Dia membaca lirik rangkap itu.

Yes—dia can mean either he or she. Malay third-person singular pronouns do not normally mark gender.

So in a sentence like Dia membaca lirik rangkap itu, you only know whether it is he or she from context.

A useful comparison:

• dia = he/she
• mereka = they

Baca is the root word meaning read.
Membaca is the standard active verb form built from that root.

The prefix is meN-, which changes shape depending on the first sound of the root. Since baca begins with b, meN- becomes mem-:

• baca → membaca

This is very common in Malay. In standard Malay, membaca is the normal form for to read in an active sentence like this one.

Very roughly:

• baca = root/dictionary form
• membaca = actively reads / to read

Not by itself. Malay verbs do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So membaca does not automatically mean:

• present
• past
• future

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

• sedang = in the middle of / currently
• sudah = already
• akan = will / going to

So this sentence could mean different things depending on context, such as:

• He/She reads ...
• He/She is reading ...
• He/She read ...

If you specifically want is reading, you could say Dia sedang membaca lirik rangkap itu.

Mostly yes. The basic sentence structure here is:

• Dia = subject
• membaca = verb
• lirik rangkap itu = object

So the pattern is Subject–Verb–Object, just like English:

• He reads the lyrics ...

However, inside noun phrases, Malay often works differently from English. Modifiers usually come after the noun, not before it.

Malay does not have articles that work exactly like English a/an and the.

Whether something is definite or indefinite is often understood from context. Sometimes words like itu help make something definite.

In this sentence, itu helps show that rangkap is a specific one:

• rangkap itu = that stanza/verse

So Malay often leaves definiteness to context instead of using a separate article every time.

Because Malay often links nouns directly without using a separate word like English of.

So lirik rangkap itu can be understood as:

• the lyrics of that stanza
• the lyrics for that verse

This noun-to-noun pattern is very normal in Malay. English often needs a linking word like of, but Malay often does not.

That is the normal Malay pattern. Demonstratives such as ini and itu usually come after the noun they modify.

Examples:

• buku ini = this book
• rumah itu = that house

So:

• rangkap itu = that stanza

This often feels backward to English speakers at first, but it is completely regular in Malay.

Here, rangkap means something like verse or stanza.

That makes sense with lirik, because lyrics are often divided into verses or stanzas.

So rangkap itu is most naturally understood as:

• that verse
• that stanza

Depending on context, rangkap can have other meanings in Malay, but in this sentence the poetry/song meaning is the relevant one.

It can be either, depending on context. Malay nouns usually do not change form for singular vs. plural.

So lirik might mean:

• lyric
• lyrics

In this sentence, English will usually translate it as lyrics, because that sounds more natural with verse/stanza.

If Malay speakers want to make plurality clearer, they can do so with context, numbers, or sometimes reduplication, but very often they simply leave the noun unchanged.

You would usually add sedang:

• Dia sedang membaca lirik rangkap itu.

Sedang marks an ongoing action, so this is closer to English He/She is reading the lyrics of that stanza right now.

Without sedang, Dia membaca lirik rangkap itu is more neutral and depends on context.