Malay Grammar

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Malay Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Malay grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Malay and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Malay and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Malay.

Prepositions	Malay
and	Dan
above	Di atas
under	Bawah
before	Sebelum
after	Selepas
in front of	Di depan
behind	Di belakang
far from	Jauh dari
near	Berhampiran
in	Di/di dalam
inside	Di dalam
outside	Di luar
with	Dengan
without	Tanpa
about	Tentang
between	Di antara
but	Tetapi
for	Untuk
from	Dari
to	Ke

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules	Malay
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun]	Saya makan tanpa menggunakan pisau.
she lives near the church [verb + preposition]	Dia tinggal berhampiran gereja.
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition]	Dia lebih tinggi daripadanya.
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun]	Dia datang dengan anjing kecilnya.
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun]	Boleh anda datang dengan saya?

Negation in Malay

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules	Malay
I understand you [affirmative form]	Saya faham anda.
I don't understand you [negation + verb]	Saya tidak faham anda.
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective]	Ini bukanlah perkataan yang betul.
don't leave me [imperative negation]	Jangan tinggalkan saya.
no problem [negation + noun]	Tiada masalah

Negative Sentences	Malay
I don't speak French [negation + present tense]	Saya tidak bercakap bahasa Perancis.
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense]	Dia tidak melawat Jerman.
he cannot see us [negative modal verb]	Dia tidak boleh melihat kita.
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation]	Dia tidak boleh bermain catur?
we will not come late [negation + future tense]	Kami tidak akan datang lewat.

Questions in Malay

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English	Malay
how?	Bagaimana?
what?	Apa?
who?	Siapa?
why?	Mengapa?
where?	Di mana?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules	Malay
where do you live? [interrogative + verb]	Anda tinggal di mana?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb]	Bolehkah dia bercakap Cina?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition]	Ini berapa?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb]	Boleh saya bantu anda?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition]	Siapa nama anda?

Adverbs in Malay

It's time to learn the adverbs in Malay. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs	Malay
now	Sekarang
yesterday	Semalam
today	Hari ini
tonight	Malam ini
tomorrow	Besok
soon	Segera
quickly	Cepat-cepat
slowly	Perlahan-lahan
together	Bersama
very	Sangat
almost	Hampir
always	Selalu
usually	Biasanya
sometimes	Kadang-kadang
rarely	Jarang
never	Tidak pernah

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules	Malay
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb]	Adakah anda memahami saya sekarang?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb]	Saya memerlukan bantuan segera.
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective]	Dia sangat pintar
I will always love you [verb + adverb]	Saya akan sentiasa mencintai anda.
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question]	Boleh kita belajar bahasa Jerman bersama?

Pronouns in Malay

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Malay. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns	Malay
I	Saya
you	Kamu/awak/anda
he	Dia
she	Dia
we	Kami
they	Mereka

Object Pronouns	Malay
me	Saya
you	Kamu/awak/anda
him	Dia
her	Dia
us	Kami
them	Mereka

Possessive Pronouns	Malay
my	Saya punya
your	Kamu/awak/anda punya
his	Dia punya
her	Dia punya
our	Kami punya
their	Mereka punya

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns	Malay
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb]	Saya rakan anda.
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb]	Anda bercakap sangat cepat.
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb]	Dia mempunyai tiga ekor anjing.
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb]	Dia boleh bercakap bahasa Jerman.
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun]	Kami tidak akan datang lewat
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun]	Mereka membeli susu dan roti

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns	Malay
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun]	Boleh anda beritahu saya nama anda?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun]	Saya akan beri anda wang.
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun]	Dia menulis surat kepadanya.
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun]	Mereka melawat beliau semalam
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun]	Bolehkah dia membantu kita?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun]	Dia memberi mereka makanan.

Possessive Pronouns	Malay
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun]	Nama saya Maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun]	Abang anda tinggal di sini.
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun]	Ibunya memasak untuk kami.
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun]	Hobi beliau ialah membaca buku-buku.
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun]	Impian kami adalah untuk melawat Paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun]	Rumah mereka tidak jauh.

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns	Malay
this is my house	Ini rumah saya
that restaurant is far	Restoran itu jauh.
these apples are delicious	Epal-epal ini lazat.
those stars are shiny	Bintang-bintang itu bersinar.

I hope you learned a lot about the Malay grammar in this lesson. If you have any question about this lesson please contact me here. The next lesson is below, have fun!

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