jual and menjual: Verb Family and Usage in Malaysian Malay

The jual family presents a sale through different participants and event stages. Bare jual occurs in commands, object voice, and informal speech; menjual centers the seller's action; passive dijual reports a selling event or an item's availability for sale; resultative terjual highlights that a buyer was successfully found; penjual is the seller, penjualan is selling or sales, and jual beli is trade or buying and selling.

This page focuses on lexical choice within the family. The meN- formation guide, ter- formation guide, and other Word Formation pages explain the general affix rules.

The complementary beli family organizes the same commercial transfer from the buyer and purchased item's side.

No person or tense conjugation

FunctionPresent/generalPast contextFuture context
actor voiceMereka menjual rumah.Tahun lalu mereka menjual rumah.Mereka akan menjual rumah.
object voiceRumah itu mereka jual.Rumah itu sudah mereka jual.Rumah itu akan mereka jual.
passive eventRumah itu dijual.Rumah itu telah dijual.Rumah itu akan dijual.
achieved resultRumah itu terjual.Rumah itu sudah terjual.Rumah itu mungkin terjual esok.

The forms do not conjugate. Time and aspect words remain separate.

Bare jual

Bare jual is standard in commands and in object voice when the item is placed first.

Jual stok lama dahulu sebelum memesan barang baharu.

Sell the old stock before ordering new goods.

Kereta itu saya jual kepada jiran pada harga yang berpatutan.

I sold that car to a neighbour at a reasonable price.

Tanah yang mereka jual dahulu kini menjadi kawasan perumahan.

The land that they sold previously is now a housing development.

Actor-first Saya jual kereta is common (informal) Malaysian speech. Careful actor voice uses Saya menjual kereta. Bare jual is not an infinitive required after every subject.

Menjual centers the seller

Menjual is the standard actor-voice verb with the item sold as its object.

Keluarga itu menjual rumah lama mereka selepas berpindah ke Perak.

The family sold their old house after moving to Perak.

Gerai tersebut menjual makanan tradisional dari Pantai Timur.

That stall sells traditional food from the East Coast.

Syarikat itu bercadang menjual sebahagian aset yang tidak lagi digunakan.

The company plans to sell some assets that are no longer used. (formal)

The required menjual rumah is seller-centered: the family is the actor and the house the direct object. The buyer can follow kepada, and the price commonly follows pada harga or dengan harga according to the clause.

Pemilik menjual bangunan itu kepada sebuah koperasi pada harga dua juta ringgit.

The owner sold the building to a cooperative for two million ringgit.

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Use menjual when the seller's action organizes the clause. Use dijual/terjual when the item and its sale status are the discourse center.

Dijual: event or sale availability

Passive dijual can report that someone sold an item, with or without an expressed seller.

Rumah itu dijual oleh pemilik asal pada tahun 2018.

The house was sold by its original owner in 2018.

Hasil pertanian tersebut dijual terus kepada pengguna.

The agricultural produce is sold directly to consumers.

It also appears on notices to mean that an item is offered for sale:

Tanah untuk dijual berhampiran jalan utama.

Land for sale near the main road. (advertising notice)

In a full sentence, Rumah itu sedang dijual can mean the owner is in the process of marketing it, not that a transaction has finished. Thus di- presents the sale event or passive status; it does not guarantee an achieved buyer.

Keep dijual solid. Locative di pasar is separate: Ikan itu dijual di pasar pagi.

Terjual: achieved sale result

Terjual highlights the result that an item has found a buyer. It is common with sudah, quantities, speed, and success contexts.

Rumah itu akhirnya terjual selepas enam bulan di pasaran.

The house finally sold after six months on the market.

Semua tiket konsert terjual dalam masa kurang daripada sejam.

All the concert tickets sold in less than an hour.

Hanya dua puluh naskhah buku itu terjual pada hari pertama.

Only twenty copies of the book were sold on the first day.

