Hendak presents an action as intended, contemplated, or just about to occur. It is often translated as “want to,” “intend to,” or “be about to,” but its characteristic contribution is purposeful orientation toward an event. In contemporary Malaysian Malay, full hendak is common in careful speech, formal narration, announcements, and polite questions; reduced nak dominates many informal conversations.
This register profile can tempt learners to treat hendak as a dignified future tense. It is not. Mesyuarat akan bermula pukul sembilan simply projects the scheduled start; Pengerusi hendak memulakan mesyuarat presents the chairperson's intention to start it.
Purposeful intention before an action
The ordinary pattern is subject + hendak + verb phrase. Hendak is written separately, and the following verb keeps its normal Malay form.
Saya hendak berbincang dengan penyelia sebelum membuat keputusan.
I intend to discuss it with the supervisor before making a decision. (careful/neutral)
Kami hendak memindahkan pejabat ke bangunan yang lebih mudah diakses.
We intend to move the office to a more accessible building. (formal/neutral)
In both examples, the subject of hendak is also understood as the actor of the following action. Malay has no infinitive form corresponding to English to discuss or to move. The relation is established by subject control and adjacency.
An explicit new participant changes the intended actor:
Saya hendak mereka menyemak angka itu sekali lagi.
I want them to check that figure once again.
Without mereka, Saya hendak menyemak... means that I intend to do the checking. See Shared Subjects and Control for the wider pattern.
Formal announcements and declared aims
Full hendak can give a declared aim a deliberate, elevated tone (formal). It is especially natural when a speaker states what an institution or movement seeks to accomplish, rather than merely scheduling a future event.
Dalam pengumuman itu, pihak universiti menyatakan bahawa mereka hendak memperluas bantuan makanan kepada pelajar yang memerlukan.
In the announcement, the university stated that it intended to expand food assistance to students in need. (formal)
Kerajaan hendak memastikan setiap kawasan luar bandar mendapat capaian internet yang stabil.
The government intends to ensure that every rural area has reliable internet access. (formal public statement)
The second sentence profiles policy purpose. Kerajaan akan memastikan... would instead sound like a prospective commitment or prediction. Official writers often choose akan for a dated implementation and hendak when articulating the intention or objective behind it.
That distinction is not absolute: institutional styles differ, and ingin can soften a public statement. The robust contrast is semantic. Hendak directs attention to a purposeful will; akan directs attention to what lies ahead.
Narrative imminence: about to
In narrative, hendak often places an event at the point immediately before it begins. This use is common in careful storytelling (neutral/literary).
Ketika saya hendak keluar rumah, telefon di ruang tamu tiba-tiba berdering.
Just as I was about to leave the house, the telephone in the living room suddenly rang.
Kereta api hendak bertolak apabila seorang penumpang berlari ke arah pintu.
The train was about to depart when a passenger ran toward the door. (narrative)
No person literally desires the train's departure. Context converts the prospective orientation into imminence: preparations have reached the threshold of the event. Informal speech uses nak very naturally in the same construction—Kereta api dah nak bertolak—while planned narration may retain hendak.
This is not a general future marker. Tahun depan kereta api hendak bertolak sounds odd if the sentence merely gives a timetable; akan bertolak or a bare scheduled predicate is appropriate. Imminent hendak needs a viewpoint close to the event.
Polite and careful questions
Questions with hendak ask what someone intends or would like. Full hendak pairs well with titles and careful service language (polite/formal).
Encik hendak membayar secara tunai atau dengan kad?
Would you like to pay in cash or by card, sir? (polite service interaction)
Apakah yang hendak puan sampaikan kepada jawatankuasa?
What would you like to convey to the committee, madam? (formal/polite)
Word choice alone does not guarantee politeness. Tone, titles, context, and the burden of the request also matter. In a relaxed stall, Kak nak minum apa? (informal) may be warmer and more locally appropriate than full hendak. In a hearing or formal meeting, Apakah yang hendak puan sampaikan? fits the institutional frame.
Negation: not wanting and refusal
Tidak hendak + verb means “not want/intend to” and can communicate refusal (neutral/formal). Informal speech normally uses tak nak.
Dia tidak hendak menandatangani borang itu sebelum mendapat nasihat undang-undang.
He does not want to sign the form before receiving legal advice. (careful/neutral)
Saya tak nak masuk campur dalam pertengkaran mereka.
