Anak itu mengejar kawannya di taman.

The sentence follows the very common Malay order:

Subject + Verb + Object + Place

So here it is:

• Anak itu = the child / that child
• mengejar = chases / is chasing / chased, depending on context
• kawannya = his/her friend
• di taman = in the park

A very literal breakdown is:

child that chasing friend-his/her in park

Natural English rearranges this as The child is chasing his/her friend in the park.

In Malay, words like ini and itu usually come after the noun they describe.

So:

• anak itu = that child / the child
• taman itu = that park / the park

This is different from English, where we say that child, not child that.

In many contexts, itu can also help make the noun feel definite, so anak itu can mean either that child or simply the child, depending on context.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Malay does not have a direct word exactly like English the. Instead, words such as itu often help show that the speaker means a specific, identifiable thing.

So anak itu may be understood as:

• that child if you are pointing out one particular child
• the child if the child is already known from context

Learners often want a one-to-one translation, but Malay does not always separate the and that as neatly as English does.

Kejar is the root word, meaning chase.

Mengejar is the active verb form built from that root. The prefix meng- is added to make it into a normal transitive verb, meaning a verb that takes an object.

So:

• kejar = chase, the root
• mengejar = to chase / chases / is chasing

This is very common in Malay. Many verbs are formed with prefixes such as meN-.

In this case:

• root: kejar
• verb form: mengejar

You usually use mengejar in a full sentence like this because there is an object: kawannya.

This happens because Malay has a nasal prefix often written as meN-, where the final nasal sound changes depending on the first sound of the root.

With some roots, especially certain one-syllable roots or roots of this pattern, the form becomes menge-.

So:

• kejar → mengejar

This is something learners mostly need to get used to by seeing examples. The exact sound changes are part of Malay word formation, not something that always matches English logic.

Kawannya means his/her friend, their friend, or sometimes simply the friend, depending on context.

Breakdown:

• kawan = friend
• -nya = his / her / their / its, or sometimes a definite marker

So kawannya literally means friend + his/her.

In this sentence, the most natural reading is his/her friend, referring back to anak itu.

Not always. -nya is very useful in Malay, but it can do more than one job.

It can mean:

• his
• her
• their in some contexts
• its
• sometimes something closer to the, making a noun sound definite

So in kawannya, it often means his/her friend, but in another sentence -nya might be better understood differently.

Malay often leaves gender unspecified, so -nya does not tell you whether the friend belongs to a boy or a girl.

Usually, kawannya is understood as his/her friend in the singular, but context matters.

Malay nouns do not always have to show singular vs plural clearly. So sometimes kawannya could be interpreted more broadly if the context allows it.

If you want to make the plural very clear, you would often say:

• kawan-kawannya = his/her friends

That reduplication strongly signals plurality.

Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So mengejar by itself does not tell you whether the action is:

• past
• present
• future

The time is usually understood from context or from time words, such as:

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow

So without extra context, mengejar can be translated in different ways in English, depending on what fits the situation.

Di taman means in the park.

Breakdown:

• di = at / in / on, for location
• taman = park

In Malay, di is written separately when it is a preposition showing place.

So:

• di taman = in the park
• di rumah = at home
• di sekolah = at school

This is different from the prefix di- used in passive verbs, which is attached to the verb:

• ditulis = written / was written
• dikejar = chased / was chased

So learners need to remember:

• di taman → separate, because it is a preposition
• dikejar → joined, because it is a verb prefix

In this sentence, the most natural interpretation is that the chasing happens in the park.

So di taman describes the location of the action.

Because the child is the one doing the chasing, it also implies the child is in the park while doing it, and probably the friend is too. But grammatically, it attaches to the event: chasing in the park.

Yes. Malay word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbials like place.

For example, these are possible:

• Anak itu mengejar kawannya di taman.
• Di taman, anak itu mengejar kawannya.

Both are natural, though the second puts more focus on the location.

The first version is the most neutral and straightforward.

Anak can mean child in a general sense, and in some contexts it can also refer to a son or daughter.

By itself, it does not specify gender.

So anak itu could refer to:

• a child
• a boy
• a girl
• someone’s son or daughter, depending on context

In this sentence, the most neutral translation is simply the child or that child.

Malay often shows possession by adding a suffix to the noun instead of placing a separate possessive word before it.

So English says:

• his friend
• her friend

Malay often says:

• kawannya

This is one of the key structural differences between English and Malay. English tends to place possessives before the noun, while Malay can attach them after the noun as a suffix.

In standard Malay, mengejar is the correct full active verb form here, so:

• Anak itu mengejar kawannya di taman is the standard sentence.

Using just kejar instead of mengejar may sound colloquial, reduced, or nonstandard depending on the variety and context.

For learners, it is safest to use mengejar in formal and standard Malay.

It is active.

The doer of the action comes first:

• Anak itu = the child

Then comes the active verb:

• mengejar = chases

Then the object:

• kawannya = his/her friend

A passive version would look different, for example with di- on the verb:

• Kawannya dikejar oleh anak itu = His/her friend is chased by the child

So mengejar signals an active construction here.