Malay phrasebook

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

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 makan sudah, "I eat already" = "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.

Pronunciation guide

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"
e: like 'e' in "vowel" (schwa)
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"

Common Affixations

Phrase list

Basics

Hello.: Hello. (Hello)
Hello. (informal): Hi. (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? (shah-puh NUM-muh UN-duh?)

; My name is _____________________________________________________________________________? (...)

expensive: mahal (...)
cheap: murah (...)
I can't afford it.: Saya tidak mampu beli itu. (...)
I don't want it.: tak mahu (informal) / Saya tidak mahu (formal) (...)
You're cheating me.: Kamu tipukan saya? (...)
I'm not interested.: Saya tidak berminat. (..)
OK, I'll take it.: OK, saya mahu. (...)
Can I have a bag?: Ada beg? (...)
Do you ship (overseas)?: Boleh kirim (ke luar negeri)? (...)
I need...: Saya perlu... (...)
...toothpaste.: ...ubat gigi. (...)
...a toothbrush.: ...berus gigi. (...)
...condoms.: ...kondom. (...)
...tampons.: ...softeks / pembalut. (...)
...soap.: ...sabun. (...)
...shampoo.: ...syampu. (...)
...pain reliever. (e.g., aspirin or ibuprofen): ...ubat sakit (aspirin, parasetamol, …) (Note: ibuprofen is not widely available). (...)
...cold medicine.: ...ubat selsema. (...)
...stomach medicine.: ...ubat sakit perut. (...)
...a razor.: ...cukur. (...)
...an umbrella.: ...payung. (...)
...a postcard.: ...poskad. (...)
...postage stamps.: ...setem. (...)
...batteries.: ...bateri. (...)
...writing paper.: ...kertas. (...)
...a pen.: ...pen. (...)
...English-language books.: ...buku-buku Inggeris. (...)
...English-language magazines.: ...majalah Inggeris. (...)
...an English-language newspaper.: ...surat khabar Inggeris. (...)
...an English-Malay dictionary.: ...kamus Inggeris-Melayu. (...)

Driving

I want to rent a car.: Saya mau sewa kereta. (...)
Can I get insurance?: Boleh saya minta insurans? (...)
stop (on a street sign): berhenti (...)
one way: jalan sehala (...)
no parking: dilarang meletak kereta (...)
gas (petrol) station: stesen petrol (...)
petrol: premium (...)
diesel: diesel (...)

Authority

I haven't done anything wrong.: Saya tidak melakukan sebarang kesalahan. (...)
It was a misunderstanding.: Ianya satu salah faham. (...)
Where are you taking me?: Kemana awak hendak bawa saya ? (...)
Am I under arrest?: Adakah saya ditahan ? (...)
I am an American/Australian/British/Canadian citizen.: Saya warganegara Amerika /Australia / Inggeris / Kanada. (...)
I want to talk to the American/Australian/British/Canadian embassy/consulate.: Saya ingin bercakap dengan Kedutaan Besar/Konsulat Amerika / Australia / Inggeris / Kanada. (...)
I want to talk to a lawyer.: Saya ingin bercakap dengan peguambela. (...)
Can I just pay a fine here?: Bolehkah saya membayar denda di sini? (...)

Learning more

The authors of this document are Anonymous user(s) of Wikitravel, Riz, Wikitravel user Hayabusa future and the following WikiTravel users: Cjensen, Jpatokal, Meursault2004. The original version of this article can be seen at http://wikitravel.org/en/Malay_phrasebook.