Pelajar itu bertanya kepada profesor.

In Malay, words like ini and itu usually come after the noun when they mean this or that.

So:

• pelajar itu = that student / the student
• profesor itu = that professor / the professor

This is different from English, where demonstratives come before the noun.

Malay pattern:

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

So pelajar itu is the normal word order.

Itu literally means that, but in many sentences it can also work like the, depending on context.

So pelajar itu can mean:

• that student if you are pointing out a specific student
• the student if the student is already known in the conversation

Malay does not have a direct article system like English a/an/the, so words like itu often help make a noun more specific.

Tanya is the basic root meaning ask or question.

Ber- is a common Malay prefix that often forms an intransitive verb or describes someone doing an action.

So:

• tanya = the root
• bertanya = to ask, to be asking

In this sentence, bertanya is the natural verb form for asked / asks / was asking.

A useful comparison:

• Dia bertanya kepada guru. = He/She asked the teacher.

Malay often uses derived forms like this instead of the bare root in full sentences.

Kepada is used to mark the recipient or target of an action, especially when the target is a person.

Here, the professor is the person the student asked something to, so Malay uses kepada:

• bertanya kepada profesor = ask the professor
• more literally, ask to the professor

It is especially common with verbs involving communication or direction toward a person.

For example:

• Dia memberi surat kepada ibunya. = He/She gave a letter to his/her mother.
• Mereka bercakap kepada pelajar itu. = They spoke to that student.

In standard Malay, kepada is the safer and more natural choice here.

So:

• Pelajar itu bertanya kepada profesor. is the standard form.

Without kepada, the sentence may sound incomplete or less natural to many speakers, especially in careful or formal Malay.

This is because bertanya often takes:

• kepada + person
• sometimes also a second part for what is being asked, such as tentang or a clause

For example:

• Pelajar itu bertanya kepada profesor tentang tugasan itu.
  = The student asked the professor about the assignment.

No. Malay verbs usually do not change form for tense the way English verbs do.

So bertanya by itself can mean:

• asks
• asked
• is asking
• was asking

The time is understood from context or from time words.

For example:

• Semalam, pelajar itu bertanya kepada profesor. = Yesterday, the student asked the professor.
• Sekarang, pelajar itu bertanya kepada profesor. = Now, the student is asking the professor.
• Nanti, pelajar itu akan bertanya kepada profesor. = Later, the student will ask the professor.

Yes. This is very common in Malay.

Itu can be:

• a true demonstrative: that student
• a marker making the noun definite: the student

Which meaning is intended depends on context.

If you are pointing someone out physically, that student is likely. If you are continuing a story about a known student, the student may be the best translation.

This is one reason Malay-to-English translation is not always word-for-word.

Profesor is a real Malay word, borrowed from English, and it is correct.

However, in everyday university contexts, Malay speakers might also use other words depending on what they mean:

• pensyarah = lecturer
• guru = teacher
• profesor = professor, usually a specific academic rank

So if the person is actually a professor, profesor is fine. But if you just mean a university teacher in general, pensyarah may be more common.

A simple approximate pronunciation for an English speaker is:

puh-LAH-jar EE-too buhr-TAHN-yah kuh-PAH-dah პრო-FEH-sor

A few helpful points:

• pelajar: the j sounds like the j in jam
• itu: pronounced roughly ee-too
• bertanya: ny sounds like the ny in canyon
• kepada: all vowels are usually pronounced clearly
• profesor: similar to English professor, but with clearer vowels and no strong stress like in English

Malay pronunciation is generally more regular than English spelling.

The sentence follows a very common Malay pattern:

Subject + Verb + Prepositional phrase

Breakdown:

• Pelajar itu = subject
• bertanya = verb
• kepada profesor = prepositional phrase showing who received the question

So the structure is:

The student + asked + the professor

This word order is quite similar to English in many simple sentences, even though some details, like itu after the noun, are different.