Malay Grammar Notes

INTRODUCTION 2

VERBS 7

PAST AND FUTURE TENSES 9

PREPOSITIONS 11

ADJECTIVES 11

FORMULATING QUESTIONS 13

PERSONAL PRONOUNS 14

LEARNING HOW TO BE POLITE 15

NEGATIVE STATEMENTS 16

USAGE OF MUCH AND MANY 17

LEARNING HOW TO COUNT 18

CONSTRUCTING SENTENCES USING NUMBERS 19

HOW TO TELL TIME 20

POSSESSIVE NOUNS 21

USING THE WORD WOULD 23

WANT TO LEARN MORE? 24

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Introducton
I would like to give you some basic explanatons about the general
structure of the Malay language.

Learning the Malay language is fundamentally simple to learn as it is

written in ooman alphabet although traditonally, it was written in tJawi
writng. The pronunciaton of words in the Malay language is also simple
as the alphabets are pronounced just as it would be in English.

Sentence Structures
On the grammar side of the language, there are generally four types of
sentences commonly used in Malay.

These are:
- Statements
- Interrogatve sentences
- Instructons
- Exclamatons

To master these diferent sentence structures, one would need to have a

comprehensive understanding on the usage of nouns, pronouns, verbs,
adjectves, conjunctons, interjectons and prepositons.

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Generally, the word order in Malay is similar to word order in an English

sentence. Thus, this makes learning Malay very easy.

Nouns
Unlike in English, nouns in Malay are not accompanied by general artcles
such as ta , tan or tthe . These artcles do not exist in Malay. However,
nouns in Malay are accompanied by classifers specifc for that noun
which replaces the functon of artcles in English. or example, in English,
you would say:

- A man – Seorang Lelaki

- A ship – Sebuah Kapal

Notce the artcle ta is used for both the man and the ship.
However, this cannot be done in Malay as artcles are replaced by
classifers that are designated for diferent types of nouns. or example,
the classifer replacing the artcle accompanying a human noun would be
diferent from that of an object noun. A classifer replacing the English
artcle for a big object such as a house is diferent from that of a small
object such as a ship.

or better understanding, we shall look at examples from diferent

categories which are humans and objects.

Firstly let us look at the word Bus and how it is said in Malay:

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Bus = Bas

A Bus = Sebuah Bas

The Bus = Bas itu
This Bus = Bas ini
That Bus = Bas itu

Now, let us look at the word Man. In Malay, Lelaki:

Man = Lelaki

A Man = Seorang Lelaki

The Man = Lelaki itu
This Man = Lelaki ini
That Man = Lelaki itu

You will notce that the classifer Seorang was used for Lelaki // Man to
replace "a" while Sebuah was used for Kapal // ship for the same purpose.

Descriptve Nouns
To describe which object is referred to, we use descriptve nouns such
as the, this, that, these and those. In Malay, things are much simpler as
we only have itu or ini.

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Itu is used for : That, those, the

Ini is used for : This, these

To make things even simpler, the singular and plural form of nouns in
Malay is simply a repetton of the noun.

For example:
English Singular : man | Plural: men
Malay Singular: lelaki | Plural : lelaki-lelaki

Classifers
As mentoned above Artcles in Malay are replaced with classifers. The
common classifers are listed below:

Orang - is used for people. The word itself means "person, people".
ekor - is used for animals. The word itself means "tail".
buah - is used for most objects eg. books, tables, cars, houses, schools.
The word itself means "fruit".
biji - is used for small, round objects such as eggs, sweets and fruits. The
word itself means "seed".
batang - is used for long, slim items such as pencils, pens, or stcks.
keping - is used for a piece//pieces of paper, bread, cake, che ues,
photographs.
pucuk - is used for letters and arms.

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These classifers are used in place of artcles and are placed in front of
the noun.

For example:
Orang
Seorang budak lelaki // A boy

Ekor
Dua ekor kucing // Two cats

Buah
Empat buah kapal // our ships

Biji
Tiga biji telur // Three eggs

Batang
Empat batang pen // our pens

Keping
Lima keping kek // ive pieces of cake

Pucuk
Lima pucuk surat // ive letters

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Verbs
Verbs are used to describe actons of someone or something. In Malay,
verbs can take the actve or passive form. Actve verbs are used to show
that the acton is being done while passive verbs are used to show that
the acton has been done.

Actve Verbs
In Malay, actve verbs are commonly accompanied by the word tsedang .

tSedang carries the meaning of tbeing in the process of . or example,

tsedang duduk means tis sitng

A complete sentence would be:

tLelaki itu sedang duduk // The man is sitng.

In English, an actve verb is accompanied by the sufx -ing. i.e sitng,

jumping, running, walking. However, the usage of prefx in Malay
depends on the kind of acton that is being done.

Generally, for actvites that are relatvely non-mechanical, and no

dynamic forces or acton is being done, no prefx or sufx accompanies
the root word.

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For example:
Duduk // Sit
Lelaki itu sedang duduk // The man is sitng.
Notce that no prefx is added to the root word tduduk .

or actvites that generally is done or exerted onto oneself alone, the

prefx tber is used.

