Baju ini tidak longgar sejak tukang jahit mengecilkannya.

Baju ini means this shirt or this piece of clothing, depending on context.

A few useful points:

• baju is a general word for an upper-body garment.
• In many contexts, English speakers translate it as shirt.
• But it can also mean clothes/clothing more generally in some situations.

So in this sentence, baju ini most naturally means this shirt or this garment.

In Malay, demonstratives usually come after the noun.

So:

• baju ini = this shirt
• baju itu = that shirt

This is the normal Malay word order. English puts this before the noun, but Malay puts ini after it.

Because longgar is an adjective, and tidak is the normal negator for verbs and adjectives.

So:

• tidak longgar = not loose

By contrast, bukan is mainly used to negate:

• nouns
• noun phrases
• some contrastive or corrective statements

For example:

• Dia bukan tukang jahit = He/She is not a tailor

But with an adjective like longgar, tidak is the correct choice.

Longgar means loose, especially in the sense of clothing not fitting tightly.

In this sentence, it describes how the shirt fits:

• Baju ini tidak longgar = This shirt is not loose

Depending on context, longgar can also mean things like slack, not tight, or even lenient in other situations, but here it clearly refers to fit.

Sejak means since or from the time when.

Here it connects the current state to an earlier event:

• Baju ini tidak longgar sejak tukang jahit mengecilkannya
• This shirt has not been loose since the tailor made it smaller

So sejak tells you that:

1. the tailor changed the shirt earlier, and
2. from that point until now, the shirt has not been loose.

Malay does not mark tense the way English does. There is no special verb form like has been here.

Instead, Malay relies on:

• time words
• context
• aspect markers when needed

In this sentence, sejak gives the time relationship. It shows that the event involving the tailor happened earlier, and the state tidak longgar continues from then until now.

So English uses a present-perfect-style meaning, but Malay expresses it without changing the verb form.

Tukang jahit means tailor or seamstress/seamster, depending on context.

It is made up of:

• tukang = a craftsperson, worker, or someone skilled in a practical trade
• jahit = sew

So literally it is something like sewing worker, but the natural English translation is tailor.

Mengecilkannya can be broken down like this:

• kecil = small
• mengecilkan = to make smaller
• -nya = it

So mengecilkannya means to make it smaller.

In this sentence, it refers to the tailor altering the shirt so it is smaller/tighter.

A useful grammar point:

• -kan often gives a causative meaning, like make something become...
• so mengecilkan = make smaller, shrink, or reduce the size of

Here -nya refers to the shirt.

So:

• mengecilkannya = make it smaller
• the it = baju ini

In Malay, -nya can mean him, her, it, or sometimes function more generally depending on context. Here it clearly means it, referring back to baju ini.

Yes, Malay could use either active or passive here.

The sentence you have uses the active:

• tukang jahit mengecilkannya
• the tailor made it smaller

A passive version would be something like:

• Baju ini tidak longgar sejak dikecilkan oleh tukang jahit
• This shirt hasn’t been loose since it was made smaller by the tailor

The active version focuses more directly on the tailor as the doer. The passive version focuses more on the shirt and the action done to it.

The sentence is understandable, but many speakers might prefer a version that makes the no longer loose idea more explicit.

For example:

• Baju ini tidak lagi longgar sejak tukang jahit mengecilkannya.
• Baju ini sudah tidak longgar sejak tukang jahit mengecilkannya.

Why? Because tidak lagi longgar or sudah tidak longgar can sound more naturally like is no longer loose.

Still, the original sentence is grammatical and understandable. It just may sound slightly more natural with lagi or sudah added, depending on context.