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 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-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 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 Isnin
Friday Hari Jumaat
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
September September Bulan ini Bulan June
October Oktober
November November Note : is is not translated
December Disember
 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 & 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 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 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 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
Lets speak Malay
Video Lessons
Available at
www.dlanguagestudio.com