Polis mahu mengurangkan jenayah.

Malay does not usually use articles like the or a/an.

So polis can mean the police, police, or sometimes a police officer, depending on context. In this sentence, it is naturally understood as the police.

Malay often leaves this kind of information to context instead of marking it with a separate word.

In this sentence, polis is most naturally understood as a collective noun, like the police in English.

A few useful points:

• polis can refer to the police force in general
• it can also refer to police officers collectively
• Malay nouns usually do not change form for singular vs plural

If you really want to show plurality clearly, Malay can use context, numbers, or reduplication, but with polis, that is often unnecessary.

This is the normal Malay word order:

subject + verb + object

So:

• Polis = subject
• mahu = wants to
• mengurangkan = reduce
• jenayah = crime

That makes the structure very similar to English:

The police want to reduce crime.

Mahu means to want or to wish to.

In this sentence, it shows intention:

• Polis mahu mengurangkan jenayah = The police want to reduce crime

It is a very common everyday word. In many situations, it works much like English want to.

They are similar, but not always identical in tone.

• mahu: common, neutral, everyday
• hendak: also means want to, sometimes a little more formal or stronger depending on context
• ingin: often closer to wish to or desire to, and can sound softer or more formal

For this sentence, mahu is very natural.
You could also hear Polis hendak mengurangkan jenayah, but mahu is simpler and very common.

Because kurang and mengurangkan do different jobs.

• kurang usually means less, lacking, or to decrease
• mengurangkan means to reduce something

So:

• kurang = become less / be less
• mengurangkan = make something less

In this sentence, the police are acting on crime, so Malay uses the transitive form mengurangkan.

It comes from the root kurang.

The verb is built with:

• meng- = a common active verb prefix
• kurang = less / reduce
• -kan = often makes the verb act on an object

So:

• kurang = less / decrease
• mengurangkan = reduce something

This is a very common Malay pattern. Many active verbs are formed with meN- prefixes such as meng-, men-, mem-, or me-, depending on the first sound of the root.

After words like mahu, Malay usually puts the next verb directly after it.

So:

• mahu mengurangkan = want to reduce

There is no separate word needed for English to here.

This is very normal in Malay:

• Saya mahu makan = I want to eat
• Mereka mahu pergi = They want to go

It can mean either, depending on context.

Malay nouns usually do not change form between singular and plural, so jenayah can be understood as:

• crime in a general sense
• crimes if the context points that way

In this sentence, English normally translates it as crime in a general, uncountable sense: The police want to reduce crime.

Because Malay does not have to mark plural explicitly when the meaning is already clear.

Reduplication can mark plural, but it is not always used, especially when talking about something in a general way.

Here, jenayah is a broad concept, so simple jenayah sounds natural.
Using jenayah-jenayah would sound more like various crimes or crimes in a more explicitly countable sense.

Not exactly.

Polis mahu mengurangkan jenayah specifically means the police want to reduce crime themselves or through their actions.

If you wanted the idea crime decreases, Malay would more naturally use a structure based on berkurang or menurun, for example:

• Jenayah mahu berkurang is not natural
• Polis mahu jenayah berkurang = The police want crime to decrease

So mengurangkan clearly gives the sense of reduce something.

No tense is marked directly here.

Malay verbs do not change form the way English verbs do for present, past, or future.
So mahu mengurangkan does not itself tell you when the action happens.

Time is usually understood from context or added with time words such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow
• akan = will / going to

In this sentence, it is understood as a present intention: The police want to reduce crime.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

• mahu ≈ mah-hoo
• mengurangkan ≈ meng-oo-rang-kan
• jenayah ≈ juh-nah-yah

A few notes:

• ng in meng- is like the ng in sing
• r in Malay is usually tapped or lightly rolled
• Malay spelling is fairly regular, so pronunciation is often more predictable than in English

Yes.

• Polis mahu mengurangkan jenayah = natural and straightforward
• Pihak polis mahu mengurangkan jenayah = more formal, like the police authorities or the police side

You may see pihak polis in news reports, official statements, or formal writing.

It is active.

The doer comes first:

• Polis = the doer
• mengurangkan = active verb
• jenayah = object

A passive version would look different, for example:

• Jenayah mahu dikurangkan oleh polis = Crime is wanted to be reduced by the police

That passive version is grammatical, but much less natural in ordinary speech. The active sentence is the most natural choice here.