Bahasa Malaysia (Ba-ha-sa) is the official language of Malaysia. It is an Austronesian language which is also spoken by people from southern Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore.
If you would like to would like to learn more, you can join the University of Malaya online course.
In sentence construction, the structure is subject-verb-object: Saya (I) suka (love/like) memancing (fishing).
The first greeting you will encounter when you enter Malaysia is Selamat Datang which means Welcome, the direct translation is safe (Se-la-mat) coming (da-tang).
The adjective Selamat (Se-la-mat) which means safe is used quite often in combination to form greetings.
| pagi (pa-gi) | morning | Selamat pagi | Good morning |
| tengahari (te-nga-ha-ri) | noon | Selamat tengahari | Good afternoon |
| petang (pe-tang) | afternoon/ evening | Selamat petang | Good afternoon / Good evening |
| malam (ma-lam) | night | Selamat malam | Good night |
| jalan (ja-lan) | walk/ road | Selamat jalan | Goodbye / safe journey |
The adjective Sila (Si-la) which means please is also use in combination to form greetings,
| masuk (ma-suk) | in/ come in | sila masuk | please come in |
| makan (ma-kan) | eat/ to eat | sila makan | please eat |
| minum (mi-num) | to drink | sila minum | please drink |
| duduk (du-duk) | sit down | sila duduk | please sit down |
| datang (da-tang) | come | sila datang | please come |
Here are some of the pronouns used to describe people
| saya (sa-ya) | I/ me | aku (a-ku) | I/ me |
| awak (a-wak) | you | anda (an-da) | you |
| kamu (ka-mu) | you/ you all | mereka (me-re-ka) | them |
| kita (ki-ta) | we | dia (di-a) | he/ she |
Forming questions is quite easy, by combining the questions words (adjectives) with the noun.
| apa (a-pa) | what/ how | bila (bi-la) | when |
| di mana (di ma-na) | where | siapa (sia-pa) | who/ what |
| mengapa (me-nga-pa) | why | yang mana (yang ma-na) | which |
| bagaimana (ba-gai-ma-na) | how | berapa (be-ra-pa) | how much |
Another usual greeting is “Apa khabar?” which means “How are you?”, the direct translation is what (a-pa) news (kha-bar). Here are some more examples of questions,
| Apa nama awak? | What is your name? |
| Mana anda hendak pergi? | Where do you want to go? hen-dak (want to), per-gi (go) |
| Di manakah tandas? | Where is the toilet? – tan-das (toilet) |
The reciprocated reply is “Khabar baik” which means “I am fine”, direct translation is news (kha-bar) is good (ba-ik).
| Nama saya … | My name is … |
| Saya hendak pergi ke … | I want to go to …. – ke (to) |
| Tandas berada di sana. | The toilet is there – ber-a-da (is), di sa-na (there) |
Here are some common words and phrases
| satu (sa-tu) | one |
| se | one |
| dua (du-a) | two |
| tiga (ti-ga) | three |
| empat (em-pat) | four |
| lima (li-ma) | five |
| enam (e-nam) | six |
| tujuh (tu-juh) | seven |
| lapan (la-pan) | eight |
| sembilan (sem-bi-lan) | nine |
| sepuluh (se-pu-luh) | ten |
| sebelas (se-be-las) | eleven |
| belas (be-las) | … teen |
| lima belas | fifteen |
| seratus (se-ra-tus) | one hundred |
| seribu (se-ri-bu) | one thousand |
| sejuta (se-ju-ta) | one million |
| sifar (si-far) | zero |
| puluh (pu-luh) | ten |
| lima puluh | fifty |
| ratus (ra-tus) | hundred |
| lima ratus | five hundred |
| ribu (ri-bu) | thousand |
| lima ribu | five thousand |
| juta (ju-ta) | million |
| lima juta | five million |
| bas (bas) | bus |
| keretapi (ke-re-ta-pi) | train |
| tandas (tan-das) | toilet |
| hospital (hos-pi-tal) | hospital |
| bank (bank) | bank |
| pejabat (pe-ja-bat) | office |
| pos | post |
| pejabat pos | post office |
| kedutaan (ke-du-ta-an) | embassy |
| wang | money |
| duit (du-it) | money |
| harga (har-ga) | price |
| Isnin (Is-nin) | Monday |
| Selasa (Se-la-sa) | Tuesday |
| Rabu (Ra-bu) | Wednesday |
| Khamis (Kha-mis) | Thursday |
| Jumaat (Ju-ma-at) | Friday |
| Sabtu (Sab-tu) | Saturday |
| Ahad (A-had) | Sunday |
| minggu (ming-gu) | week |
| cuti (cu-ti) | holiday |
| teksi (tek-si) | taxi |
| kereta (ke-re-ta) | car |
| kapal (ka-pal) | ship |
| terbang (ter-bang) | fly/to fly |
| kapal terbang | airplanes |
| lapangan (la-pan-gan) | fields |
| lapangan terbang | airfields / airport |
| minum (mi-num) | drink/to drink |
| minuman (mi-nu-man) | beverage/drinks |
| makan (ma-kan) | eat/to eat |
| makanan (ma-ka-nan) | food |
| barang (ba-rang) | things/ item |
| kedai (ke-dai) | shops/store |
| kedai makan | food store |
| rumah (ru-mah) | house |
| tempat (tem-pat) | place |
| tidur (ti-dur) | to sleep/sleep |
| hotel | hotel |
| restoran (res-to-ran) | restaurant |
| stesen (ste-sen) | station |
| bas stesen | bus station |
| polis (po-lis) | police |
| polis stesen | police station |
| mahal (ma-hal) | expensive |
| murah (mu-rah) | cheap |
| sangat (san-gat) | very |
| sangat mahal | very expensive |
| perpustakaan (per-pus-ta-ka-an) | library |
| pengurup wang (pen-gu-rup wang) | money changer |
| waktu (wak-tu) | time |
| hari (ha-ri) | day |
| sekarang (se-ka-rang) | now |
| esok (e-sok) | tomorrow |
| semalam (se-ma-lam) | yesterday |
| pukul … (pu-kul) | … o’clock |
| pensyarah (pen-sya-rah) | lecturer |
| kuliah (ku-li-ah) | lecture |
| dewan (de-wan) | hall |
| dewan kuliah | lecture hall |
| tolong (to-long) | help |
| Faculti (Fa-cul-ti) | Faculty |
| Perubatan | Medical/Medicine |
| Sekarang pukul berapa? | What is the time now? |
| Sekarang pukul lima pagi | It is 5 am |
| Dimanakah kedai makan? | Where is the food store? |
| Berapakah harga barang ini? | How much is this item? |
| Bolehkah anda tolong saya? | Can you help me please? |
| Di manakah hospital terdekat? | Where is the nearest hospital? |
If you would like to would like to learn more, you can join the University of Malaya online course.