For example:
Diri // Stand
Lelaki itu sedang berdiri. // The man is standing.

Jalan // Walk
Budak lelaki itu sedang berjalan // The boy is walking.

or actvites that generally is done or exerted onto another object or

surface, the prefx tme // men // meng // is used.

For example:
Lompat // Jump
Budak lelaki itu sedang melompat. // The boy is jumping.

Masak // Cook
Lelaki itu sedang memasak // The man is cooking.

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Past and uture Tenses

We will now build on our knowledge of present tense to learn of past
tense and future tense. On the vocabulary side, we will be learning about
animals.

In the Malay language, tenses are conveyed by tense markers which are
put before the verb.

Past tense
Past tense is indicated by the word sudah // telah which bring the
meaning of thave been done or thave taken place .

As such, the word telah and sudah can be used interchangeably. Let’s
look at some examples of the correct usage of telah and sudah:

Kuda itu sudah melompat.

The horse jumped.

Kuda itu telah melompat.

The horse jumped.

Kucing itu sudah minum.

The cat drank.

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 page 10

Kucing itu telah minum.

The cat drank.

uture Tense
uture tense is indicated by akan // will which is placed in front of the
verb.

Kuda itu akan melompat.

The horse is going to jump.

Prepositons
To begin with, prepositons are words to show the place of the subject.
Among them are in, on, and under.

In Malay, these prepositons are:

Di dalam = in // inside
Di atas = on // on top
Di bawah = under
Di = at

Let us look at a few examples of the usage of prepositons in Malay:

Seorang bayi di dalam kereta. // A baby in a car.

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 page 11

Sebuah kapal terbang di atas sebuah kereta. // A plane on a car.

Seorang budak lelaki di bawah kapal terbang. // A boy under a plane.
Sebuah bas di stesen bus. // A bus at a bus stop.

Adjectves
Adjectves are used to describe nouns.

Examples of adjecties are:

Old = lama (for object) // tua (for living nouns)

A special rule for lama is that it cannot be placed directly afer the noun.
It must be preceded by the word tsudah [ already].

Seluar biru itu sudah lama. // The blue pants are old.

New = baru
Long = panjang
Short = pendek
Small = kecil
Big = besar

If you like to describe certain things, the adjectve normally follows the
noun.

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Look at these examples:

Kemeja biru itu baru. // The blue shirt is new.
Seluar merah itu pendek. // The red pants are short.
Seluar puth itu panjang. // The white pants are long.
Kemeja-T kuning itu besar. // The yellow t-shirt is big.
Kemeja-T puth itu kecil. // The white t-shirt is small.

If you want to stress the adjectve, use the word sangat // sungguh.

For example:
Kemeja itu sangat//sungguh besar = The shirt is so big.

ormulatng Questons
I hope that you are excited to learn how to formulate uestons in Malay!

To construct uestons in Malay, you only need to remember the 4 W’s

and the 1 H. Such as Why, Where, Who, When and How. In Malay of
course!!

This is how you say these words in Malay:

Apakah = What
Mengapakah = Why
Di Manakah = Where

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Siapakah = Who
Bilakah = When
Bagaimanakah = How

Usage of WHAT
The rule to construct uestons in Malay is just the same as in English:
Queston word followed by the statement.

For example:
What is the woman doing?

Similarly, the ueston word tapakah is put at the beginning of the

sentence

Apakah yang sedang dilakukan oleh perempuan itu?

Let us see a few examples of the usage of Apakah // What.

Usage of WHEoE
Let us see a an example on the usage of Di Manakah // where:

Di manakah bayi itu berada? // Where is the baby?

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Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are used to replace nouns and are the subject or the
object in a sentence.

Let us take this sentence as an example:

Joanne is fat. - In this case, Joanne is the partcular noun. This sentence
can be re-written as she is fat. Where tshe takes the role of a pronoun
to replace tJoanne .

Likewise, pronouns are widely used in Malay. Let us compare the English
pronouns and their Malay language counterpart.

Saya : I // me//my
Kami: we// us
Awak: you
Dia : he, she, him, her
Mereka: they, them
Ia : it

Lets look at an example:

Name saya ialah Mike // My name is Mike.

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 page 15

Learning How to be Polite

Now that we have already learnt to create uestons, lets learn some
new words on things that you would fnd in the hotel.

Normally, to be polite, we would say tExcuse me before proceeding to

the ueston.

We do the same in Malay too.

In Malay, Excuse me is said as tMaafan saya .

Let’s look at an example:

Maafan saya, adakah awak mempunyai bilik untuk ditempah? | Ya, kami
mempunyai bilik untuk ditempah.
Excuse me, do you have a room in your hotel available? | Yes, we have a
room available.

Negatve Statements
To give a sentence a negatve meaning, just put the word tbukan or
ttdak , both of these carries the meaning of tnot .

Tidak = no // not
Bukan = not

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When used for tnot , tBukan cannot be used when it is followed by an

adjectve. Instead, in this instance ttdak is used.

For example:
Telefon itu tdak berwarna merah, tapi hitam.
This telephone is not red, it's black.

