Lesson 2 Bahasa (language)

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A second reading (by Muhammad Nor Ismat, a native speaker)

For those who want to know more:
The Malaysian language (Bahasa Malaysia) is actually the Malay language (Bahasa Melayu). As such the two terms are interchangeable.
In Lesson l saya was used as a possessive (nama saya = "my name" and buku saya = "my book"). Here it is used as a pronoun.
Another widely-used word for "I" is aku.
Dia can mean he or she depending on the context. Thus:
Dia kawan saya. (= He is my friend - if the person referred to is a man)
Dia kawan saya. (= She is my friend - if the person referred to is a woman)
Dia marah. (= "He is angry" or "She is angry" depending on the context)
The two words in Malay to distinguish between the two sexes are:
lelaki for "male" and
perempuan for "female".
Thus to avoid any ambiguity in the above sentences you could say:
Orang lelaki itu kawan saya. (= That man is my friend) or
Orang perempuan itu kawan saya. (= That woman is my friend)
By the way while "male" and "female" are also used to describe animals in English lelaki and perempuan should never be used for animals in Malay.
The male of an animal is described as jantan and the female as betina.
Thus a cock is ayam jantan and a hen is ayam betina.
In written form Dia is often replaced by Ia which is also used to indicate objects and animals (equivalent of "it").
By the way newspapers often use beliau for "he" or "she" (but this use is restricted to an elderly or respectable person and is not used for a criminal).
nya is tagged on to a noun to mean "his" or "her" eg. isterinya (his wife), suaminya (her husband) or anaknya (his child or her child - depending on the context)