive voice,

‘to be’ is translated as : di

Examples

• Saya berada di rumah

• I am at home

• Ini ialah abang saya

• This is my brother

• Ini kereta

• This is a car

• Saya sedang makan

• I am eating

• Saya diberitahu semalam

• I was informed yesterday

Common Nouns

Similar to English, common nouns in Malay refers to people, animal and things

Singularity and Plurality are shown below :

office : pejabat offices : pejabat-pejabat

room : bilik rooms : bilik-bilik

friend : kawan friends : kawan-kawan

guest : tetamu guests : tetamu-tetamu

Articles The, This, That, These, Those

• The position of articles in Bahasa Malaysia is opposite to English

• Usually, ‘the’ in the last noun of a sentence is not translated unless it means ‘that’

Singular Noun Plural Noun

• the office pejabat itu the offices pejabat-pejabat itu

• the room bilik itu the rooms bilik-bilik itu

• this guest tetamu ini these guests tetamu-tetamu ini

• that guest tetamu itu those guests tetamu-tetamu itu

Adverbs of Quantity

The position of adverbs of quantity in Bahasa Malaysia is similar to English

Singular Noun Plural Noun

• a guest seorang tetamu many guests ramai tetamu

• one guest satu tetamu a few guests beberapa tetamu

• a litte sugar sedikit gula a lot of people ramai orang

• a satu or se_____ many banyak (for non-human)

• a child seorang budak many ramai (for human)

• a little sedikit a lot of banyak/ramai

• a car sebuah kereta plenty banyak/ramai

• a bottle of sebotol several beberapa

• an egg sebiji telur

• a pencil sebatang pensil

• a knife sebilah pisau

• a packet sepaket

• a cup of coffee secawan kopi

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns (subject) Personal Pronouns (object)

I Saya me saya

You Awak you awak

He Dia him dia / nya

She Dia her dia / nya

We Kita / kami us kita / kami

They Mereka them mereka

It Ia it ia / nya

Possessive Pronouns

Singular Possession Plural Possession

my car kereta saya my cars kereta-kereta saya

your house rumah awak your houses rumah-rumah awak

his house rumahnya / dia his houses rumah-rumahnya / dia

her house rumahnya / dia her houses rumah-rumahnya / dia

our house rumah kita our houses rumah-rumah kita

their house rumah mereka their houses rumah-rumah mereka

its kitten anaknya its kittens anak-anaknya

Preposition

at di at pada (used to indicate time)

on di atas to ke

in di dalam with dengan

under di bawah near dekat

beside di sebelah nearby dekat dengan

here di sini from dari

there di sana far jauh

and dan

Note : In English, we use verb to be such as ‘is, am, are.. etc’ to explain a location of a noun. In Bahasa Malaysia, we can omit ‘to be’ for this purpose, or use ‘berada’

Eg : I am here Saya di sini or Saya berada di sini

Structure of a sentence

Subject

Noun

Verb or :berada

ialah

noun

Adjective

Object

Noun

Verb

all

I live here Saya tinggal di sini

I am Tom Saya Tom

I am happy today Saya gembira hari ini

Structure of a Question

Subject

Noun

Verb or :

berada

ialah

noun

adjective

Object

Noun

Verb

all

Interrogative

Or

Adakah

Do you live here? Adakah awak tinggal di sini

What is your mane? Siapa nama awak?

Are you happy today? Adakah awak gembira hari ini?

Sample Conversation1

Conversation 1

My name is Alex and this is Adam

I am from England

This is my wife

We arrived yesterday

We stay in room 206

We like this hotel

This hotel is beautiful

That boy is my son

He likes this hotel too

He wants to eat at the restaurant

Can you show us where is the

restaurant?

Perbualan 1

Nama saya Alex dan ini Adam

Saya dari England

Ini isteri saya

Kami tiba semalam

Kami tinggal di bilik 206 (dua kosong

enam)

Kami suka hotel ini

Hotel ini cantik

Budak lelaki itu anak saya

Dia suka hotel ini juga

Dia mahu makan di restoren

Bolehkah awak tunjukkan kami di mana

restoren?

