Jangan berbohong kepada polis.

Jangan is the usual Malay word for a negative command, so it means don’t.

In this sentence, jangan + berbohong = don’t lie.

You will often see jangan placed directly before the verb:

• Jangan cakap = Don’t speak
• Jangan pergi = Don’t go
• Jangan berbohong = Don’t lie

Bohong is the basic word connected with lie/falsehood.
Berbohong is the verb form meaning to lie.

The prefix ber- often makes an intransitive verb, so berbohong is a more fully grammatical way to say to tell lies / to lie.

That said, in everyday speech, many speakers also say:

• Jangan bohong.

So:

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis. = more standard/full form
• Jangan bohong kepada polis. = also understandable and common in speech

Kepada means to, especially when the action is directed toward a person, group, or institution.

So:

• kepada polis = to the police

It is often used when something is said, given, shown, or directed toward someone:

• beritahu kepada saya = tell me
• beri kepada dia = give to him/her
• berbohong kepada polis = lie to the police

Because the meaning is lie to the police, and Malay often marks that kind of target with kepada.

Without kepada, the sentence may sound less clear or less standard in careful Malay.

So this structure is very natural:

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis.

It follows the pattern:

• jangan
  • verb
    • kepada
      • person/group

Sometimes yes, especially in less formal usage.

You may hear:

• Jangan berbohong pada polis.

But kepada is generally the clearer and more standard choice when the object is a person or institution. For a learner, kepada is the safer option in careful Malay.

So if you want the most textbook-friendly version, use:

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis.

Malay does not normally use articles like the or a/an the way English does.

So polis can mean:

• police
• the police

The exact meaning comes from context.

This is very normal in Malay:

• Saya nampak polis. = I saw the police / I saw a police officer / I saw police

English requires an article, but Malay usually does not.

Usually polis refers to the police as a group or institution, but context matters.

In everyday use, polis can also refer loosely to police officers. If you want to be very specific about one police officer, Malay often uses:

• seorang anggota polis = a police officer

So:

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis. most naturally means Don’t lie to the police.

The word order is:

• Jangan = don’t
• berbohong = lie
• kepada polis = to the police

So the pattern is:

Negative command + verb + recipient/target

Malay word order is often fairly straightforward, and in this sentence it lines up closely with English:

• Don’t + lie + to the police

Yes, but the meaning is slightly different.

• berbohong kepada polis = to lie to the police, to tell them something false
• tipu polis = to deceive/trick the police

So tipu is broader and can include deception in general, not just speaking falsely.

Compare:

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis. = Don’t lie to the police.
• Jangan tipu polis. = Don’t deceive the police.

They are similar, but not exactly the same.

It sounds neutral to standard. It is perfectly natural and grammatically correct.

• Jangan berbohong kepada polis. = standard, clear, appropriate
• Jangan bohong pada polis. = a bit more conversational

So the original sentence is a good one to learn because it is both correct and useful.

A simple learner-friendly pronunciation is:

ber-bo-hong

Roughly:

• ber = like buh with a light r
• bo = like boh
• hong = like hong with a final ng

And the whole sentence is roughly:

JANG-an ber-BO-hong ke-PA-da po-LIS

You do not need to stress words as strongly as in English, but that approximation can help at first.