The required rumah terjual presents achieved sale, not simply an offered or reported passive event. Compare:

Rumah itu dijual pada harga lima ratus ribu ringgit, tetapi masih belum terjual.

The house is offered for sale at five hundred thousand ringgit, but it has not yet sold.

The contrast is sharp: dijual establishes the selling/offer; belum terjual says no completed sale result exists yet. Terjual need not imply accident here; the ter- family includes achieved-result readings as well as accidental ones.

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Test with “Has a buyer actually been found?” If that completion matters, terjual is often the right resultative. If the sentence reports who sells it or that it is on offer, use dijual.

Penjual and penjualan

Penjual is the seller or vendor. Penjualan names the activity, volume, or process of selling.

Penjual makanan di pasar malam itu menerima bayaran tanpa tunai.

The food vendor at the night market accepts cashless payment.

Penjual perlu mempamerkan harga dengan jelas kepada pelanggan.

Sellers must display prices clearly to customers.

Penjualan kenderaan elektrik meningkat pada suku kedua tahun ini.

Sales of electric vehicles increased in the second quarter of this year. (formal)

Syarikat menghentikan penjualan produk tersebut selepas menerima aduan keselamatan.

The company stopped selling the product after receiving safety complaints.

The required penjual makanan names a vendor by merchandise. Jualan is another noun used for merchandise, takings, or a sale event: jualan murah “sale,” hasil jualan “sales proceeds.” Penjualan is more process-like and formal.

Jual beli and established expressions

Jual beli is written as two words and means buying and selling, commerce, or a sale-purchase transaction.

Perjanjian jual beli rumah itu ditandatangani oleh kedua-dua pihak.

The house sale-and-purchase agreement was signed by both parties. (legal/formal)

Urusan jual beli dalam talian memerlukan rekod pembayaran yang jelas.

Online buying-and-selling transactions require clear payment records.

Other collocations include harga jualan “sale/selling price,” hasil jualan “sales proceeds,” jualan murah “discount sale,” and laku dijual “marketable/sells well.” Do not hyphenate ordinary jual beli.

Common Mistakes

1. Using jual as a formal actor-voice default

⚠️ Syarikat itu jual peralatan lama kepada pekerja.

Natural informal speech but too colloquial for a formal report.

✅ Syarikat itu menjual peralatan lama kepada pekerja.

The company sold old equipment to employees.

2. Treating dijual as proof of a completed sale

❌ Rumah itu dijual, jadi pembeli pasti sudah membayarnya.

Invalid inference—dijual can mean offered for sale or describe the event without asserting completed payment.

✅ Rumah itu sudah terjual, tetapi proses pindah milik belum selesai.

The house has sold, but the transfer-of-ownership process is not complete.

3. Separating passive di-

❌ Sayur itu di jual di pasar tani setiap Ahad.

Incorrect spacing—the first di- is passive and attaches to jual.

✅ Sayur itu dijual di pasar tani setiap hari Ahad.

Those vegetables are sold at the farmers' market every Sunday.

4. Confusing seller and sale process

❌ Penjualan makanan itu sedang melayan pelanggan.

Incorrect noun—a selling process cannot serve a customer; the vendor can.

✅ Penjual makanan itu sedang melayan pelanggan.

The food vendor is serving a customer.

5. Hyphenating jual beli

❌ Dokumen jual-beli itu belum ditandatangani.

Incorrect standard spelling—the fixed pair jual beli is written as two words without a hyphen.

✅ Dokumen jual beli itu belum ditandatangani oleh pembeli.

The sale-and-purchase document has not yet been signed by the buyer.

Key Takeaways

Use menjual for seller-centered actor voice, bare jual in commands, object voice, and labeled informal speech, and dijual for passive selling or sale availability. Terjual highlights the achieved result of finding a buyer. Penjual is a seller, penjualan is selling or sales, and jual beli is an unhyphenated fixed pair.

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