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.]

Adjectives denoting plurality

In today's post, I will discuss adjectives which denote plurality. Certain adjecitves such as 'cantik' (beautiful) can denote plurality when it is duplicated. For example, 'cantik-cantik' means 'all of them are beautiful'. When we are using duplicated adjectives, we must be carelly not to duplicate the nouns they describe or else the sentence will be incorrect.

Let us look at the mistakes made in this aspect.

1 Anak-anak Encik Lim tinggi-tinggi. [wrong]
Explanation: 'tinggi-tinggi 'means 'all of them are tall', Hence, 'anak' should not be duplicated. The correct sentence is 'Anak Encik Lim tinggi-tinggi'. [correct]
Of course, we can correct sentence 1 to:
Anak-anak Encik Lim tinggi. [correct]

2 Semua buku profesor itu tebal-tebal. [wrong]
Explantion: 'tebal-tebal' means 'all of them are thick'. Hence, 'semua buku' should not be used as it also convey the meaning of being plural. Just leave out 'semua' and the sentence is correct.
When you should have written is:
Buku profesor itu tebal-tebal. [correct] or
Semua buku profesor itu tebal. [correct]

The difference between 'sebab' and 'kerana'.

Some users of the Malay language are influenced by spoken Malay and use 'sebab' as if it is the same as 'kerana' but there is really a difference.

In terms of 'Golongan kata' or Parts of Speech, 'sebab' is a noun which means 'reason'. As for 'kerana' it is a conjunction which means 'because'. Perhaps the following two sentences will make this point clear.

1 Terdapat beberapa sebab berlakunya melepak dalam kalangan pelajar.
[There are some reasons why loafing among students occur.]

2 Adik tidak pergi ke sekolah kerana dia sakit.
[My brother did not go to school because he was sick.]

The correct usage of 'kata bilangan'

Kata bilangan or counting words are tricky in their usage. However, if you follow the rules below, you should be able to use them correctly.

Group 1 Kata Bilangan needs no penjodoh bilangan.
These include Semua (All), Kesemua (All), Para (All, for respectable people), Segala (All, for things or matter), Sesetengah (Some), Segelintir (A small number of, for people), banyak (A lot of or many), Sebahagian (part of, for uncountable nouns), setiap or tiap-tiap (every), sekalian (all, for people). Look at their usage in the sentences given below.
a) Semua pelajar dikehendaki memakai uniform semasa berada di sekolah. [All students are require to wear uniform when they are in school.]
b) Kesemua ayam ini akan disembelih untuk kenduri. [All these chickens will be slaughtered for a feast.]
c) Para pemimpin hendaklah menunjukkan teladan yang baik. [All leaders should set good examples.]
d) Segala rancangan dapat dilaksanakannya dengan berjaya. [All his plans could be executed successfully.]
e) Sesetengah kanak-kanak tidak suka makan buah durian. [Some children do not like to eat durians.]
f) Segelintir murid di sekolah itu lemah dalam Matematik. [A small number of pupils in the school are weak in Mathematics.]
g) Banyak barang yang dijual di kedai itu. [Banyak things are sold in the shop.]
h) Sebahagian getah dari Malaysia dieksport ke negara Jepun. [Part of the rubber from Malaysia is exported to Japan.]
i) Setiap peserta diberi sehelai baju-T. (Every participant was given a T-shirt.]

Group 2 Kata Bilangan has penjodoh bilangan or no penjodoh bilangan depending on the noun that follows it.
a) If it is followed by a concrete noun, then penjodoh bilangan is needed.
(i) Dua orang pelajar sedang membaca buku di perpustakaan itu. [Dua students are reading books in the library.]
(ii) Kedua-dua buah buku ini dikarang oleh Shahnon Ahmad. [These three books were written by Shahnon Ahmad.]
(iii) Beberapa batang jalan di bandar ditenggelami air bah. [Some roads in town were flooded.]
(iv) Berpuluh-puluh biji buah durian dijual oleh Pak Ali. [Hundreds of durians were sold by Pak Ali.]
[Note that dua can be replaced with tiga, empat, seratus, seribu or sejuta; kedua-dua can be substituted by ketiga-tiga, kelima-lima and so on; berpuluh-puluh can be replaced with beratus-ratus, beribu-ribu and so on]

b) If it is followed by an abstract noun, the no penjodoh bilangan is needed.
(i) Tiga hal ini akan kami bincangkan nanti. [These these matters will be discussed by us afterwards.]
(ii) Keempat-empat cadangan ini dikemukakan oleh Ai. [These four suggestions were put forward by Ali.]
(iii) Beberapa isu ditimbulkan dalam mesyuarat itu. [Several issues were raised in the meeting.]
(iv) Beribu-ribu kematian bayi berlaku di negara-negara membangun setiap hari. [Thousands of deaths of babies occurred in developing countries every day.]