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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 The Basic Rules
About Tenses
Tenses

In Bahasa Malaysia, Past Tense Prefixes are widely used

Verbs do not exist. with Bahasa Malaysia
Eg : I eat = I ate = Saya makan. verbs
Actions are explained using time eg : me.., be.., ter.. and
as indicator of present, past or di...
future
Suffixes are also widely
Eg : I eat everyday used with Bahasa
hari
Saya makan setiap Malaysia verbs
eg : ..kan, i
Eg : I ate just now
Saya makan tadi 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
T he use of to be ie is, are, am, was, Examples
were
When a noun explains its position Saya berada di rumah
to be is translated as : berada I am at home

When a noun explains itself as a noun Ini ialah abang saya

to be is translated as : ialah This is my brother

When a noun explains its adjective, Ini kereta

to be is not translated This is a car

When to be is used in continuous action, Saya sedang makan

to be is translated as : sedang I am eating

When to be is used in a passive voice, Saya diberitahu semalam

to be is translated as : di 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-
a child seorang budak many human) ramai
a little sedikit a lot of (for human)
a car sebuah kereta plenty banyak/ramai
a sebotol several banyak/ramai
bottle sebiji telur beberapa
of an sebatang pensil
egg sebilah pisau
a pencil sepaket
a cup
knifeof coffee secawan kopi
a packet
 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 / us kita / kami
They kami them mereka
It Mereka it ia / nya
Ia
 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 in di atas to ke
under di dalam with dengan
beside di bawah near dekat
here di sebelah nearby dekat dengan
there di sini from dari
and di sana far jauh
dan

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

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

 Structure of a sentence
Subject Verb or : Object
berada
Noun ialah Noun
noun Verb
Adjective 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
Interrogative Subject Verb or : Object
Or Noun berada Noun
Adakah ialah Verb
noun all
adjective

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 Examples:

Monday Hari Isnin What day is today?

Tuesday Hari Selasa Hari ini hari apa?
Wednesday Hari Rabu Today is Monday
Thursday Hari Khamis Hari ini Hari Isnin / Hari ini
Friday Hari Jumaat Isnin
Saturday Hari Sabtu Note : is is not translated
Sunday Hari Ahad
 Month of the Year
January Januari
February Februari
March Mac
April April Month = Bulan
In English we say : What month is it?
May Mei
In BM, it is asked this way :
June Jun What month is this month?
July Julai Bulan ini bulan apa?
August Ogos This month is June
Septe Sept Bulan ini Bulan June
mber embe
Octobe r Note : is is not translated
r Okto
Novem ber
ber Nove
Decem mber
ber Dise
mber
 Numbers

1 Satu 11 Sebelas 21 Dua Puluh satu

2 Dua Tiga 12 Dua Belas Tiga 22 Dua Puluh dua
3 Empat 13 Belas Empat 30 Tiga Puluh Satu
4 Lima 14 Belas Lima 39 Tiga Puluh Sembilan
5 Enam 15 Belas Enam 40 Empat Puluh
6 Tujuh 16 Belas Tujuh 60 Enampuluh
7 Lapan 17 Belas Lapan 80 Lapan Puluh
8 Sembilan 18 Belas Sembilan 100 Seratus or Satu Ratus
9 Sepuluh 19 Belas Dua 101 Seratus Satu
10 20 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? Bagaima How many cars? Berapa buah kereta?
na?
 Present & Past
Present 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 tengahari tadi
Once in a sesekali afternoon dulu
while kerap/selalu Last time bulan lepas
Often Last month

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
Late sebentar lagi
r
Note
Pagi is used from 12.01am 11.59am
Tengah is used from 12.00n 2.00pm
hari is used from 2.01pm 7.00pm
Petang is used from 7.00pm 12.00m
Malam
 How to indicate The Hours
What time is it now? Sekarang pukul berapa? / Sekarang
sudah pukul berapa?
It is 1 oclock (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
 Conjunction
Beginning 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 sementara itu
while walaupun
even tetapi / tapi
though sebelum
but selepas
before sebelum itu
after selepas itu
before that sekiranya / kalau
after that bagaimana
if how apa yang
what dimana
where bila (indicating time)
when apabila (not indicating
when 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
Lets speak Malay
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