Bahasa Malaysia

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)morningSelamat pagiGood morning
tengahari (te-nga-ha-ri)noonSelamat tengahariGood afternoon
petang (pe-tang)afternoon/ eveningSelamat petangGood afternoon / Good evening
malam (ma-lam)nightSelamat malamGood night
jalan (ja-lan)walk/ roadSelamat jalanGoodbye / safe journey

The adjective Sila (Si-la) which means please is also use in combination to form greetings,

masuk (ma-suk)in/ come insila masukplease come in
makan (ma-kan)eat/ to eatsila makanplease eat
minum (mi-num)to drinksila minumplease drink
duduk (du-duk)sit downsila dudukplease sit down
datang (da-tang)comesila datangplease come

Here are some of the pronouns used to describe people

saya (sa-ya)I/ meaku (a-ku)I/ me
awak (a-wak)youanda (an-da)you
kamu (ka-mu)you/ you allmereka (me-re-ka)them
kita (ki-ta)wedia (di-a)he/ she

Forming questions is quite easy, by combining the questions words (adjectives) with the noun.

apa (a-pa)what/ howbila (bi-la)when
di mana (di ma-na)wheresiapa (sia-pa)who/ what
mengapa (me-nga-pa)whyyang mana (yang ma-na)which
bagaimana
(ba-gai-ma-na)
howberapa (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
seone
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 belasfifteen
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 puluhfifty
ratus (ra-tus)hundred
lima ratusfive hundred
ribu (ri-bu)thousand
lima ribufive thousand
juta (ju-ta)million
lima jutafive 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
pospost
pejabat pospost office
kedutaan (ke-du-ta-an)embassy
wangmoney
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 terbangairplanes
lapangan (la-pan-gan)fields
lapangan terbangairfields / 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 makanfood store
rumah (ru-mah)house
tempat (tem-pat)place
tidur (ti-dur)to sleep/sleep
hotelhotel
restoran (res-to-ran)restaurant
stesen (ste-sen)station
bas stesenbus station
polis (po-lis)police
polis stesenpolice station
mahal (ma-hal)expensive
murah (mu-rah)cheap
sangat (san-gat)very
sangat mahalvery 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 kuliahlecture hall
tolong (to-long)help
Faculti (Fa-cul-ti)Faculty
PerubatanMedical/Medicine
  
Sekarang pukul berapa?What is the time now?
Sekarang pukul lima pagiIt 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.