Learn Hardcore Malay: Kanvas melindungi kayu api daripada hujan. - The canvas sheet protects the firewood from the rain.

Malay normally does not use articles the way English does. So kanvas, kayu api, and hujan can mean a canvas, the canvas, firewood, the firewood, rain, or the rain, depending on context.

If you want to be more specific, Malay often adds:

itu for that/the
a number plus a classifier for a/an, one, etc.

For example:

kanvas itu = the/that canvas
kayu api itu = the firewood

Is the word order basically the same as in English?

Yes. This sentence follows a very familiar pattern:

Kanvas = subject
melindungi = verb
kayu api = object
daripada hujan = prepositional phrase

So it is:

Subject + Verb + Object + From-phrase

That is one reason this sentence feels fairly straightforward to English speakers.

Why is the verb melindungi and not just lindung?