Fundamentals of Bahasa Malaysia

By : 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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www.dlanguagestudio.com

The Basic Rules

About Tenses
Tenses
In Bahasa Malaysia, Past Tense
Verbs do not exist.
Eg : I eat = I ate = Saya makan.
Actions are explained using time
as indicator of present, past or
future
Eg : I eat everyday
Saya makan setiap hari

Eg : I ate just now

Saya 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

Examples

When a noun explains its position

to be is translated as : berada

Saya berada di rumah

I am at home

When a noun explains itself as a noun

to be is translated as : ialah

Ini ialah abang saya

This is my brother

When a noun explains its adjective,

to be is not translated

Ini kereta
This is a car

When to be is used in continuous action,

to be is translated as : sedang

Saya sedang makan

I am eating

When to be is used in a passive voice,

to be is translated as : di

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
room
friend

: pejabat
: bilik
: kawan

offices
rooms
friends

: pejabat-pejabat
: bilik-bilik
: 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
the room
this guest
that guest

the offices
the rooms
these guests
those guests

pejabat itu
bilik itu
tetamu ini
tetamu itu

pejabat-pejabat itu
bilik-bilik itu
tetamu-tetamu ini
tetamu-tetamu itu

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

Singular Noun
a guest
seorang tetamu many guests
one guest satu tetamu
a few guests
a litte sugar sedikit gula
a lot of people
a
satu or se_____ many
a child
seorang budak many
a little
sedikit
a lot of
a car
sebuah kereta
plenty
a bottle of sebotol
several
an egg
sebiji telur
a pencil
sebatang pensil
a knife
sebilah pisau
a packet
sepaket
a cup of coffee secawan kopi

Plural Noun
ramai tetamu
beberapa tetamu
ramai orang
banyak (for non-human)
ramai (for human)
banyak/ramai
banyak/ramai
beberapa

Personal Pronouns
Personal Pronouns (subject)
I
You
He
She
We
They
It

Saya
Awak
Dia
Dia
Kita / kami
Mereka
Ia

Personal Pronouns (object)

me
you
him
her
us
them
it

saya
awak
dia / nya
dia / nya
kita / kami
mereka
ia / nya

Possessive Pronouns
Singular Possession

Plural Possession

my car
your house
his house
her house
our house
their house
its kitten

my cars
your houses
his houses
her houses
our houses
their houses
its kittens

kereta saya
rumah awak
rumahnya / dia
rumahnya / dia
rumah kita
rumah mereka
anaknya

kereta-kereta saya
rumah-rumah awak
rumah-rumahnya / dia
rumah-rumahnya / dia
rumah-rumah kita
rumah-rumah mereka
anak-anaknya

Preposition
at
on
in
under
beside
here
there
and

di
di atas
di dalam with
di bawah
di sebelah
di sini
di sana
dan

at
to
dengan
near
nearby
from
far

pada (used to indicate time)

ke
dekat
dekat dengan
dari
jauh

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

Verb or :

Object

Noun

berada
ialah
noun
Adjective

Noun
Verb
all

I live here
I am Tom
I am happy today

Saya tinggal di sini

Saya Tom
Saya gembira hari ini

Structure of a Question
Interrogative Subject
Or
Noun
Adakah

Do you live here?

What is your mane?
Are you happy today?

Verb or :
berada
ialah
noun
adjective

Object
Noun
Verb
all

Adakah awak tinggal di sini

Siapa nama awak?
Adakah awak gembira hari ini?

Sample Conversation1
Conversation 1

Perbualan 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

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?

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?

Numbers, Days & Months

Days of the week

Examples:

Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday

What day is today?

Hari ini hari apa?
Today is Monday
Hari ini Hari Isnin / Hari ini Isnin

Hari Isnin
Hari Selasa
Hari Rabu
Hari Khamis
Hari Jumaat
Hari Sabtu
Hari Ahad

Note : is is not translated

Month of the Year

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Januari
Februari
Mac
April
Mei
Jun
Julai
Ogos
September
Oktober
November
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
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Satu
Dua
Tiga
Empat
Lima
Enam
Tujuh
Lapan
Sembilan
Sepuluh

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Sebelas
Dua Belas
Tiga Belas
Empat Belas
Lima Belas
Enam Belas
Tujuh Belas
Lapan Belas
Sembilan Belas
Dua Puluh

21
22
30
39
40
60
80
100
101
1000

Dua Puluh satu

Dua Puluh dua
Tiga Puluh Satu
Tiga Puluh Sembilan
Empat Puluh
Enampuluh
Lapan Puluh
Seratus or Satu Ratus
Seratus Satu
Seribu or Satu Ribu

Interrogatives
What?
Where?
Why?
When?
Who?
How?

Apa?
Di mana?
Kenapa?
Bila?
Siapa?
Bagaimana?

What car?
Kereta apa?
Which car?
Kereta mana?
Whose car?
Kereta siapa?
How many?
Berapa?
How much?
Berapa?
How many cars? Berapa buah kereta?

Present & Past

Present Time
Now
Everyday
Always
Usually
Sometimes
Seldom
Once in a while
Often

Past Time
sekarang
setiap hari / hari-hari
selalu
biasanya
kadang-kadang
jarang-jarang
sesekali
kerap/selalu

Just nowtadi
Yesterday
This morning
Last Night
Last week
This afternoon
Last time
Last month

_____

semalam
pagi tadi
malam tadi
minggu lepas
tengahari tadi
dulu
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
Eg : I ate just now

Saya sudah makan

Saya makan tadi or Saya sudah makan tadi

Future
Future Time
Tomorrow
Next week
Next month
Next time
Later

esok
minggu hadapan
bulan hadapan
lain kali
sebentar lagi

Note
Pagi
Tengah hari
Petang
Malam

is used from 12.01am 11.59am

is used from 12.00n 2.00pm
is used from 2.01pm 7.00pm
is used from 7.00pm 12.00m

How to indicate The Hours

What time is it now?
It is 1 oclock (pm)
It is 7.30 in the morning
It is 3.10 in the afternoon
It is 8.12 in the evening
It is 8.15 in the evening

Sekarang pukul berapa? / Sekarang

sudah pukul berapa?
Pukul satu tengahari
Pukul tujuh tiga puluh minit pagi /
Pukul tujuh setengah pagi
Pukul tiga sepuluh minit petang
(considered evening)
Pukul lapan dua belas minit malam
( considered night)
Pukul lapan lima belas minit malam /
Pukul lapan suku malam

Conjunction
Beginning or middle of a sentence

usually middle of sentence

and
and then
when
while
mean while
even though
but
before
after
before that
after that
if
how
what
where
when
when

whereas
which
who
that

dan
selepas itu
semasa
semasa
sementara itu
walaupun
tetapi / tapi
sebelum
selepas
sebelum itu
selepas itu
sekiranya / kalau
bagaimana
apa yang
dimana
bila (indicating time)
apabila (not indicating time)

di mana
yang
yang
yang

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
Lets speak Malay
Video Lessons
Available at

www.dlanguagestudio.com