Kucing itu bersembunyi di bawah kerusi.

In Malay, demonstratives like ini and itu usually come after the noun.

So:

• kucing itu = that cat / the cat
• kerusi itu = that chair / the chair

This is different from English, where this/that comes before the noun.

In natural Malay, kucing itu can often sound like either that cat or the cat, depending on context.

Bersembunyi means to hide or to be hiding.

It is built from:

• sembunyi = hide, hidden
• ber- = a common prefix that often forms intransitive verbs

Here, bersembunyi is an intransitive verb, meaning the subject does the action, but there is no direct object.

So:

• Kucing itu bersembunyi = The cat is hiding
• not The cat hides something

The prefix ber- often gives the sense of doing an action or being in a certain state.

Yes, in everyday speech, sembunyi is often used by itself, and many speakers would understand it.

However:

• bersembunyi is generally more complete and standard
• sembunyi alone can sound more conversational or shortened in some contexts

So both may occur, but bersembunyi is a very good form for learners to know and use.

Di bawah means under or below.

It has two parts:

• di = at / in / on / to, used in prepositional phrases
• bawah = lower part, bottom, below

So:

• di bawah kerusi = under the chair

The reason di is written separately is that here it is a preposition.

This is important because Malay also has di- as a prefix for passive verbs, and that one is written together.

Compare:

• di bawah = under
• dibuka = opened
• ditulis = written

So a good rule is:

• di + place/location → usually written separately
• di- + verb → written together

Malay often leaves out words that English requires.

1. Articles Malay usually does not have direct equivalents of a/an/the in the same way English does.

• kucing can mean cat, a cat, or the cat, depending on context
• kucing itu makes it more definite: that cat or the cat

2. The verb to be In sentences like this, Malay does not need a separate word for is before the verb.

So:

• Kucing itu bersembunyi literally looks like cat that hiding
• but naturally means The cat is hiding

This is very normal in Malay.

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

So bersembunyi by itself does not specifically mark:

• present
• past
• future

The time is usually understood from context or added with time words or aspect markers.

For example:

• Kucing itu sedang bersembunyi = The cat is hiding / is in the process of hiding
• Kucing itu sudah bersembunyi = The cat has hidden / has gone into hiding
• Kucing itu akan bersembunyi = The cat will hide

Without those markers, the sentence is often understood in a general or context-dependent way. In many beginner translations, it is rendered as is hiding because that fits the situation naturally.

Malay verbs do not agree with the subject the way English verbs do.

In English:

• The cat hides
• The cats hide

In Malay, the verb stays the same:

• Kucing itu bersembunyi
• Kucing-kucing itu bersembunyi

The subject changes if needed, but the verb usually does not.

This makes Malay verb grammar much simpler in this respect.

By itself, kerusi can mean chair or chairs, depending on context.

In this sentence, it is normally understood as singular: under the chair.

If you wanted to make the plural very clear, Malay often uses reduplication:

• kerusi-kerusi = chairs

So:

• di bawah kerusi = under the chair / under chairs, depending on context
• di bawah kerusi-kerusi = under the chairs

In everyday Malay, plural marking is often omitted if the meaning is already clear.

Yes. This is a very common point of confusion for English speakers.

Itu literally corresponds to that, but in real usage noun + itu often also works like a definite noun phrase, similar to the ... in English.

So kucing itu may mean:

• that cat
• the cat

Which one sounds best in English depends on the context.

If the cat has already been identified in the conversation, the cat is often the most natural translation.

Yes, you could.

• di bawah kerusi = under the chair / under a chair
• di bawah sebuah kerusi = under a chair

Sebuah is a classifier-based way to mean one/a for certain objects, including chairs.

However, in many everyday Malay sentences, classifiers and article-like words are omitted unless they are needed for clarity.

So di bawah kerusi is very natural.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

KOO-ching EE-too ber-sem-BOON-yee dee BAH-wah ker-SEE

A few notes:

• kucing sounds roughly like koo-ching
• itu sounds like ee-too
• bersembunyi has the ny sound heard in canyon
• di is dee
• bawah is roughly bah-wah
• kerusi is keh-roo-see or ker-oo-see, depending on accent

Malay pronunciation is usually quite regular compared with English spelling.

The basic word order here is very normal:

• Kucing itu = subject
• bersembunyi = verb
• di bawah kerusi = location phrase

So the default order is:

Subject + Verb + Place

You may sometimes hear other orders for emphasis, but for learners, this pattern is the safest and most natural.

For example, you could expand it as:

• Kucing itu sedang bersembunyi di bawah kerusi.

But the core structure stays the same.

Bawah by itself means below, lower part, or bottom as a noun-like or relational word.

To say in/at/on/under somewhere, Malay often uses di before the location phrase:

• bawah = below / lower part
• di bawah = under / below / at the bottom of

So in this sentence, di bawah kerusi is the natural full phrase meaning under the chair.

Without di, the phrase would usually not sound complete in this kind of sentence.