"Bukan" on the other hand is used to deny ownership.

For example:
Dia bukan anak perempuan saya
She is not my daughter.

Usage of MUCH and MANY

I will share with you the usage of much and many in Malay.

In English, much is used to express the plural form of non-countable

nouns such as:

There is not much air in this room.

While many is used for countable nouns such as:
There are many cars in the parking lot.

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 page 17

In Malay, the functonality of tmany and tmuch is replaced by the word

tbanyak // ramai .

Unlike in English, the usage of tbanyak and tramai is not diferentated

according to countable or non-countable nouns. Instead, it is used on the
nature of the noun.

If the noun is a non-human noun, tbanyak is used.

For example:
Terdapat banyak kereta di dalam tempat letak kereta
There are many cars in the parking lot.

Whereas, an example for the usage of tramai is:

Terdapat ramai wanita di dalam rumah

There are many ladies in the house.

As you can see, since Wanita // lady(ies) is a human noun, tramai is used.

Learning How to Count

We shall now learn to count in Malay

0 – sifar

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1 – Satu
2- dua
3 – tga
4- empat
5 – lima
6 – enam
7 – tujuh
8 – lapan
9 – sembilan
10 – sepuluh

Constructng Sentences Using Numbers

Now that we know how to count in Malay, let us begin to learn how to
construct sentences using numbers in Malay.

Unlike in English, nouns in Malay are not accompanied by general artcles

such as ta , tan or tthe . These artcles do not exist in Malay. However,
nouns in Malay are accompanied by classifers specifc for that noun
which replaces the functon of artcles in English. or example, in English,
you would say:

- A man and – Seorang Lelaki

- A ship – Sebuah Kapal

These grammar notes are from our 105 Lessons Language Learning App L-Lingo
www.l-lingo.com

© Smart Language Apps Ltd.

 page 19

Where the artcle ta is used for both the man and the ship. However,
this cannot be done in Malay as artcles are replaced by classifers that
are designated for diferent types of nouns. or example, the classifer
replacing the artcle accompanying a human noun would be diferent
from that of an object noun. A classifer replacing the English artcle for a
big object such as a house is diferent from that of a small object such as
a ship.

or better understanding, we shall look at examples from diferent

categories which are humans and objects.

Firstly let us look at the word Bus and how it is said in Malay
Bus = Bas
A Bus = Sebuah Bas// Satu Buah Bas

In this case, as the subject is a non-living big object, the word tbuah is
used in front of the subject, tbas

Now, lets see how we say it when the subject is a human

Man = Lelaki
A Man = Seorang//Satu Orang Lelaki
our Men = Empat Orang Lelaki

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 page 20

How to Tell Time

Now that we know numbers in Malay, we can defnitely use this
knowledge to tell tme.

Pukul berapa sekarang? | Pukul tujuh.

What tme is it now? | It is seven o’clock
In Malay, certain words can be used to refer to certain tme frames.

For example:
Now = Sekarang
Saya lapar sekarang
I am hungry now.

Later = Nant
I will eat later
Saya akan makan nant.

Tomorrow = Besok
Kami akan pulang ke rumah besok
We will return home tomorrow.

Yesterday = Semalam
Dia sudah datang semalam
He came yesterday.

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 page 21

Possessive Nouns
We now move on to learn on possessive nouns.

In English, phrases like:

- I have
- She has
- They have
- I own

Brings the meaning of possession. Whereas, the words "has", "have" and
"own" means that something belongs to the subject.

In Malay, there are two words to refect possessive nouns. These are:

- memiliki
- mempunyai

The root word of tmemiliki is tmilik which means belongs to. By adding
prefxes and sufxes we can expand the word tmilik into diferent forms.

For example:
Milik // belongs to = oumah ini milik saya // This house belongs to me.
Memiliki // own = Saya memiliki rumah ini // I own this house.

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 page 22

Dimiliki // owned by = oumah ini dimiliki oleh lelaki itu // This house is
owned by that man.

The root word of tmempunyai is tpunya which means belongs to as

well. However, tmempunyai cannot be used when referring to a
partcular object. By adding prefxes and sufxes we can expand the
word tpunya into diferent forms.

For example:
Punya // belongs to = oumah ini saya punya // This house is mine.
Mempunyai // own = Saya mempunyai rumah ini – WoONG.

Mempunyai can only be used in a sentence in which the message is that

the subject owns something.

Memunyai // own = Saya mempunyai sebuah rumah // I own a house.

Dipunyai // owned by = oumah ini dipunyai oleh lelaki itu // This house is
owned by that man.

Using the Word WOULD

There are tmes when we use the word twould if we are asking about
one’s preference.

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 page 23

For example:
Would you like french fries with your burger?
In Malay, "would" is said as tAdakah as seen here:

Adakah awak mahu kentang goreng bersama burger awak? | Tidak, saya
cuma mahu makan burger.
Would you like french fries with your burger? | No, I'd only like to have a
burger.

Want to learn more?

I hope you enjoyed these grammar notes. If you would like to learn more Malay,
we invite you to have a look at our Malay online language learning app.
https:////l-lingo.com//en//learn-malay

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