Gereja itu lama.

Malay often leaves out the verb to be in simple sentences like this.

So:

Gereja itu lama
literally follows the pattern church that/the old

but the natural English meaning is That church is old or The church is old.

This is completely normal in Malay. You do not need a separate word for is here.

Itu is usually a demonstrative word, most basically that.

In gereja itu, it can mean:

• that church
• or, depending on context, the church

Malay often uses itu after a noun to point out a specific thing already known in the conversation.

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

Examples:

• gereja itu = that/the church
• rumah itu = that/the house
• buku ini = this book

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

It can, but its core idea is more like long-lasting, for a long time, or long ago.

So lama often works as old for things such as:

• buildings
• objects
• friendships
• habits
• stories

For people or living beings, Malay often uses tua for old in the sense of age.

So:

• gereja itu lama = the church is old
• orang itu tua = that person is old

Because lama is the predicate adjective here. It is saying something about the subject.

Structure:

• Gereja itu = the/that church
• lama = old

So the whole sentence means:

The church is old

Malay commonly puts adjectives after the noun, and in a sentence like this the adjective comes after the subject phrase.

This is a very important difference.

Gereja itu lama = The/That church is old
This is a complete sentence.

Gereja lama itu = That old church
This is just a noun phrase, not a full sentence by itself.

So word order changes the meaning:

• gereja itu lama → the church is old
• gereja lama itu → that old church

Yes.

In real Malay, itu often has two possible roles:

1. a true demonstrative: that
2. a marker of a specific known noun, which English may translate as the

So depending on context, gereja itu lama could be understood as:

• That church is old
• The church is old

English forces you to choose more clearly than Malay often does.

Not in the same way English does.

Malay does not have mandatory articles like English. A noun can often stand without any article at all.

For example:

• gereja can mean a church, the church, or just church/churches depending on context
• gereja itu makes it more specific: that church or the church

So learners often need to stop expecting a one-to-one match with English articles.

Yes, but that means something different.

Itu gereja lama means:

That is an old church

Here, itu is standing on its own as that, and gereja lama means old church.

Compare:

• Gereja itu lama = The/That church is old
• Itu gereja lama = That is an old church

Same words, different structure.

A simple approximation is:

guh-RAY-jah EE-too LAH-mah

More roughly by syllable:

• ge-re-ja
• i-tu
• la-ma

A few notes:

• g is a hard g, like in go
• j sounds like the j in jam
• a is usually like the a in father
• stress in Malay is generally lighter and less dramatic than in English

So try to say it smoothly rather than heavily stressing one syllable.