How to use 'menamakan' correctly

Today I will discuss the correct usage of 'menamakan'. According to Kamus Pelajar publised by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka and is the standard reference for all schools in Malaysia, 'menamakan' means ' memberikan sesuatu gelaran sebagai nama atau menjadikan sesutu sebagai nama' or 'to give the name of something to'. Another meaning is 'mencalonkan' or to nominate someone as the candidate.

Let us see how to use this word correctly.

If you are my students, you will have copied down the following to remember how to use this word. For the benefit of all readers of this blog, I will reproduce my classroom tips here:

The formula to remember is:
orang + menamakan + nama anak / kucing / kedai + kepada + anak / kucing / kedai
[person + menamakan + name of son/cat/shop + kepada (to) + son / cat / shop]
For convenience sake, I use kucing (cat) to represent all pets and kedai (shop) to represent buildings or places.

The correct usage is shown in the following sentences:
1 Johan menamakan Kassim bin Johan kepada anak bongsunya.
[Johan gave the name of Kassim bin John to his youngest son.]

2 Hashim menamakan Si Comel kepada kucing kesayangannya..
[Hashim gave the name of Si Comel to his favourite cat.]

3 Jutawan itu menamakan Wisma Impian kepada banglo barunya.
[The millionaire gave the name of Wisma Impian to his new bungalow.]

As for the second meaning, you can make a sentence such as the one below:
Kami menamakan Ali sebagai calon untuk bertanding sebagai Presiden kelab ini.
[We nominated Ali as the candidate to contest the post of President of this club.]

How to use 'menamai' correctly

According to Kamus Dewan 4th Edition, 'menamai' means 'membubuh (memberikan) nama kepada, menggelari' or 'to give a name to'. It is followed by a person, an animal or a building.

Use this formula to remember how to use 'menamai' correctly:
Orang +menamai + person / animal / building + name to be given to person/animal/building

Examples:
1 Zamri menamai anaknya Zaki bin Zamri. [Zamri named his son Zaki bin Zamri.]
orang + menamai + person + name given to the person

2 Saya menamai kucingku Si Comel. [ I named my cat Si Comel.]
orang + menamai + animal + name given to the animal

3 Johan menamai kedainya Syarikat Berjaya. [Johan named his shop Syarikat Berjaya.
orang +menamari + building + name given to building (company)

I shall talk about the usage of 'menamakan' tomorrow.

The difference between 'kebanyakan orang' and 'orang kebanyakan'

In this post, I would like to discuss the difference between 'kebanyakan orang' and 'orang kebanyakan'.

The phrase 'kebanyakan orang' means 'most people'. Let us make a sentence with it as shown below:
Kebanyakan orang tidak akan membeli baju semahal ini.
Most people will not buy a shirt as expensive as this.

As 'orang kebanyakan' it means 'commoners' as opposed to members of the royal family.
Pada zaman dahulu, orang kebanyakan tidak dibenarkan berkahwin dengan kerabat diraja.
In olden time, commoners were not allowed to marry members of the royal family.

How to use 'menghias', 'menghiasi' and 'menghiaskan' correctly

According to Kamus Dewan Edisi Ke-4, 'menghias' means 'menjadikan sesuatu lebih cantik atau elok (dengan) barang yg indah-indah, gambar, solekan, dll' or 'to render something more beautiful with beautiful things, pictures, make-up, etc'

As for 'menghiasi' it carries the meaning of 'menyebabkan kelihatan lebih cantik atau elok' or 'cause something to look more beautiful'.

The meaning of 'menghiaskan' is 'mencantikkan (mengindahkan) dgn sesuatu' or to beautify with something'

Let me teach readers how to use three of the above by the following formulae:

1 orang + menghias + benda + dengan + sesuatu
[person + menghias + thing + with + something]
Example: Kerani itu menghias mejanya dengan pasu bunga.
[The clerk decorated his desk with a flower vase]

2 benda + menghiasi + tempat
[thing + menghiasi + place]
Example: Belon yang berwarna-warni menghiasi dewan itu.
[Colourful balloons decorate the hall.]

