Malay Fundamentals By Djray

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 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 : pejabat-pejabat rooms : bilik-bilik 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 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 bawahnear di sebelah di sini di sana dan

at to dengan dekat nearby from far

pada (used to indicate time) ke

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 o’clock (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 Let’s speak Malay Video Lessons Available at

www.dlanguagestudio.com