Malay phrasebook
Grammar | The shorter the better | Pronunciation guide | Phrase list
Malay (Malay: Bahasa Melayu) is the sole official language of Malaysia and Brunei, and one of four in Singapore. It is closely related to Indonesian, but the main difference is the vocabulary: Indonesian has been heavily influenced by Dutch and Javanese (and also Sanskrit), while Malay has been heavily influenced by English and Arabic.
Grammar
The shorter the better | Pronunciation guide | Phrase list
Malay word order is subject-verb-object like English. There are no plurals, grammatical gender, or verb conjugation for person, number or tense, all of which are expressed with adverbs or tense indicators: saya makan, "I eat" (now), saya sudah makan, "I already eat" = "I ate".
A characteristic of Malay is that it is a so-called agglutinative language, which means that the suffixes are all attached to a base root. So a word can become very long. For example there is a base word hasil which means "result". But it can be extended as far as ketidakberhasilannya, which means his/her failure.
Colloquial Malay shortens commonly used words mercilessly.
sudah ->
dah
already
tidak -> tak
no
hendak -> nak
to want
aku -> ku
I (informal)
kamu -> mu
you (informal)
-ku and -mu also act as suffixes: keretaku is short for kereta aku, "my car".
Pronunciation guide
Vowels | Consonants | Common diphthongs
Malay is very easy to pronounce: it has one of the most phonetic writing systems in the world, with only a small number of simple consonants and relatively few vowel sounds. One peculiarity of the spelling is the lack for a separate sign to denote the schwa. It is written as an 'e', which can sometimes be confusing.
Vowels
a
like 'a' in "father"
ê
like 'e' in "vowel" (schwa)
e, é
like 'e' in "bed", usually the difference between a schwa and an e
is not indicated in writing
i
like 'i' in "thin"
o
like 'ow' in "low", in open positions or like 'o' in "top" in close
positions
u
like 'oo' in "hoop", in open positions or like 'o' in "hope" in
close positions
Consonants
b
like 'b' in "bed"
c
like 'ch' in "China"
ch
old spelling of c
d
like 'd' in "dog"
f
like 'ph' in "phone"
g
like 'g' in "go"
h
like 'h' in "help"
j
like 'j' in "jug"; in older romanizations also the vowel
i
k
like 'c' in "cat", often silent at the end of a word
kh
like 'ch' in "loch"
l
like 'l' in "love"
m
like 'm' in "mother"
n
like 'n' in "nice"
p
like 'p' in "pig"
q
like 'q' in "quest" (with "u", almost always, only in Arabic
borrowings)
r
like 'rh' in "rheumatism"
s
like 'ss' in "hiss"
sy
like 'sh' in "sheep"
t
like 't' in "top"
v
like 'ph' in "phone"
w
like 'w' in "weight"
x
like 'cks' in "kicks"
y
like 'y' in "yes"
z
like 's' in "hiss", like 'z' in "haze", like 'dg' in "edge"
Common diphthongs
ai
like 'in' in "mind"
au
like 'ow' in "cow"
oi
like 'oy' in "boy"
Phrase list
Basics
Hello.
Hello. (Hello)
Hello. (informal)
Hai. (Hi)
How are you?
Apa khabar? (AH-pAh KAH-bar?)
Fine, thank you.
Baik, terima kasih. (BAYK, TREE-muh
KUS-see)
What is your name?
Siapa nama anda? (siah-puh NUM-muh
UN-duh?)
My name is ______.
Nama saya ______. (NUM-MUH suh-yuh
_____.)
Nice to meet you.
Senang berjumpa dengan Anda. (SNUNG
burr-jum-puh UN-duh)
Please.
Silakan. (see-LUH-kunn)
Please. (request)
Tolong. (TOH-long)
Thank you.
Terima kasih.
You're welcome.
Sama-sama.
Yes.
Ya. (YUH)
No.
Tidak. (TEE-duck), Tak (TAHK)
Maybe
Mungkin. (Munk-Kin)
Excuse me. (getting
attention, lit. may i ask?)
Boleh tumpang tanya? ( )
Excuse me. (begging
pardon)
Maaf.
I'm sorry.
Maaf.
Goodbye
Selamat tinggal. , Selamat Jalan
Goodbye (informal)
Bai.
I can't speak Malay
[well].
Saya tidak boleh berbahasa Melayu [dengan baik].
Do you speak English?
Boleh anda cakap bahasa Inggeris?
Is there someone here who speaks
English?
Ada orang yang boleh berbahasa Inggeris? , Ada sesiapa yang boleh
bercakap Inggeris di sini?
Help!
Tolong!
Look out!
Hati-hati!
Good morning.
Selamat pagi. (slum-mut
PUH-GUEE)
Good afternoon.
Selamat tengah hari.
Good evening.
Selamat petang.
Good night.
Selamat malam.
Good night (to
sleep)
Selamat tidur.
I don't understand.
Saya tidak faham.
Where is the toilet?
Tandas di mana? (TAHN-das DEE
muh-nuh?)
Problems
Help!
Tolong!
Leave me
alone.
Jangan ganggu saya.
Don't touch me!
Jangan pegang saya!
I'll call the police.
Saya akan panggil polis.
Police!
Polis!
Stop! Thief!
Berhenti! Pencuri!
I need your help.
Saya perlukan bantuan anda.
It's an emergency.
Ini kecemasan.
I'm lost.
Saya tersesat.
I lost my bag.
Saya kehilangan beg saya.
I lost my wallet.
Saya kehilangan dompet saya.
I'm sick.
Saya sakit.
I've been injured.
Saya terluka.
I need to see a doctor.
Saya perlu jumpa doktor.
Can I use your phone?
Boleh saya gunakan telefon anda?
Numbers
0
Sifar / kosong (COSS-song)
1
satu
2
dua
3
tiga
4
empat
5
lima
6
enam
7
tujuh
8
lapan
9
sembilan
10
sepuluh
11
sebelas
12
duabelas
13
tigabelas
14
empatbelas
20
duapuluh
21
duapuluh satu
22
duapuluh dua
23
duapuluh tiga
30
tiga puluh
40
empat puluh
50
lima puluh
100
seratus
200
dua ratus
300
tiga ratus
1000
seribu
1100
seribu seratus
1152
seribu seratus lima puluh dua
1200
seribu duaratus
1500
seribu limaratus
2000
dua ribu
2100
dua ribu seratus
10,000
sepuluh ribu
20,000
duapuluh ribu
100,000
seratus ribu
150,000
seratus limapuluh ribu
156,125
seratus limapuluh enam ribu seratus duapuluh lima
250,000
duaratus limapuluh ribu / Suku juta (quarter of a
million)
500,000
limaratus ribu / setengah juta (half a million)
1,000,000
satu juta
1,150,000
satu juta seratus limapuluh ribu
1,250,000
satu suku juta
1,500,000
satu setengah juta
1,750,000
satu juta tujuh ratus limapuluh ribu
1,000,000,000
satu milion
1,000,000,000,000
satu trilium
number _____ (train, bus,
etc.)
(keretapi, bas) nombor _____
half
setengah
quarter
suku
three quarter
tiga suku
less
kurang
more
lebih
roughly (more or less)
lebih kurang
________
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