Polis membantu mangsa itu.

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

So:

• polis can mean police or the police, depending on context.
• mangsa itu can mean that victim or the victim, because itu often makes the noun definite or points to a specific one.

In other words, Malay often leaves definiteness to context instead of using a special article.

Polis means police.

In Malay, polis often works as a collective noun, so it can refer to:

• the police as an institution,
• one police officer, or
• police officers in general,

depending on context.

In this sentence, English will usually translate it as The police or A police officer, depending on the situation. If the meaning shown to the learner is The police helped that victim, then polis is being understood collectively.

The base word is bantu, meaning help.

The form membantu is the standard active verb form:

• bantu = root
• mem- + bantu → membantu = to help / helps / helped in an active sentence

In careful, standard Malay, this meN- prefix is very common for active transitive verbs.

So:

• Polis membantu mangsa itu = standard written/spoken Malay
• Polis bantu mangsa itu = possible in casual speech, but less formal and less standard

Membantu is an active verb with the meN- prefix.

This prefix often marks that the subject is actively doing something to an object.

Here:

• Polis = subject
• membantu = verb
• mangsa itu = object

So the structure is:

Subject + Verb + Object

That is very similar to normal English word order:

• The police helped the victim
• Polis membantu mangsa itu

In Malay, demonstratives like ini (this) and itu (that) usually come after the noun.

So:

• mangsa itu = that victim / the victim
• rumah itu = that house
• orang itu = that person

This is different from English, where this and that come before the noun.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Literally:

• mangsa = victim
• itu = that

So the most literal meaning is that victim.

But in real Malay, itu is also often used where English would naturally say the. So mangsa itu can also be translated as the victim, especially when the victim has already been identified in the conversation.

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

So membantu by itself does not specifically mean:

• present,
• past, or
• future.

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

• semalam = yesterday
• sekarang = now
• esok = tomorrow
• sudah = already
• akan = will

So Polis membantu mangsa itu could mean:

• The police help the victim
• The police are helping the victim
• The police helped the victim

The correct English tense depends on the context.

Mangsa means victim.

It is a common noun used for someone affected by:

• a crime,
• an accident,
• a disaster,
• violence, and so on.

Malay nouns usually do not change form for singular and plural, so mangsa can mean:

• victim, or
• victims,

depending on context.

If Malay wants to make the plural very clear, it can use reduplication:

• mangsa-mangsa = victims

But in many sentences, plain mangsa is enough.

It is active.

Why? Because polis is the doer of the action, and the verb membantu is an active meN- form.

Active:

• Polis membantu mangsa itu.
• The police help/helped the victim.

A passive version would look like:

• Mangsa itu dibantu oleh polis.
• The victim was helped by the police.

Here:

• dibantu is the passive form
• oleh means by

Yes. A few possibilities are:

• Polis membantu mangsa itu.
  Standard active sentence.

• Mangsa itu dibantu oleh polis.
  Passive: The victim was helped by the police.

• Pihak polis membantu mangsa itu.
  Slightly more formal; pihak polis means something like the police authorities or the police side.

All are grammatical, but the original sentence is simple, natural, and very common for learners to study.

A simple approximate pronunciation is:

po-lis mem-ban-too mang-sa ee-too

A few notes:

• polis sounds close to po-lees
• membantu has clear syllables: mem-ban-tu
• mangsa has ng as in sing
• itu is roughly ee-too

Malay pronunciation is generally more regular than English spelling, so once you learn the sound system, sentences like this are quite predictable to pronounce.