3 orang + menghiaskan + benda + pada + tempat
[person + menghiaskan + thing + at + place]
Example: Wanita itu menghiaskan sekuntum bunga pada sanggulnya.
[The woman decorated her hair-bun with a flower.]

So much for the usage of 'menghias', 'menghiasi' and 'menghiaskan'

How to use 'bertanya', 'menanyai', 'menanyakan' and 'bertanyakan' correctly

In today's post, I will discuss the correct usage of 'bertanya', 'menanyai', 'menanyakan' and 'bertanyakan'.

1 The word 'bertanya' (to ask) is a intransitive verb and it should be followed by a preposition such as 'kepada' or 'tentang'. Look at the following examples:
a) Dia bertanya saya mengenai hal itu. [wrong]
Dia bertanya kepada saya mengenai hal itu. [correct]
(He asked me about the matter.)

b) Dalam mesyuarat itu, ada beberapa orang anggota yang bertanya isu itu. [wrong]
Dalam mesyuarat itu, ada beberapa orang anggota yang bertanya tentang isu itu. [correct]
(During the meeting, several members asked about the issue.]

2 The word 'menanyai' is a transitive verb and should be followed by an human object.
The example below will make it clear to you as to its usage.

Johari menanyai kawannya tentang perkara itu.
(Johari asked his friend about the matter.)

In the sentence, the human object is 'kawannya' (his friend)

3 The word 'menanyakan' is also a transitive and this time the object should be 'perkara' (matter) As a example, you can write a sentence such as the one below:
Saya menanyakan tarikh peperiksaan itu kepada Johan.
[I asked Johan about the date of the examination.]

The object here is 'tarikh peperiksaan' (date of exam) which is considered a matter.

4 The word 'bertanyakan' is invariabley followed by 'khabar'. 'Bertanyakan khabar' means to ask after the health of someone you meet because you have not seen him for a long time.
Let us look at the following example:
Hassan bertanyakan khabar kawan lamanya kerana sudah lama tidak berjumpa dengannya.
[Hassan asked after the health of his old friend because he had not seen him for a long time.

I hope students and readers will know how to use the above 4 words correctly.

How to use 'bazirkan', 'membazir' and 'membazirkan' correctly

Students often gets confused when it comes to the use of 'bazirkan', 'membazir' and 'membazirkan'. Hence, I shall deal with their correct usage in this post.

1 The transitive verb 'bazirkan' is used in Ayat Kehendak (Command). An example is the one shown below:
Jangan bazirkan air semasa mandi. [Don't waste water while bathing.]

2 The intransitive verb 'membazir' can be used in Ayat Penyata (Statement) or Ayat Kehendak (Command). Look at how this word is used in the following sentences.
a) Jangan membazir semasa menggunakan air. [Don't waste when using water.]
b) Adik suka membazir semasa menggunakan air. [My brother likes to be wasteful when using water.]

3 The transitive verb 'membazirkan' is used in a statement. For example, you can construct a sentence such as the one below:
Johari suka membazirkan air semasa mencuci keretanya. [Johari likes to waste water when washing his car.]

In short, you must know the parts of speech of the three words to be able to construct your sentences correctly.

1 'bazirkan' needs an object such as 'air' (water), 'elektrik' (electricity) and 'kertas' (paper) and is only used in a command.

2 'membazir' needs no object and can be used in a 'Ayat Penyata' (statement) or in a 'Ayat Kehendak' (command).

3 'membazirkan' needs an object and can only be use in a 'Ayat Penyata' (statement).

How to use 'meminjami' and 'meminjamkan' correctly

Many users of the Malay language find it difficult to master affixes such as meN...i and meN...kan.