Numbers, Days & Months

Days of the week

Monday Hari Isnin

Tuesday Hari Selasa Wednesday Hari Rabu

Thursday Hari Khamis

Friday Hari Jumaat Saturday Hari Sabtu

Sunday Hari Ahad

Examples:

What day is today?

Hari ini hari apa?

Today is Monday

Hari ini Hari Isnin / Hari ini Isnin

Note : ‘is’ is not translated

Month of the Year

January Januari

February Februari

March Mac

April April

May Mei

June Jun

July Julai

August Ogos

September September

October Oktober

November November

December Disember

Month = Bulan

In English we say : What month is it?

In BM, it is asked this way :

What month is this month?

Bulan ini bulan apa?

This month is June

Bulan ini Bulan June

Note : ‘is’ is not translated

Numbers

1 Satu 11 Sebelas 21 Dua Puluh satu

2 Dua 12 Dua Belas 22 Dua Puluh dua

3 Tiga 13 Tiga Belas 30 Tiga Puluh Satu

4 Empat 14 Empat Belas 39 Tiga Puluh Sembilan

5 Lima 15 Lima Belas 40 Empat Puluh

6 Enam 16 Enam Belas 60 Enampuluh

7 Tujuh 17 Tujuh Belas 80 Lapan Puluh

8 Lapan 18 Lapan Belas 100 Seratus or Satu Ratus

9 Sembilan 19 Sembilan Belas 101 Seratus Satu

10 Sepuluh 20 Dua Puluh 1000 Seribu or Satu Ribu

Interrogatives

What? Apa? What car? Kereta apa?

Where? Di mana? Which car? Kereta mana?

Why? Kenapa? Whose car? Kereta siapa?

When? Bila? How many? Berapa?

Who? Siapa? How much? Berapa?

How? Bagaimana? How many cars? Berapa buah kereta?

Present & PastPresent Time Past Time _____

Now sekarang Just nowtadi

Everyday setiap hari / hari-hari Yesterday semalam

Always selalu This morning pagi tadi

Usually biasanya Last Night malam tadi

Sometimes kadang-kadang Last week minggu lepas

Seldom jarang-jarang This afternoon tengahari tadi

Once in a while sesekali Last time dulu

Often kerap/selalu Last month bulan lepas

In Bahasa Malaysia, the word ‘sudah/telah’ or ‘time’ is used to indicate a past

action. ‘Sudah/telah’ is used with verbs only.

Eg : I ate already Saya sudah makan

Eg : I ate just now Saya makan tadi or Saya sudah makan tadi

Future

Future Time

Tomorrow esok

Next week minggu hadapan

Next month bulan hadapan

Next time lain kali

Later sebentar lagi

Note

Pagi is used from 12.01am – 11.59am

Tengah hari is used from 12.00n – 2.00pm

Petang is used from 2.01pm – 7.00pm

Malam is used from 7.00pm – 12.00m

How to indicate ‘The Hours’

• What time is it now? Sekarang pukul berapa? / Sekarang

sudah pukul berapa?

• It is 1 o’clock (pm) Pukul satu tengahari

• It is 7.30 in the morning Pukul tujuh tiga puluh minit pagi /

Pukul tujuh setengah pagi

• It is 3.10 in the afternoon Pukul tiga sepuluh minit petang (considered evening)

• It is 8.12 in the evening Pukul lapan dua belas minit malam

( considered night)

• It is 8.15 in the evening Pukul lapan lima belas minit malam /

Pukul lapan suku malam

ConjunctionBeginning or middle of a sentence usually middle of sentence

and dan whereas di mana

and then selepas itu which yang

when semasa who yang

while semasa that yang

mean while sementara itu

even though walaupun

but tetapi / tapi

before sebelum

after selepas

before that sebelum itu

after that selepas itu

if sekiranya / kalau

how bagaimana

what apa yang

where dimana

when bila (indicating time)

when apabila (not indicating time)

Note :

• Most conjunctions are used to join sentences.

• Some can be used at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence, but some can only be used in the middle.

End of Fundamentals Part 1

Bahasa Malaysia Part 2 Arrangement of verbs

Let’s speak Malay

Video Lessons

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