I don't want to get involved in their argument. (informal)
The negative applies to willingness or intention, not simply to future occurrence. Dia tidak akan menandatangani states that he will not sign; dia tidak hendak menandatangani says he is unwilling or does not intend to sign. In many real contexts both may be true, but they reach that conclusion from different stances.
Hendak, ingin, mahu, and akan
These markers overlap, but they profile different aspects of a prospective action.
| Form | Core profile | Typical register | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| hendak | purposeful intention; imminent threshold | careful, formal, narrative | hendak memulakan mesyuarat |
| ingin | personal wish; softened or refined desire | neutral to formal | ingin mengetahui sebabnya |
| mahu | desire, willingness, or intention | neutral | mahu membantu |
| nak | desire, intention, or imminence | informal | nak balik |
| akan | prospective event, plan, prediction, commitment | neutral to formal | akan bermula |
Compare two personal statements:
Saya ingin mengetahui mengapa permohonan itu ditolak.
I would like to know why the application was rejected. (polite/formal)
Saya hendak menemui pegawai yang membuat keputusan itu.
I intend/want to meet the officer who made that decision. (purposeful, careful)
Ingin mengetahui presents a refined wish for information. Hendak menemui sounds more action-directed. Mahu could replace either in many neutral settings, but would remove some of that register and stance contrast.
Hendaknya: a desirable outcome
Attached -nya creates the established form hendaknya, meaning roughly “it is desirable that,” “one should,” or “hopefully.” This use is (formal/literary) and is less common than sebaiknya or sepatutnya in ordinary contemporary conversation.
Hendaknya perbezaan pendapat ini diselesaikan melalui perbincangan yang terbuka.
It is to be hoped that this difference of opinion will be resolved through open discussion. (formal/literary)
Setiap keputusan hendaknya dibuat dengan mempertimbangkan kepentingan semua pihak.
Every decision should ideally be made with the interests of all parties in mind. (formal/literary)
Hendaknya does not mean “his/her intention”; -nya is part of a conventional evaluative form here. It presents an outcome as wished for or advisable without naming a particular wanter. Modern administrative prose may prefer sebaiknya for a recommendation or hendaklah for a binding requirement. Those are not interchangeable: hendaknya expresses desirability, not legal obligation.
Common Mistakes
1. Using hendak for a neutral timetable
❌ Penerbangan itu hendak berlepas pada pukul 6.30 pagi setiap hari.
Misleading for a fixed timetable—hendak suggests intention or immediate imminence.
✅ Penerbangan itu berlepas pada pukul 6.30 pagi setiap hari.
The flight departs at 6:30 every morning.
2. Treating hendak as an obligatory future marker
❌ Esok hujan hendak turun di seluruh negeri.
Unnatural as a neutral weather forecast—hendak wrongly personifies or makes the event imminent.
✅ Hujan akan turun di beberapa daerah esok petang.
Rain will fall in several districts tomorrow afternoon. (forecast)
3. Inserting untuk as an infinitive marker
❌ Saya hendak untuk berbincang dengan pengurus sekarang.
Awkward—the ordinary same-subject intention takes the action directly.
✅ Saya hendak berbincang dengan pengurus sebelum pejabat ditutup.
I want to speak with the manager before the office closes.
4. Omitting a changed intended actor
❌ Saya hendak datang awal.
Incorrect for the intended meaning ‘I want them to come early’; without mereka, saya controls datang.
✅ Saya hendak mereka datang awal untuk membantu membuat persiapan.
I want them to come early to help with the preparations.
5. Reading hendaknya as possession
❌ Hendaknya membatalkan projek itu sebelum hujung tahun.
Incorrect for ‘He intends to cancel the project’—hendaknya does not encode a possessor or name the person with the intention.
✅ Dia hendak membatalkan projek itu sebelum hujung tahun.
He intends to cancel the project before the end of the year.
Key Takeaways
Hendak profiles purposeful intention and, near an event boundary, imminence. Full hendak often elevates the register in announcements, careful questions, and narrative; nak is its dominant colloquial counterpart. Do not use hendak as a neutral future tense when akan, a time phrase, or a schedule is what the meaning requires. Recognize hendaknya as a formal or literary expression of desirability rather than a possessive form or a binding command.
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- Shared Subjects and Control in Malaysian MalayB2 — Understand how an unspoken subject is identified across Malay verb sequences even though Malay verbs have no infinitive form.
- Bahasa Melayu Baku in Formal WritingB1 — Write clear edited Malaysian Malay with standard morphology, Malaysian terminology, controlled sentence structure, and explicit cohesion.