For today's post, I shall deal with the word 'pinjam' (borrow) as an illustration. This word comes under the list I classify as Group 1 words that pair with meN...i and meN..kan.

I usually ask my students to remember the following formulae:

a) meN...i + pinjam + person
b) meN...kan + pinjam + thing + kepada + person

With the above formulae, you can construct sentences such as the ones below:
1 Saya meminjami Ali sebuah buku cerita. [Formula a]
[I lent Ali a story book.]

2 Saya meminjamkan sebuah buku cerita kepada Ali. [Formula b]
[I lent a story book to Ali]

3 Dia meminjami saya basikalnya. [Formula a]
[He lent me his bicycle.]

4 Dia meminjamkan basikalnya kepada saya. [Formula b]
[He lent his bicycle to me.]

So much for the usage of 'meminjami' and 'meminjamkan'

About 'banyak'

The word 'banyak' which means 'many' in English poses problems to users of the Malay language. Some say that it cannot be used for describing people. There are some who insists that is is an adjective but most people use it as 'kata bilangan'.

In the latest edition of 'Tatabahasa Dewan', the word is now classified under 'adjektif' and 'kata bilangan'. According to Kamus Dewan, 'banyak' can be used for people too.

Let me show readers its usage through sentences and explanation. Look at the following sentences and explanation.

1 Banyak buku yang dimiliknyai. [Many books are owned by him.]
Explanation: In sentence 1, 'banyak' is used as an adjektive. In fact the above sentence is a 'ayat songsang' [reverse sentence] The 'ayat biasa' for the sentence is
Buku yang dimilikinya [Subjek] banyak [Predikat] [This is normal sentence]

Banyak [Predikat] buku yang dimilikinya [Subjek] [This is reverse sentence]

2 Banyak orang berkunjung ke taman bunga itu. [Many people frequent the botanical garden.]
Explanation: In sentence 2, 'banyak' is used as a 'kata bilangan'.

3 Banyak pelajar yang gagal dalam peperiksaan itu. [Many students failed in the exam.]
Explanation: In sentence 3, 'banyak' is used as an adjective. It is a 'ayat songsang'

4 Banyak barang dijual di kedai ini. [Many things are sold in this shop.]
Explanation: In this sentence, 'banyak' is used as a 'kata bilangan'.

Hence you see, if put 'yang' after the phrase 'banyak + thing / person',then it is used as an adjective. If it is used without the conjunction 'yang', then 'banyak' is used as a 'kata bilangan'

So much for knowing the parts of speech for 'banyak'

'Hal ini demikian kerana' is wrong grammatically

I will start this year's first post with the expression 'Hal ini demikian kerana'. It has been deemed correct to translate 'It is because' until Tatabahasa Dewan, third edition included 'adverba' or adverb as one of the Kata Tugas (Functional words).

As an adverb, 'demikian' cannot act as a predicate. As such, 'hal ini demikian' is grammatically wrong. If 'hal ini' is followed by 'berlaku' to form 'hal ini berlaku', then it is correct because 'berlaku' can function as the predicate of 'hal ini'.

With the explanation above, 'Hal ini demikian' should be changed to 'Hal ini berlaku demikian' or 'Hal ini dikatakan demikian'. I will explain why this grammatically correct. An adverb modies a verb. In this case, 'demikian' modifies the verb 'berlaku' and 'dikatakan'.

Now let me make two sentences one of which has he old expression 'Hal ini demikian keran' and do the necessary change to make it correct grammatically.

1 Pelajar miskin itu tidak mempunyai uniform sekolah. Hal ini demikian kerana keluarganya tidak mampu membelinya. [The poor student has no school uniform. This is becaue his family cannot afford to buy it.] [Hal ini demikan kerana is wrongly used here]

2 Pelajar miskin itu tidak mempunyai uniform sekolah. Hal ini dikatakan demikian kerana keluarganya tidak mampu membelinya. [The poor student has no school uniform. This is becaue his family cannot afford to buy it.]